Information courtesy of Larry Silfen and Paul Rubin
The 7th Annual annual Breeder/Rupp fastball tourney is ready to go on December 5-6 at El Dorado Park in Long Beach. This year’s event will have a special feel as Maccabi Canada (with ISC 1st-team All-World hurler Devon McCullough) will be one of the eight teams paying tribute to the late Dave “Breeder” Blackburn and his pal Ronnie Rupp.
Most of the Maccabi Canada team is from the Toronto area, and many of their players were friendly competitors against Blackburn for years (he competed against Canada from 1985-2009). In return, the Maccabi USA team is hoping to play in a tourney in Ontario (Canada, not California!) next summer.
J&B Painting with the USA’s number one Tony Mancha and Canadian-born great Rob Schweyer on the hill will be in Long Beach, and have won Breeder/Rupp three times. The Pala Braves with Arizona’s Sonny Perkins, A-1 Rockies, Stockton Buzzards, ?Balboa Fastpitch, So-Cal Bandits and Maccabi USA round out the field.
This is a good-vibes off-season event that always is a good time for all. Breeder’s great spirit hovers over the ballfield, and Ronnie Rupp will be there in the flesh–maybe even spinning up some of his patented change-ups.
And, remember this at all times: We don’t call it softball much anymore. That’s because the ball ain’t soft–and the game is hard.
Editor’s note: A prior version of this story listed the tournament as the “7th Annual”. It’s actually the 6th. The tournament was started in December 2010, by friends of Dave Blackburn and Ronnie Rupp.