20th Anniversary Season!!!
2026 will be the 20th Summer league for Metro baseball and we hope our best ever. Registration will go out around the beginning of the year to most returning players. Will post lots more info on the coming season as we head towards the Spring. Scroll to the bottom of the page for team previews and other info.
Our Summer season starts with player workouts (not try-outs) in early April and after a team draft continues with practices to late May when the season starts. All games and practices are held at either the Optimist fields on west Grand or the Barnhouse field on west Sunshine. Season runs from the second half of May until the end of July and teams in the Majors and Seniors play 18 to 20 games each. The Sunset league plays a 10 game schedule with all games on Saturday or Sunday evenings. Majors division hosted 7 teams in 2025, Seniors 5 teams, and Sunset 4.
Majors players should be between 11 and 15 on May 1st of 2026, Seniors between 14 and 19, Sunset has limited open registration for new players and will some times take new players in their 20’s. All leagues in the Summer play wood bats only and wear retro style MLB uniforms. Here are some teams that may be used in each division this year:
Majors 1900-1909
Seniors 1980-1989
Sunset 1930-1939
We hope everyone considers signing up to play this year and looks forward to having another fun summer at the ballpark.
Call or Text Rob any time with questions: 417-351-9303
First Team Preview 2026: Majors Division
1900’s Cleveland Naps (Coach Garrison & Coach Ledford). Caleb helped coach the Cardinals last year in the Majors and also coached with Reid last fall with the Bats. They won the Majors in 2024 with the Reds. The Naps, named after their Hall of Fame player/manager Napoleon Lajoie at the time, would later adopt the better known Indians name. We only had one other Naps team in the league, the Sunset champions of 2024. The Naps of the 1900-1909 decade never won a pennant, but did feature players like Lajoie and pitcher Addie Joss.
*more team previews to come……
Music Preview 2026: Sunset Division
As many of you know a big part of our “retro” experience is immersing our players in authentic audio of the decades. The Sunset visit the 1930’s this year with depression era music, made a little less depressing by the voices of Bing Crosby and Ruth Etting. Crosby a one time part owner of the Pirates as well as the nation’s top crooner. Etting, a former Ziegfeld girl, was a popular singer who later would be mixed up in a messy divorce that resulted in an attempted murder.
Team Preview 2026: Senior Division
1980’s San Diego Padres (Coach Lanham & Coach Drummond). Joe returns for another Senior season after leading the Yankees last season. Corey coached the Senators in the Seniors last year. This will be the first Padres summer team in three years and first in the Seniors since the 2022 Champs. The Padres of the 1980’s appeared in the ’84 World Series where they lost to the Tigers. The star player of the decade was perennial hitting champ, Tony Gwynn. Other stars like Goose Gossage were part of the decade too.
Aspiring Sportswriters: we will once again be doing a sports writing contest this year where players compete by doing game summaries during the season that get posted on the website. You can see last year’s summaries on the Grantland Rice page, still up on the website. This year we will be honoring a different sportswriter, Leo Cloutier who covered baseball from the 30’s to the 70’s and also ran what was the biggest baseball banquet in the country every year in New Hampshire. He has an inspiring story you can read if you visit the site link below. His son Chris will be supporting our effort and Len Clark award winning journalist, our special judge from last year, will be back to pick a winning article. More info will come as we head towards the season, but if any player or sibling wants to be part of the contest this year, let me know. Will take 5 or 6 contestants. Prize includes $75 cash (or fall fee) and a special trophy like the one pictured below with the Briggs brothers who won last year, and a signed copy of Mr. Clark’s book. Need some good young writers in the sport and this is a great way to start!!!
Team Preview 2026: Sunset Division
1930’s Philadelphia Athletics (Coach Phillips & Coach Byrd). Josh and Rick come back for their sixth year after leading the Expos last year. After winning it all for three years straight, the guys have finished second in the last two years. The 1930’s Athletics were in back to back World Series with the Cardinals in 1930 & 1931 featuring manager Connie Mack and hall of famers, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, Lefty Grove, and Jimmie Foxx.
Music Preview 2026: Senior Division
As many of you know a big part of our “retro” experience is immersing our players in authentic audio of the decades. The Seniors play in the 80’s this year and will hear lots of rock, pop, new wave, and even some late disco. Among featured artists you will find Huey Lewis and the News. Lewis is a big Giants fan who has coached first base in spring training games. Also you will listen to Rush lead singer/bassist, Geddy Lee who has a massive personal baseball collection and is a huge fan (Expos/Jays).
History Update: Majors 1900-1909
Learn a little something this year at the park with our “Today in History” audio segments mixed in with the music. Hear about:
Annie Taylor: first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrell
The Wright Brothers at Kittyhawk
Spindletop oil discovery in Texas
Opening of the New York subway
the great San Francisco earthquake
…..and more.
