1954/55 Elmvale Comets Anecdotes

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Mary, Ann and Marlene all worked at the TD Bank. When they would need to travel afar, the manager would allow them to leave at noon even though the branch didn’t close until 3:00p.m. They were expected to come in early the next morning to make up for the time away playing on the team. The team loved playing Newmarket. As Shirley Richardson recounts, ‘we travelled through Bradford and there was no Highway 88 back then. We would stop at a great hotel in Bradford on the way home for a refreshment but because we were all so young, it was ginger ale only’.

There were many memorable antics that took place….the most notable being that the championship was actually contested by Dorian Parker, who played against Elmvale in those days. How could a team from Elmvale be that good?! The protest was soundly lost!

Another story goes that Mary Berthelotte was disallowed from playing for Elmvale when she moved to Barrie for work. Mary was one of the best players and so a rule was put in place that would force Mary to play for Barrie.

Marguerite Stone told a story of her first at bat in the big leagues, facing Dorothy Miller, Barrie’s best pitcher. As she put it, she hit the Panic Button but promptly his a 3-bagger that got the team started. Marguerite, who was 90 years old at the time of re-telling this story, still remembered that hit like it was yesterday!

 

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