District 20 to hold McVey Memorial Tournament

Jim McVey Sr. lived for baseball and the kids who played it. Starting Saturday, the kids of District 20 will play baseball for McVey.

As previously reported in the BCR, District 20 will conduct the inaugural Jim McVey Sr. Memorial Tournament in his honor at nine sites around the Illinois Valley. The tournament will feature regular season-rostered teams at the Minor League (9- and 10-year-old) and Little League (11-12) levels.

Max Lauritzen, McVey’s longtime friend, said this is the kind of tournament McVey would like.

“He’ll probably be up there shouting orders to us,” Lauritzen said.

Tim Trevier of Ladd, who has succeeded McVey, his uncle, as District 20 administrator said he would be pretty happy about the tournament.

“There’s not a better fitting way to honor him than this,” Trevier said. “He had 20-some years in it. He deserves it. If anybody deserves it, he deserves it.

McVey, who had been the District 20 administrator since 1993 and involved with the Central Regional Senior Baseball Regional for 25 years, passed away April 10 after an extended illness with esophageal cancer. He was 55.

In addition to honoring McVey, Lauritzen and Trevier said the tournament will serve to extend the season for the kids who don’t make the all-star teams.

“It will be a good thing for kids who would never experience tournament play,” Trevier said. “If it keeps baseball alive, it’s a good thing.”

Trevier said the McVey Tournament could be moved up next year to be held in the middle of the regular season, which could draw even more teams. Lauritzen would like to expand the tournament to include softball for the girls next year.

The McVey Tournament is set up in regional sites at both age levels in a double-elimination format. The winners of the six regional sites will advance to the championship round beginning July 28 with the minor league tournament held at Ladd and the little league at Washington Park in Peru. Losses from the regionals will not carry over into the double-elimination championship round.

Lauritzen said there are 33 teams signed up to play in the minor league tournament and 32 in the little league, with two 11-12s recently dropping out. He believes every league is participating, including Princeton, Spring Valley and Ladd. Some town teams may combine having lost players advancing from the district champions to sectional play.