Team Preview 2026: Majors Division
1900-1909 New York Giants (Coach Hileman & Coach Woodworth). Rob and Charlie coached the Railriders last fall. Rob was also a coach with the Colts last summer and led both the 2024 Pirates and 2023 Brewers to 2nd place finishes. The early Giants were led by Hall of Fame manager John McGraw who would win his first two of ten NL pennants in 1904 & 1905. The primary stars were the great Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity on the mound. Mathewson pitched three complete game shutouts in the Giants’ 1905 World Series win over the Athletics. He also walked only 1 batter over the 27 innings combined.
“Really Retro” and Federal League Grounds
in 2021 we initiated our first set of “really retro” games with 1800’s style equipment as part of summer ball. Each team in all three divisions played one game in the regular season with old time equipment that counted in the standings. That fall and in following years, we switched to having optional, buy-in games that were separate from the schedule. The last couple years we have been using the equipment as part of our “1898” Derby league in Winter Ball. This year, while the Majors are visiting 1900-1909 we are going to re-introduce one regular game for each team played really retro style in the division. The games will be the first official games also to take place on Federal League Grounds, the third field at Optimist. We will play with temporary bases and the portable mound along with all the 1800’s style bats, balls, and gloves. We will also be adding a “Federal League Legends” sign to the field this year similar to those on National Field and American Park. More details will be coming…..
Team Preview 2026: Senior Division
1980’s Minnesota Twins (Coach Ginocchio .Coach Sillavan, & Coach Hughes). Darrell and I return to the Seniors this summer after 1 year doing Sunset and Majors for a change. Billy coached the A’s in the Majors last year and also joined us with the En el Rios last fall. The 80’s Twins won the World Series in 1987 over the Cardinals behind star Kirby Puckett and pitchers like Frank Viola. This will be the 7th Twins team in the league with last year’s 60’s Twins in the Majors being the last, but it was 2013 the last time we did Twins in Seniors.
Music Preview 2026: Majors Division
As many of you know a big part of our “retro” experience is immersing our players in authentic audio of the decades. The 1900-1909 playlist is a combination of authentic music of the era and later recordings of popular songs of the Turn of the Century. Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan were maybe the greatest combination ragtime singers of the era. Famous for lots of dialect humor and often Byron portraying the women in songs, you will hear plenty of their authentic recordings. The Mellomen were a popular singing group from the 40’s to the 70’s who were known for their great “barbershop” style harmony. They recorded lots of popular songs that went back to the 1900 era and you will hear them a lot as well. They would go on to their biggest fame singing in Disney films and TV shows.
History Update: Sunset 1930-1939
Hey, who is that? Along with music and history you will hear voices in each decade of key baseball players and other important figures. In the Sunset this year listen for people like Babe Ruth, Frankie Frisch, Grover Alexander, Amelia Earhart, & Jesse Owens
Team Preview 2026: Sunset Division
1930’s Brooklyn Dodgers (Coach Smith & Coach Cook). Richard returns after leading the Astros in the Sunset last year. He and Shawn have won back to back years in the Seniors including last year’s Giants. The 1930’s Dodgers featured a bizarre one-year diversion (1937) where they suddenly wore green. We did these uniforms in the 2015 Seniors once. This time will be mixing in a little black for style. The 30’s Dodgers never went to the Series but did feature players like Leo Durocher and Al Lopez who would gain Hall of Fame status as managers later.
“Remembering History”
Learn a little something this year as we visit our three decades. Follow the “Remembering History” page on the website where we will post small pieces of info on players, ballparks, and events from the 1900’s, 1930’s, & 1980’s this year. Coach Coe and Jason Williams are committed to helping again. Read the page and starting in April at workouts and team practices if you are called on for a fact and have the answer you can win a nice prize like gift cards or old baseball cards. Have some nice T205 reprint cards this year to give out too.
Team Preview 2026: Majors Division
1900’s Washington Senators (Coach Dameron & Coach O’Toole). Sam and Ed return after coaching the Cubs last summer to a 2nd place finish in the division. The 1900-1909 Senators did not make the World Series at any point but did feature the start of Walter Johnson’s great career. This will be the first “all black” Senators since we did them in the Majors 10 years ago. A fairly popular choice, this will be the 11th Senators team in our 20 years.
Music Preview 2026: Sunset Division
As many of you know a big part of our “retro” experience is immersing our players & fans in authentic audio of the decades. Pictured below bandleader-composer Duke Ellington plays ball in front of their bus. Second, trumpeter-singer Louis Armstrong is far right pictured with the “Secret 9” team that he backed in New Orleans in 1931. Lots of mystery surrounding the players on that team. Both Duke and “Satchmo” will be part of the 30’s playlist at the park in the Sunset this year.
Team Preview 2026: Senior Division
1980’s Chicago Cubs (Coach McClelland, Coach Newberry, & Coach Binam). Chris and Wyatt coached the Pirates in the Seniors last year and Drew was coaching the Twins in the Majors last summer. The 80’s Cubs went to the playoffs twice losing both times. Their biggest star was Ryne Sandberg who sadly passed away recently. We’re sliding their sleeve logo to the chest for this year’s unis. Despite common local allegiances, this will be the 10th Cubs team in the league.
