Call for stories about Nickel Belt baseball

Sudbury Theatre Centre's playwright-in-residence Matthew Heiti is looking for stories, anecdotes, memories, photographs and memorabilia about the history of organized baseball in Sudbury, specifically the golden era of the Nickel Belt Baseball League. Heiti is working on a stage play about the league.

During its height between the 1930s to 1950s, thousands of fans would flock to watch local teams from Copper Cliff, Creighton and Sudbury battle it out for the city crown — the Monell Cup. The locals even took the provincial championship on several occasions.

Local legends of the game numbered many, such as Norm Hann, Sam Rothschild, and Bert Flynn, “The most famous figure in Nickel Belt baseball,” a press release stated. But the advent of television, movie theatres, and automobiles stole over the city and slowly the grandstands emptied. By 1959, the NBBL had quietly folded.

If you have any tales (tall or otherwise) you would like to share, contact Matthew Heiti, Playwright-in-Residence, at [email protected] or by telephone at 705-207-7849.

Posted by Laurel Myers