By Christine Rivet, Record staff Tue Jan 04 2011
KITCHENER — The Kitchener Rivershark Twins have survived contentious mergers and economic downturns along with controversial hirings and firings.
But following 42 often rocky, sometimes glorious, seasons, Canada’s longest-continuously operated senior men’s fastball team has finally reached the end of the line.
“That’s it for the team,” said the Twins long-time driving force, Kitchener resident and team coach, Larry Lynch.
“Looks like . . . major men’s fastball has come to an end in Kitchener-Waterloo.”
One of the team’s main sponsors, local entrepreneur and philanthropist Jim Hallman, recently announced his intention to withdraw as a major supporter, leading to the team’s demise.
Hallman said he made his decision because many of the Twins’ top players are approaching retirement and, when local tournament organizers decided to pull out of playing host to the world championship this summer, it seemed like the time had come.
“It’s not a bad way to go out,” said Hallman whose team won two world titles, a pair of Canadian championships and an American national crown the past three seasons.
“The Twins brought some recognition to the city of Kitchener, and we’ll look at continuing (fastball sponsorship) in some way. We are just not sure how right now.”
The Twins have been saved by 11th hour rescue missions before.
Not this time.
The game has been under siege for decades, losing its lustre with fans and sponsors alike.
A cavalcade of fastball’s best teams, five of the world’s top eight men’s clubs, folded the past year. All of them, including the mighty Farm Tavern of Madison, Wis., cited financial hardship.
Determined not to wander into the dusty history books themselves, the Twins explored the possibilities of merging their team with rivals or of finding new sponsors.
Even former team sponsor, Jack Fireman, the flamboyant Toronto trial lawyer, who rode to the Twins’ rescue in 2001, was approached.
But nothing could be worked out, Lynch said.
In their latest incarnation, the Twins were a star-studded tournament club featuring national team players from Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
Their annual budget was about $150,000, a far cry from the modest $4,000 the team needed to compete annually through the 1980s and 1990s.
Even a decade ago, the thread-bare Twins were unrecognizable.
They were comprised mainly of no-name, area players. But they were low-budget contenders who often pushed the fat-cat teams to their limits.
“In those days, we paid our own way,” said Lynch. “Everyone always asked me where we found our scrappy players. I said they were country ballplayers.
“But the game has changed.”
Indeed it has. Fastball’s top talent often commands generous compensation as well as travel and accommodation costs.
Lynch said he holds no ill will toward the team’s sponsors, including American Bob Nydick, a business professor at Pennsylvania’s Villanova University.
“The Hallman family has probably put more than a million dollars into (the local softball scene) over the years.
“Tell me, who else has done that for the game? As for (Hallman’s) decision to close the books, I hate it. But I understand it,” said Lynch who joined the club as a player in 1987.
In their early days, the team was known as the CHYM’rs until they almost folded in 1989.
The team’s coach then, Barry Musselman, decided to pick up the ball and the Waterloo Twins were born.
A merger with rival club, the Fingal ’99ers, followed before the team hooked up with the controversial Fireman, transformed into a big-budget powerhouse, and eventually moved to Kitchener.
Lynch, the face of the team, was fired by the club in 2003 and another merger followed with the Sebringville Sting before Lynch was rehired a couple years later.
The Twins merged again with the Orillia Rivershark Twins in 2007, a union which spawned their greatest success.
Meanwhile, some of the Rivershark Twins’ players have already landed with rival teams. Pitcher Don Scott and all-world outfielder Ryan Wolfe were snapped up by the reigning world champions and Ontario rivals, the Jarvis Travellers.
Apart from the championships, Lynch said he is proud so many of the game’s greats wore a Twins jersey over the years.
World-class players like pitchers Dan Yantzi, Dean Holoien and Todd Martin, catchers Craig Crawford and Patrick Shannon, infielders Chris Jones, Adam Smith and Jody Eidt and outfielders Ryan Wolfe and Brian Paton, have all played for the Twins.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Lynch said.
crivet (at) therecord.com
Editor’s note: Click here for our earlier story on the Kitchener Rivershark Twins.