Thursday, January 12, 2012

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DALLAS -- The Hall of Fame Baseball League (HOFL), a premiere collegiate summer league, will make its debut in 2012 with six teams across Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana. The charter members of HOFL are expected to include Fort Worth, Granbury, Mineral Wells, Tyler, Weatherford and Shreveport.

The league will be the summer destination for some of the top college baseball players in the country. Players from a number of major schools have already committed to play this year, including players from TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, LSU, Rice, Dallas Baptist University, Kansas, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston St. and New Mexico.

Players must have completed at least one year of college and have at least one year of college eligibility remaining. Participants will have the opportunity to hone their skills, gain experience, and compete against top players from across the country before numerous professional scouts. Numerous major league players who played college baseball have competed in these types of summer leagues. The North Texas area is home to the highest concentration of professional scouts in the United States.

The Hall of Fame Baseball League will be a wood-bat league, and feature a 44-game regular season schedule, an All Star Game in July and playoffs in early August. HOFL will feature light travel with teams concentrated in the North/East Texas region. Players will live with host families in each community.

Wayne Poage, the former Director of Athletics at Dallas Baptist University and the architect of the Texas Collegiate League, will be the league commissioner. Gary Elliston will serve as President of HOFL.

“We are dedicated to making the Hall of Fame Baseball League one of the top three collegiate leagues in the country,” said Elliston. “We believe it fills a void in this region.”

For more information, please contact Wayne Poage at 214-336-5865.

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