USPBL ready for biggest season yet in 2022
When USPBL founder Andy Appleby decided to start an independent baseball league in 2016, he couldn’t have imagined facing the challenges he did the last two years.
As the United Shore Professional Baseball League was growing and thriving year-after-year, the COVID pandemic put a stop to plans of expansion.
While the league managed to still function in 2020 and 2021, it wasn’t the environment or setting that Appleby envisioned for his league.
Now, with the biggest challenges of the pandemic behind them, the league’s owner at CEO, and the USPBL, are recharged to make 2022 a landmark season.
“Honestly, I think we are going to have our best year ever,” Appleby said. “It’s almost a rebirth of our ballpark, almost like it’s opening up again. It’s really exciting. We’ve always been a place to escape to and just have great family fun, but I think there’s a heightened appreciation for it this year.”
The 2022 season will be a refocused look at providing a great experience for large groups of baseball fans, as well as a renewed dedication to the league’s players.
Already, Appleby has seen group reservations pile up for the upcoming season, as many companies in the area are eager to hold functions at Jimmy John’s Field.
“Companies haven’t really done their summer picnic for about three years now. Because of that, our phones are really ringing,” Appleby said. “It’s exciting to see all the interest that we’ve had in the ballpark and companies getting back to wanting to sort of reintroduce themselves to their employees. We’re selling a lot of our suites and a lot of our sponsorships and it’s just lining up to be a great year.”
The interest in events is also going to allow the USPBL to service over 1,000 different charities in 2022. Appleby thinks the league can even get up to 1,500 charities this summer.
From a player development standpoint, Appleby is hoping the eased restrictions on players can allow the league to get back to its main purpose. Previous years kept players from dressing together as a team or even being able to shower at the stadium.
“Because the last two years were COVID impacted, we weren’t really