New York City Metro Baseball League History

Twenty seasons, told in four eras

The league dates itself precisely. It opened play in April 2006 with eight teams under co-executive directors Joel Marcano and Kenric Tom, reached 22 teams within a year, and grew past thirty. That first administration also created the NYC Metros, a league travel team that went as far as Florida for the NABA World Series, staged all-star and championship games at minor league ballparks, and held an end-of-year awards ceremony.

From 2013 to 2014, Matthew Shields and Bryan Burney ran what the league calls house cleaning -- restructuring and internal organisation, work it describes as largely unknown because almost none of it was visible. From 2015 to 2018, under Shields, Christen Colon and Anthony Catalano, the changes were visible: a new playoff format arrived after several rounds of iteration, the generic league ball was replaced with a branded one, the championship trophy and awards were upgraded, the all-star game returned to a minor league stadium, and the travel side was rebooted as the Metro Stars at Atlantic City on Labor Day 2017. The league's own account of that period is unusually candid, describing a commissioner facing a gloomy future riddled with uncertainty and dissent.

Since 2019 the league has run under Christen Colon alone, and it lists what that produced: a new website, an expanded expansion programme, a 35-and-over Metro Stars team, formal board procedures, an inter-league all-star game against Zorilla, an equipment drive, a March Madness softball fundraiser, two new fields, awards night back, a first pre-season kick-off party, and an umpire evaluation form built with its officiating partner.

Very few adult leagues can name their own directors by era. Keeping that on a High Cheese league page means the 2006 roster and the 2026 standings sit at the same address under the same name, which is what makes a twentieth season provable rather than remembered.