Breslau Merchants Softball Team

Breslau Merchants were a senior softball team that competed in the North Waterloo Rural Softball League. This was an outlaw league with orthodox pitching, legal balk, hidden ball trick and lead offs. All players had to be residents or employed in the community in which they played. The league ran for 60 years from 1931 to 1991 – the oldest continuous organized softball league in Canada.

In 1947 the team acquired land, and along with local store owner Roy Schiedel, they collected money from businesses and residents to turn the land into a ballpark. They ploughed, seeded, and built fences and backstops. Schiedel sponsored the team providing uniforms and gear. Players volunteered their time and money to care for and improve the ballpark. In 1964 the Breslau Recreation Association was formed and assumed ownership of the ballpark.

Breslau Merchants won the North Waterloo Rural Championship in 1945 and 1948, and from 1951 to 1960 they won 10 consecutive championships. They also won in 1971, 1972 and 1978.