HISTORY

Metro East Recreational Baseball League History

The high school recreational baseball league was born in Collinsville as a division of the CBSL. I am not sure if the "High School Baseball Division" was part of the original Baseball & Softball league, which started in 1961. I know, however, that it existed in the 1980's. I have been the caretaker since 1997. By this time teams from Troy had been playing Collinsville teams for several years. Today, we have teams in O'Fallon, Highland, Belleville, Millstadt, Troy, Godfrey, Dupo, East St. Louis, Edwardsville, Maryville and Collinsville. Discussions with other communities are ongoing.

Our goal has always been to offer high school kids an opportunity to play baseball during the summer. Anyone that is going to be a "freshman" in the coming "fall" school year, or anyone that graduated high school in the spring is eligible to play in our league. We will have players aged 14 to 18. We are, now, allowing "Legion Players" on these summer recreational teams.

Most of our players will be players that did not make their High School teams. Complete teams, as well as individual players, are welcome. We play a 16-18 game season, followed by a "single elimination playoff". We also have an annual "All-Star Game" in late June. The season starts during the middle of May for some teams. Everyone is playing by the first week of June. Teams will play 2-3 games per week. Teams should expect to play one or two doubleheaders during the course of their season.

The scheduling is based on field availability information provided by each Park District. With 23 "High School Age" teams participating in 2017, we went to a two league system. This was followed by our "World Series." More teams are expected to be participating in 2018.

The 7-8th grade division had 9 teams in 2017. More teams are expected in 2018.