It is an interesting time in the baseball world.

The Toronto Blue Jays are finally (don't look at the standings now) cashing in on years of misery by playing good, quality baseball, which in turn, is helping grow the game.

That's what Marysburg Royals player Curtis Strueby told me as we talked ahead of the Royals annual baseball camp last week.

Makes sense, too.

Throughout a regular day in Humboldt, you tend to see a fair share of Blue Jay blue around the city, with a lot of that coming at Humboldt's schools.

The Jays are cool again. A lot cooler than last time John Gibbons was the Manager, when they just pretended by signing big contracts like Troy Glaus, A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan - only to end up in the same spot each year.

I think this is true of any sport when you are growing up. You find role models in the game to follow and 'pretend' you are them.

When I was growing up, it was Joe Carter, hitting a walk-off home run over the left field wall, as the Jays won the World series.

Or, like one of my favourite commercials on the Stanley Cup Playoffs right now, the young kid announcing the ongoing street hockey game and it reflects back on Bobby Orr's legendary goal against St. Louis.

I guess to circle back to the original point of this, the Blue Jays have helped make baseball popular once again. Not that it never really left in full, but for all the hockey players you see leaving Humboldt to go on to great measures, that is slowly popping up in the baseball world.

Cole Bauml would be an excellent example. Drafted by the Detroit Tigers, he is now playing for the team's Class-A organization.

There are some youngsters just ten kilometres east of Humboldt in Muenster who could draw that path one day. Check an item off your summer sports list and see the AAA Midget Red Sox play. They are worth a couple hours.

The love of baseball is kept strong in Marysburg, where for 99 years now, they have circled the base path and helped keep baseball 'cool'.

I am impressed by what they have decided to do each spring for the past eight years, and that is offer a baseball camp to young kids to help grow the game.

This is a senior baseball team, they certainly have no obligation to take time out of their lives to contribute to the game, but due to their own inspiration - young or current - they do it too, for the love of the game.