About Roy Hobbs

What is Roy Hobbs Baseball?

Roy Hobbs Baseball is adult amateur recreation baseball, servicing teams and leagues across the United States. Roy Hobbs Baseball is affiliated with the Amateur Athletic Union through its work with Challenged Athletes and baseball.

Roy Hobbs Baseball is more than 500 teams across the USA, Canada, the Caribbean and in Europe, representing more than 7,500 players, who participate in Roy Hobbs-sanctioned leagues and tournaments each year.

Roy Hobbs Baseball is people who love the game of baseball and have determined that anyone, any age, can play the greatest of America’s team sports … regardless of age. Since the founding days, Roy Hobbs has expanded its view to include all ages 18 and over and to include for a number of years women’s teams as a specific division (although women are welcome in the men’s competition).

Roy Hobbs’ national tournament play is in these age groups:

• Unlimited 18-and-over
• Open 28-and-over
• Veterans 38-and-over
• Masters (48-and-over)
• Legends (55-and-over)
• Classics (60-and-over)
• Vintage (65-and-over)
• Timeless (70-and-over)

Roy Hobbs Baseball’s signature event is its annual World Series, which celebrates its 21st anniversary in October/November 2009 in Fort Myers/Lee County, Florida, at the spring training homes of the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox and historic Terry Park, site of MLB spring training from 1925 through 1987. Roy Hobbs Baseball and Lee County officials have agreements in place to keep the World Series in Lee County through 2019.

The World Series in Fort Myers has grown from the 54 teams in 1993 to 172 in 2008, when more than 3,200 players participated, and champions were crowned in 18 divisions. More than 600 games were played in the 2008 Roy Hobbs World Series. For the 2009 RHWS, 181 teams registered, including 3 in the new 70s Division.

Roy Hobbs Baseball has joined forces with Dave Henderson Baseball to form H2 Baseball, which has signed a 5-year agreement with Pima County (Tuscon) Arizona to promote amateur baseball events at the Kino Sports Complex there, beginning in 2010.

Who is Roy Hobbs?

Roy Hobbs is the character in the book, “The Natural,” by Bernard Malmud, written in 1949, and turned into a Hollywood production in 1984, thrusting the fictional baseball hero Roy Hobbs on the American public.

The book was hardly a best seller … the movie, however, has survived 25 years and remains a staple of cable television, with Robert Redford playing the role of Roy Hobbs. Ron Monks chose the name “Roy Hobbs” for his baseball organization in 1989. For Monks, the choice of Roy Hobbs was easy as he could see the parallels from the Roy Hobbs character to our own participation in baseball as adult amateurs. Roy Hobbs is drawn away from baseball at an early age and returns in later life to enjoy and appreciate the game for what it is. The history of Roy Hobbs as a fictional character is interesting since it brings several of our oldest mythological stories to new life.

The Arthurian legend is a main theme throughout the movie. Like Arthur’s sword Excalibur, Roy Hobbs Bat, “Wonderboy,” holds mythical powers. It was even created from an act of nature, being made from a tree struck by lightening.

Roy’s quest is to become the greatest baseball player ever. Roy is tempted by a beautiful woman and, by allowing himself to be drawn from his “quest,” he is punished by being injured; disabling him from playing the game he loves.

Roy is driven to succeed finally, not through a quest for personal achievement, but through a desire to get Pop Fisher (The Fisher King) his grail, the pennant. Roy’s talent is finally realized through the unselfish pursuit of a goal for another person.

Roy fights his way back to the game as an older adult and, when tempted again, he chooses to protect the integrity of the game rather than sell it out for financial security.