The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE the construction of the new national baseball stadium is still on hold, the movers and shakers in the sport are working behind the scene to amalgamate all of the splinter groups, organisations and leagues under one umbrella.

Back in March, the Bahamas Baseball Association, now under the leadership of Sam Rodgers, held a press conference to announce that they are working on a resolution that will resolve the dispute that has hindered the progress of the sport for at least three decades.

Sure, the sport has continued to flourish at the junior level with the formation of the Bahamas Baseball Federation and we have seen an influx of senior players inking their names on more lucrative professional contracts than ever before.

For two years, we have also seen some of our pro players, nine to be exact this year, participate for Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic.

Behind the scenes, the parties concerned are all preparing a revised constitution, which is vital to the way forward as it will set the stage for a pending election of officers.

The coalition will bring all of the factions together once again as they attempt to return the sport to the glory days when the Bahamas competed at the international level.

Hopefully there will be a change in the way the BBA operates as the governing body for the sport in that they will now govern the entire country and form an association that will be entirely responsible for New Providence.

There was a similar concern for the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations when they re-constructed their constitution, but they are yet to make any headway on the formation of an association for New Providence.

Like athletics, which has gotten a lot of attention from the staging of the first three editions of the World Relays and the constant success of some of our athletes on the global stage, baseball is also increasing its international presence with so many players now in the major league pipeline in the minor league.

It’s so disheartening that with all that is going on at the international level, the construction of the new stadium is still at a standstill and there doesn’t seem to be any movement in the foreseeable future.

But at the same time, it’s good to know that the powers that be are working to ensure that they will be in a much better position as a cohesive unit whenever the facility is completed.

Talking about the facility, it’s an eyesore looking at the new stadium just sitting there in the stage that it is with no sign of activity.

When will construction commence?

Let’s hope it doesn’t take as long as it did when the original Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium was torn down to accommodate the new Thomas A Robinson National Stadium for the work to continue.

We’ve already lost a number of outstanding players during that period of time. Now that there is an influx of young players performing in high school, college or the pro ranks in the United States, we need to keep them as active as we can at the national level.

GO RENO

Let’s tip our hats off to Tureano ‘Reno’ Johnson as he steps into the ring tonight for his second time around for a prestigious world title shot.

Johnson, 33, will be taking a 20-1 win-loss record with 14 knockouts into the 12-round main event bout at the Buffalo RunCasino in Miami, Oklahoma against Sergiy ‘the Technician’ Derevyanchenko, who at 31, is 10-0.

It’s a mandatory fight for Johnson and Derevyanchenko, ranked at number one and two respectively, with the winner getting a title fight against Gennady Golovkin, the IBF, World Boxing Council and co-World Boxing Association champion.

The fight will be carried live on Sports 1/Fox Deportes. We wish Johnson every success, coming off a shoulder injury that required surgery last year. He’s back in fine form and looking forward to getting that match-up with Golovkin, which he was primed to get back in 2015 before the injury.