Who is popular today?

When your championship trophy has been contested for 99 years, a league has every right to claim staying power and be proud of its longevity. Which is exactly what the Victoria Mavericks senior amateur baseball league has had. The R.P. Rithet Cup, established in 1922, is awarded to the Mavericks League playoff champion. Only the Vancouver Island Soccer League’s Jackson Cup, established in 1915, and Vancouver Island Rugby Union’s Barnard Cup, established in 1911, are older as trophies awarded annually in Island team sports.The 2021 best-of-three Rithet Cup final is on this week with the Athletics meeting the Giants at Lambrick Park. Game 1 was Tuesday night with Game 2 on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. Game 3, if needed, will be Friday at 5:45 p.m.“We were blown away by the number of players who wanted to get back into it and play this year,” said Jeremy Campbell, the Athletics’ third baseman, who is also president of the ­Mavericks League.The league normally has six teams which play 20 games each. The 2020 season was dark, of course, due to the pandemic. Nobody knew what to expect for this year. There were enough players interested to form four teams with each playing 12 games in the regular season.“We usually start May 1 but this year it was at the end of June because we had to wait until the new regulations were announced,” said Campbell.The Dodgers went 6-4-1, Athletics and Brewers 6-5 and Giants 3-7-1. The Athletics beat the Brewers 2-0 in the best-of-three playoff semifinals while the last-place Giants upset the regular-season champion Dodgers 2-1.Notable players in the final include former Victoria Seals pro Charlie Strandlund, former Victoria HarbourCats player Connor Russell, along with veterans Sean Murphy and Lance Burrows of the Athletics and ex-HarbourCat Jared Anderson on the Giants.“We also have current college players who are going back to their teams next week,” said Campbell.There is annually a ­Mavericks all-star team selected to ­contest the B.C. senior men’s ­championship, from which the winner advances to the ­Canadian championship, but both the ­provincials and national were cancelled this year.The Mavericks have won six B.C. championships and two Canadian titles.cdheensaw@timescolonist.com