Archive » Sports

Masters SloPitch honours Bob Luffman’s 10 years serving as president

September 21, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

After 10 years as League president of the Orangeville Wednesday Masters SloPitch League, Bob Luffman, is retiring from the position at the end of this season and focusing on playing the game.

The league honoured him with a presentation prior to this season’s championship game on Wednesday, Sept. 13.

Bob is a lifelong ball player who has been involved in several levels of the sport over the years.

“I’m 72, and I’m going to be playing for the next ten years,” Bob said. “I’d rather just come out and play instead of running the league. I’ve been playing organized baseball for 64 years.”

He started playing minor baseball when he was eight years old near Belleville.

“I played midget all-star for Belleville and Junior A for Belleville,” Bob explained. “I had a lot of fun throughout those years. I played a lot of baseball first, and that migrated into fastball in Brampton, and I met a lot of really good ball players there. I sort of switched to slo-pitch – at 40 I started playing slo-pitch.”

Bob took over the position of president 10 years ago when a controversy over increasing the dues to pay came up. He was sure they didn’t need to increase player fees.

“For ten years, I had the fee at $100,” Bob explained. “We saved money, we donated to charity each and every year. That’s sort out of how it came about, and everybody had confidence in me to do it – I had a background in it.”

At the time, Bob was new to Orangeville and knew staying involved in baseball would introduce him to more people.

“I was sort of new to the town and I’ve always played a lot of ball so I figured it was one of the best ways to get involved in the community,” Bob said. “I got to know a lot of good guys, it’s been really good for me. I’m not going anywhere, I’m going to keep playing.”

Bob is known around the diamonds as a talented ball player, and the league appreciates his efforts as president over the past decade to keep things running and organized.

Readers Comments (0)