05/31/2026
May 31, 2026
Hall of Fame Induction Day
Meet the Class of 2026 Inductees!
Jamie Evans
Manager
Though a prodigy at catcher during his prep school years, the most lasting and influential contributions Jamie Evans has made to the game of baseball have come in the area of player development.
Evans was the youngest to-date active roster participant in the Eastern Shore Baseball League at age fourteen before playing two years for the Wicomico High School
varsity team. He transferred to Sussex Central in Delaware his senior year, who enjoyed an undefeated (21-0) season en route to a state championship. Evans went on to play for the premier JUCO program Manatee Community College in Bradenton, Florida, before an injury ended his baseball career as an on-field competitor.
Subsequently Evans transitioned into hosting premier player training schools, programs, and camps. He was a national trailblazer in organizing prospect showcases
so that scouts could discover talent for especially collegiate-level play. He is also credited with creating the first travel baseball organization on the Eastern Shore; the “Wave Runners" teams, spread over seven age groups, evolved into the Delmarva Shorebirds Travel Organization - the first such partnership of its kind with a Minor
League Baseball team.
Evans would later develop a velocity training program for pitchers that included the innovation of weighted balls for strength conditioning and rehabilitation. He was featured
on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and then ultimately was hired by the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the first Velocity Specialist in Major League Baseball history.
Today, after developing hundreds of players who attained college and professional playing careers, Evans now coaches his sons on a Snow Hill Little League team.
Mason Fluharty
Player
A native of Lewes, Delaware, Mason Fluharty attended Cape Henlopen High School. After leading the Vikings to their first-ever state title in 2018, the pitcher enrolled at Division I Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia). In 51 career college games there he recorded 108 strikeouts over 80.1 innings before being drafted in the
fifth round by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022. Following minor league stints with the Vancouver Canadians, New Hampshire Fisher Cats, and Buffalo Bisons, Fluharty made his major league debut in 2025. Posting a 5-2 record in his rookie season, the left-hander earned one save while striking out 56 batters over 52.2 innings (all in relief).
Toronto made it to the World Series in Fluharty's first season; he contributed to the club playoff run by appearing in eight postseason games. In five total October innings the rookie struck out eight for the American League champions.
Chris Hudson
Manager
Raised in Newark, MD, and educated at what is now Salisbury University, Chris Hudson has enjoyed a profound influence on local baseball as a dedicated volunteer and pioneer of travel baseball on the Eastern Shore. After serving as an assistant baseball coach at his alma mater, Stephen Decatur High School, and in myriad roles on behalf of Berlin Little League, Hudson contributed substantially to the development of
the Wave Runners travel organization and the Delmarva Shorebirds youth baseball/Lady Shorebirds youth softball programs. Hudson subsequently created the Mid-Atlantic Shockers and East Coast Royals, which evolved to become one of the select talent showcase entities there are today. At least 200 players Hudson coached or trained went on to collegiate or professional baseball careers.
Olen "Chubby" Jones
Player
A native and lifelong resident of Willards, Olen "Chubby" Jones began a lifetime of distinguished service to baseball and men's fastpitch softball as a boy learning the game in the cow pastures of his family's farm. His first taste of organized ball was for the Willards Lions Club team in the Jake Flowers Sandlot League. A 1959 graduate of
Pittsville High School, Jones won numerous MVP awards and made myriad all-star appearances while playing for competitive, travel, and tournament squads that included
not only the hometown team of Willards but Seidel, Jack's Sanitary Service, Heineken-Fineran, and Wilson Powell softball lineups as well. Highly regarded as a stellar third baseman that hit for both power and average during a playing career that spanned from 1957 to 1981, Jones' career on the diamond culminated with induction into the Maryland Fastpitch Hall of Fame in 1995. He additionally was nominated to join the Olympic
men's softball team as attempts were made to include that sport in the Summer Games during the 1970s.
Chubby Jones also spent years as a manager and coach at multiple levels of local baseball. His tenure includes teams such as the Mets (Salvation Army), Ruritan (East
Wicomico Little League), Kiwanis (Pony League), Mountain Dew (Junior East Little League), Lee Johnson (C**t Baseball League), and Willards (county league). Jones also umpired on behalf of several of these organizations as well as for Wicomico County high school baseball contests.
