Maple City Brewers Suspend Operations, Will Not Play

In an official release on the Maple City Brewers website, the team announced they have suspended operations for the rest of 2012, but hope to be back playing in 2012.

The release stated that “A number of factors led to the tough decision being made and the team hopes to undergo a radical change in the next 12 months.”

“The goal is to bring high level baseball back to the Chatham area,” said Assistant General Manager Joel Smith on the Brewers website.

He stated that the team hopes to provide a location for player who go away to school to return to chatham-Kent in the summer and continue playing a high calibre of baseball.

Smith described the situation as “a tragedy” for local baseball as Chatham now has no competitive baseball team for any player over the age of 18.

“With all of the money and restoration efforts put into Rotary Park, to not have any competitive teams [above midget] there is unthinkable. The players are out there, it’s a matter of commitment,” said Smith in the Brewers’ release.

The Maple City Brewers thank their fans and hope to be back on the field in 2013. The Brewers had planned to join the Can-Am Senior Baseball League this season.