West Island youth baseball group barred from using home fields, claims discrimination

A Montreal West Island-based youth baseball organization claims it’s being unfairly discriminated against, alleging the Dollard-des-Ormeaux (DDO) and the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough are refusing to let them play on their fields.

As a result, players, parents and coaches say they must travel nearly an hour away for practices and games.

“I’m a resident of Dollard, I pay taxes, my tax dollars go towards maintaining these fields, but I’m not allowed to use them,” said Robert Kaymakcioglu, the coach of LS Beasts Baseball Club.

“I wouldn’t be able to take two or three of my local players over to the field and say, ‘Hey, let’s get in some extra work, let’s throw a little bit. Let’s take some extra batting practice.’ I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

The LS Beasts, a non-profit organization, forms three teams of players ranging from nine to 17 years old playing 24 games in the summer season. Players meet at Le Sandlot, a private baseball training centre in DDO owned by board president Menashi Mashaal.

Just days into the start of their season, the teams don’t have a field to call home, having to head to Verdun, Town of Mount Royal and Côte Saint-Luc.

“I find it troubling. I don’t understand why it happens,” said Mashaal. “Primarily these families are more, you know, they’re paying taxes and they have a right to use the public resources that are available to them. The mere fact that their children or these families decide they want to play with an organization outside of the local associations shouldn’t affect that, right.”

Mashaal and Kaymakcioglu claim the DDO and Pierrefonds-Roxboro and associations are refusing field time to them to “protect” their local sporting associations from “competition.”

The municipalities say that refusing field time to “outside organization(s)” has been in place for years.

“The truth of the matter is the numbers in baseball are declining. For the last two years they’ve been declining,” Mashaal said. “We just want to make sure that the sport doesn’t die.”

“I think that players also would have sort of a sense of pride of having their home games in one place where teams are coming from outside of the area, from Ottawa, from the U.S.,” added Kaymakcioglu.

Both note they have been in months-long exchanges with municipalities and baseball associations regarding using green space for their practices and games.

In an obtained email letter sent by Pierrefonds Baseball Club to Mashaal on Feb. 4, they state the fields are only for their leagues.

“We do not have the authority to give fields to anyone else, especially to travelling teams who are not affiliated with Baseball Quebec. We have discussed this previously and their/our answer stands as a NO,” said Pierrefonds Baseball vice-president of administration Zarouhi Kechayan in the email.

A separate email, sent by Mariam Laagad from the Office of the Mayor of the Borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro to the club, reads:

“Our recognition policy dictates that we should support only one association to avoid competing programs within our territory. Specifically for baseball, we follow federation guidelines for the sport’s development. LS Beasts is a non-recognized program and operates more as a traveling team. They have been using the Sandlot (a private company) and only recently formed the LS Beasts NPO. LS Beasts has been informed that they are drawing players away from the current local associations.”

Mashaal argues his teams are not in competition with local leagues because they’re offering a different type of baseball experience. The non-profit offers players “travel-ball”– an opportunity to play across Quebec, Ontario and the U.S., to provide a more competitive experience compared to other local clubs.

As a result, players as young as eight years old are subjected to play evening games at checkerboard locations. As of now, timeslots vary from Thursday and Saturday evenings — with many saying it is not an ideal time for youth to be playing baseball.

“Having a practice on a Thursday night in Côte Saint-Luc, which for a family travelling from the West Island, is a trek,” Kaymakcioglu said. “Those who are local to the West Island are increasingly frustrated because they don’t understand why being residents of the local area, they’re not able to have their kids play on the local fields.”

Both claim that the municipalities are aware that most of their players are DDO or Pierrefonds-Roxboro residents. In some instances, players even live across from an empty field, with Mashaal and Kaymakcioglu alleging some are not allowed to practise on it.

‘Let the kids play’

“Kids should be free to choose where they want to play,” Mashaal said. “We have no problem with kids who want to play in the local associations. We actually want kids to play wherever they feel happy to play, wherever they feel welcome to play, and wherever they’re enjoying themselves.”

“It’s quite clear that it’s really just a political decision. I think that the statement that we may be taking away players or that we’re a competing organization, that’s just kind of an excuse,” added Kaymakcioglu.

In a statement to Citynews Montreal, Dollard-des-Ormeaux Mayor Alex Bottausci said: “The city is currently reviewing this matter, and at this time, we/I am not in a position to provide further comment. Once the review process is complete, we will ensure that this group is informed accordingly.”

Neither Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough mayor Jim Beis nor the Pierrefonds Baseball Club responded to requests for comment on the matter.

The LS Beasts currently rent fields in Kirkland temporarily as they continue to search for home base.

“We’re going to continue searching for places to play. If kids have to travel, they’ll travel to practice. And if our home games have to be held in Cornwall or in Malone or some other parts of the city, they will be,” Mashaal said. “But the fight isn’t going to stop there.”