Gary Kendall
Manager
Born in Baltimore and now residing in Princess Anne, Gary Kendall has spent much of his career in baseball leading teams throughout the state of Maryland. He began his service to the game at the collegiate level coaching for Baltimore City
Community College, followed by two seasons with Towson University. Kendall then transitioned into major league scouting for the Baltimore Orioles and later the San Diego Padres. Returning to the Orioles organization, Kendall served as field coach with both Bluefield and Aberdeen before making his managerial debut with the Bluefield Orioles in 2004. He was promoted to manager of the Delmarva Shorebirds in 2005, where he
spent three seasons at the helm and then three more with the Aberdeen Ironbirds in the
same capacity. In 2011, Kendall managed the Bowie Baysox for the first of eight successful seasons that included five winning records and an Eastern League
championship in 2015. Concluding his time in the Baltimore farm system with two years as skipper of the Norfolk Tides, Kendall moved on to the Palm Beach Cardinals of the
Florida State League in 2022; there he enjoyed continued success, capturing a league title among three playoff appearances in four years as manager. Kendall now serves as bench coach of the team.
Brian Laird
Player
Born and raised in Princess Anne, Maryland, Brian Laird has left an indelible imprint on Eastern Shore baseball as a player, coach, and booster. When the modern
Eastern Shore Baseball League (ESBL) started play in 1983, Laird was from the beginning a prominent outfielder and first baseman for Peaky's; the following year he
was named league MVP as his team claimed its initial championship. In fourteen seasons with Peaky's and another nine with Tri-County as a regular player, he consistently ranked among ESBL leaders in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in, once hitting three homers in a game. During the same time period, Laird played part-time with Schweizer's in the Vic Willis semi-pro baseball league of
Delaware, leading the team in home runs and to the 1996 league championship while again hitting three round-trippers in a single contest. By approximately 2005, he
transitioned from a regular player to a coach with Tri-County, but remained available to swing a bat when needed: with a base hit in his most recent ESBL game during a plate appearance in 2018, Laird has now hit safely in four different decades of league play.
Today he continues to be involved in the ESBL as founder and coach of Laird Farms. A coach of Washington High School and American Legion Post 94 baseball over the past two-plus decades and founder of the Princess Anne Babe Ruth League, Brian Laird continues to significantly impact the lives of numerous players, field instructors,
and families on the Eastern Shore with his leadership, knowledge, and love of the game.
Tyler Webb
Player
A native of Nassawadox, Virginia, Tyler Webb excelled at all levels of competitive baseball including multiple seasons pitching in the major leagues. Webb spent three
years on the varsity team of Northampton High School before enrolling at the University of South Carolina. There he compiled a 15-7 record with twenty saves in a school-record 110 career appearances; the Gamecocks won two College World Series during
his four years on the team. Webb was recognized as a third-team All-American and second team all-SEC player before being drafted in the tenth round by the New York
Yankees in 2013. Rising through the organization with the Staten Island Yankees, Charleston RiverDogs, Tampa Yankees, Trenton Thunder, and Scranton/Wilkes Barre
RailRiders, Webb ultimately made his MLB debut in 2017. That same season he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, where he pitched briefly before signing with the San Diego Padres in 2018. Webb's greatest success and longest big league tenure came
with the St. Louis Cardinals, who acquired him later that season. He remained with the franchise until 2021, making six playoff appearances with the team.
Dave Williams
Player
Dave Williams, though born in Anchorage, Alaska, rose to prominence as a baseball
player within the confines of Delaware. An all-state pitcher and first baseman with Caesar Rodney High School in Camden, Williams continued his baseball career with
Delaware Tech. There he led the south campus squad to an appearance in the Junior College World Series before being drafted in the seventeenth round by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1998. After minor league stops with the Erie SeaWolves, Hickory Crawdads,
Williamsport Crosscutters, Lynchburg Hillcats, Nashville Sounds, and Altoona Curve,
Williams made his major league debut in 2001. In 2006, upon winning a career-high ten games the season prior, the pitcher was traded to the Cincinnati Reds before finishing his big league career with the New York Mets in 2007. Williams played one season in
Japan with the Yokohoma BayStars, subsequently returning stateside to serve as minor league pitching coach within the Toronto Blue Jays' farm system.
