Shawn and John Gillespie are pleased to officially announce the purchase of the Stratford Intercounty baseball team from the Ross family. The team has been renamed the Stratford Nationals. League approval for the transfer of ownership has been obtained and an agreement has been reached with Stratford Minor Baseball Association for the Nationals to play their 2006 schedule at National Stadium.

The league plans to release the 2006 schedule before the end of 2005.

The goal of the Nationals will be to provide the City of Stratford and surrounding areas family oriented and community based sports entertainment.

The Stratford Nationals Baseball team will focus on three main objectives, fielding a competitive team, linking the team to the community and developing and providing playing opportunities for local players.

Building on the base of current players the Nationals plan to develop a competitive team by signing additional players with previous league experience, ensure all local and area players are identified and have an opportunity to play for the Nationals, recruiting across Canada and using the league allowed limit of imported players. The goal in 2006 is to play competitive and entertaining baseball and to make the playoffs.

The Nationals will continue to work closely with Stratford Minor Baseball.

In addition the Nationals plan to support local community organizations in fund raising activities. The Nationals are in the process of developing a community based advisory committee that will assist in linking the team to the community. Every effort will be made to support local business by purchasing goods and service with locally. The Nationals plan to share their success with community charities by making donations on behalf of National supporters. Through these and other activities the Nationals plan to make themselves an integral component of the Stratford and area community.

Your Community, Your Team

The Nationals have started to put in place activities that will ensure local players have the opportunity to develop skills and play baseball.

Identification and recruiting of local players has started. With the assistance of Stratford Minor Baseball a baseball school (flyer enclosed) has been organized and will start operation shortly. The baseball school will assist local players in developing baseball skills and provide an opportunity for the Nationals to evaluate players.

About Us:

John Gillespie
John lives with his wife Jane in St. Joseph John retired from the federal civil service in 1997 after twenty-four years as an Employment Counselor and Employment Centre Manager. Since that time he has run a consulting business specializing in labour market analysis, project development and project implementation and delivery related to labour market adjustment. He also owns an aviation related business.

Shawn Gillespie
: Shawn lives near Lucan with his family and operates a landscaping business. In addition, he has five years professional baseball experience as a player, has been an associate scout for a major league organization and more recently has been the General Manager for the London Majors a ICB league team. Shawn played for two years in the league before his professional experience and played for London during the 2005 season. Shawn has been appointed as General Manager and will be responsible for all aspects of the organizations operations. In addition to being General Manager, Shawn plans to play for the Nationals in the 2006 season.