This Scarborough baseball game has lasted nearly 5 decades and it's still growing

Some people say it started in 1973, others remember it being 1968, but the original players all know one thing for sure: it's a baseball game that's spanned generations.

Conservatively, the first year has been pegged at 1978, which would make this the 45th season of the weekly Dorset Hardball baseball game. It's a game that began with a group of high school friends in Scarborough and has been carried on by some of their adult children. 

On Thursday night, some of the original players were back at Dorset Park for an alumni game. Daniel Re Jr., whose father is one of the game's founders, said he remembers being a toddler watching Daniel Re Sr. throw pitches. This time, he was now back at the park with his own son.

"I have a grandmother who lives across the street still — she's 86. My father's 65, so I grew up with this," he said. "In an era where so much changes and people move around and everything, to be able to come here at my age and do this... it's meaningful."

The game has grown beyond the group of friends who first took the field when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's father led the country. Today it includes newcomers to Canada who are more familiar with cricket and a couple Japanese students who are still learning English. 

In the early days, the game was played on different fields before the group got an official city permit to host it at Dorset Park. How exactly the game began is a bit fuzzy, which is obvious from their shirts that say "Dorset Baseball, est. 1978ish."

But Re Sr. puts it simply. 

"It's got to be 45-50 years ago anyway, but the guys just got together. We all hung out anyway, we've all hung out for 50 years."

Dave Walton, whose son Matthew has kept renewing their city permit for the game, says