The ambitious child of Italian immigrants, Carmen Bush enjoyed playing and organizing sports as a youngster. When he was just 10 years old, he organized a league of street teams in Toronto. Bush honed his diamond skills to the point where he was selected to pitch in the esteemed Nickel Belt League in Sudbury for a season.
But Bush will be most remembered for his work as a volunteer, coach, manager, umpire and administrator in Toronto. His affiliation with the Columbus Boys Club began in the 1930s and lasted his entire working life. The respected baseball man also spent over 50 years as secretary treasurer and registrar with the Toronto Baseball Association.
Bush helped organize a number of Toronto baseball leagues and organizations, including the Boys Club League, the old Toronto Minor Baseball Association, the Oldtimers Baseball Association and the Western City Baseball Association. For his efforts, he was named a Life Member of the Ontario Baseball Association in 1996. Though he passed away in 2001, Bush’s legacy lives on in the thousands of young athletes he inspired and influenced in his long career in amateur baseball.
