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1960 - As it Happened:

January

• The London Gems hire Steve Perkins to be their General Manager, he in turn brings in 38 year old Harry Tomlin to manage the Gems on a 1 year contract.
• Tony O'Leary takes the GM reigns at Markham, as Owner Dan Reader entrusts O'Leary with a 2 year contract and limited goals.
• Stone Dand becomes the leagues highest earner and the first player to break the $30,000 barrier, as Toronto pen the 28 year old Pitcher to a 1 year term earning $32,800
• The leagues first draft pool is revealed for the upcoming event in March. At the same time lots were drawn to decide the draft order, as follows:
• 1 - Toronto, 2 - London, 3 - Winnipeg, 4 - Ottawa, 5 - Quebec City, 6 -Markham

February

• Winnipeg announced the leagues first foreign player as 19 year old Japanese 1st baseman Kiyoshi Ando inks a 1 year deal at the league minimum.
• Draft experts predict that 17 year old Corentin Guo, a shortstop out of Queens College (ON) will be the first draft pick ever in the CLB.

March

• Toronto surprise the league by selecting (C) Curt Killy out of Wilfrid Laurier (ON) as theirs and the leagues 1st draft pick. 16 year old Killy has signed and joined up with the Cardinals for the 1960 season.

April

• Spring Training begins as the teams have 1 weeks worth of games to prepare themselves for the upcoming season.
• Pre-season predictions are in and it looks like the 'big spenders' are those favoured as the Toronto Cardinals (the only team with a payroll exceeding $1,000,000) are set fair to win the National Division. Surprisingly Ottawa are given the nod in the Federal League over Q.C. and Winnipeg.

May

• 25 games played and there is a definite shape appearing in the National Division as the 15-10 Markham Bears are just 1 game ahead of Toronto (14-11). London have fallen apart and hold a CLB worst' 9-16 record.
• In the Federal League things remain as close with Winnipeg (14-11) just a game up on Q.C. (13-12). Whilst its the fancied Ottawa Chops at 10-15 who have all the work to do.
• 16 year old Yves Hennequin (TOR) has surprised the league with his showing in the month of May as he posts a .418AVG, driving in 9RBIs. Selected in the 2nd round of the draft by Toronto, it appears they may have found themselves a future star.
• Only 3 homeruns are clubbed this month as London smack 2 of them via Burton and Kowalchuk. The 3rd comes off the bat of Winnipeg's Tim Rancourt.
• Jacques Colborne etched his name into the leagues history books as he started hot and only got hotter as he rattled of a 21 game hitting streak. Unfortuately for the Chops 1st baseman his streak ended in a 9-3 loss to Markham.

June

• Toronto and Markham continue to dance at the top of the National Division as they swap places but remain within a game of each other. London meanwhile slip further back and at 21-31 are unlikely to break the .500 plateau.
• Meanwhile its Q.C. who have taken a grip of the Federal Divison by 3 games as they hold the divisions only winning record at 29-23. The Chops at 26-26 have rallied, but Winnipeg who are now 6GB are in a miserable slump.
• Christian Mullally (WIN) ignites the league with a mammouth 36 game hitting streak, to surpass the achievement of Colborne from May. He will take this run into June, although the Storm will need more than this effort to save their season.
• Relief Pitcher Bill Bagnall of Ottawa deserves a mention this month as he held his opponents to a .369AVG, posting a 3.84ERA and a 6-3 record from 24 appearances.
• Just 2 more homeruns this month as 16 year old Curt Killy of Toronto slugs his first in his career. The other also came from a Card' in the name of Kyle Lappin.
• The league which is becoming known for its 'contact over power' lineups, has yet to see a Pitcher keep a shutout. Its a hitter friendly league, with smallball at the point.

July

• Toronto and Ottawa confirm what the experts thought to be true as they won their respective divisions in an anti-climatic final week. The Cardinals raced on to 41 wins, beating out Markham by 4 games. Whilst Ottawa bounced back to edge out Q.C. by 2 games as both breached the 40 win barrier but it was the Chops who got their fill.
• Mullallys hitting streak came to an end at 40 games as London finally shut down the Storm outfielder.
• Pascal Dubois of Toronto claims 2 home runs in the month as he tops the charts to end the season as the only player with more than one hit to go the distance. In total the league saw just 9 homerun blasts this season.

Numbers to Chew on

• Only 3 of 43 stolen base attempts were successful!
• The combined league batting average was .375
• The leagues pitchers combined for an ERA of 4.45, with just 202Ks and no Pitcher completing a game
• Toronto led the league with just shy of 200,000 attendance for the year. At the other end of the spectrum, London barely break the 6 figure sum.

Final Standings