OTTAWA, ON – Long time baseball umpire with Baseball Canada and Baseball Ontario, Don Gilbert is one of seven who will be enshrined in the Windsor/Essex Sports Hall of Fame. The Windsor native has been an umpire in the Baseball Canada’s national program since 1980 and is now the Umpire Supervisor with the baseball federation. “I’m extremely honoured,” says Gilbert. “That’s not supposed to happen to umpires,” he added jokingly. The 59-year-old has been an umpire at the national level for all age groups, including the Baseball Canada Cup and the Canada Games. He’s also garnered some international experience with appearances at the World Junior’s, World Cup, World University Games, Pan-Am Games and his personal favourite, the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. “The Olympics gave me a greater appreciation for professional umpires. The type of focus and concentration I had to do day in and day out for that tournament, it gave me a new found respect for professional umpires.” Gilbert has been named Umpire of the Year by Baseball Canada, as well as provincially and internationally, but he always takes the time to acknowledge that he was not alone on his journey throughout his career. “Something like this it always comes back to, not necessarily what I’ve done or where I’ve been, but who helped me to get there. There are a lot of fond memories, a lot of friends in different places around the world. That’s what it does for me.” But Gilbert is far from done with the umpiring business. Although his days as an umpire are basically over, he continues on as a supervisor. Some upcoming adventures include being assistant-supervisor of umpires at the World Junior Baseball Championship in Edmonton this summer, as well as being the Head-Supervisor for the Women’s Baseball World Cup in August in Japan. His selection in the Winsdor/Essex Sports Hall of Fame is certainly deserved; however Gilbert remains modest toward his honour. “I can be here all day telling you stories about what I did, where I’ve been and all the people who’ve helped me along the way, but Baseball Ontario and Baseball Canada where the people who catapulted my career.” The Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on November 8th, 2008 at the Caboto Club in Winsdor.
SAN DIEGO, CA – Luke Carlin could not have asked for a better Major League debut. The Ottawa, ON native, who was recently called up from Triple-A Portland made his Major League debut on May 10th with the San Diego Padres against the Colorado Rockies. But not only did Carlin get to start in his first Major League game, but he was in charge of catching the 350th career win of future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. However, Carlin says he wasn’t nervous catching the legendary pitcher, but he admitted that he was impressed with Maddux’s outing and that he was proud to be a part of a small moment in history. “There's nothing else like it. It's like all my dreams came true at once,” says Carlin in an interview with MLB.com. "It's a privilege, an honor.” Although the rookie catcher would go 0-for-3 in his debut, Carlin was able to fulfill a life-long dream and be part of something special. “How can anyone envision this?” Carlin got the news of his promotion on May 9th while in Omaha with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. Serving mostly as a backup in Triple-A, the 27-year-old says the news took him by surprise. “It was one of the last things on my mind," remembers Carlin. "Obviously, I've always wanted to get here. But I didn't even think I was in the mix. I wanted to play well and go about my business the right way. I was shocked.” Carlin was having a phenomenal start to the season. Beyond his usual solid defence, he was hitting .387 with three home runs and 11 RBI in 11 games before the call up.
OTTAWA, ON – Baseball Canada is now accepting nominations from all walks of life for the Rally Cap Player of the Week. During the 2008 baseball season, Baseball Canada will recognize the achievements and improvements of our young baseball players enrolled in the Rally Cap Program. From now until August 2nd, Baseball Canada will select one player per province per week to share with the country their exploits. “The Rally cap Player of the Week is a way to show how the kids are improving,” says André Lachance, Manager of Baseball Operations. “The goal is not performance, but getting the fundamental skills of baseball. We hope this will raise interest among the young players as well as get catch the curiosity of the communities who do not have the Rally Cap program in their area.” Any parent, coach, administrator, fan or friend can nominate a young player each week. In order to do so, simply fill the nomination form making sure you include the player's picture in their Rally Cap. The nomination form can be found on the home page of the website simply by clicking on the Rally Cap Player of the Week logo. At the end of the season, Baseball Canada will draw at random from all the Player of the Week nominees it receives for a trip for two to Toronto which includes transportation, one night hotel accommodations, two tickets for two Blue Jays games and two official Baseball Canada hats. The purpose of Rally Cap is to create an environment in which children and adults can have fun with baseball; teach baseball skills, rules and strategy to our players; model and teach competitiveness with an emphasis on good sportsmanship and promote increased self esteem among Rally Cap children and adults. Do not wait any longer. Nominate a youngster for the Rally Cap Player of the Week today!
CINCINNATI, OH – Joey Votto of Toronto, ON launched three home runs, tying a Canadian record in a 9-0 win by his Cincinnati Reds over the Chicago Cubs. The Reds first baseman joins Justin Morneau and Larry Walker to become the only Canadians to hit three homers in a Major League game. Morneau accomplished the feat in Chicago on July 6, 2007. Walker turned the trick three times, first in Montreal on April 5, 1997, then on April 28, 1999 in St. Louis and finally in Cleveland on June 25, 2004. “I’m like a kid,” says Votto in an interview with the Canadian Press. “I thought it was cool.” “Sometimes you have games like this and you don’t know why things go so well. You kind of go with the flow.” In total, the Reds hit seven home runs in the game, four of them in the second inning alone against Jon Lieber. Lieber became only the second Cubs pitcher in team history to give up four homers in an inning. The former Senior National Team member, who never hit more than one homer in a game before this one, got things started in that big second inning. His second dinger came in the fifth off of Sean Marshall and he would complete the trifecta an inning later with a two-run bomb against Sean Gallagher.
OTTAWA, ON – Since Baseball Canada launched the Realizing Baseball Ideals (RBI) initiative this spring, the office has been flooded with requests to accredit their association as “RBI Approved”. Now, Baseball Canada announces that the Winnipeg South Minor Baseball Association (WSMBA) is the first in the country to receive the RBI seal of approval. “I think it’s something that we can be very happy with. It indicates we got a stamp of approval from Baseball Canada which is always a good thing,” says WSMBA President Ian Wise. Winnipeg South implemented the Rally Cap program in its association in 2007 and currently have 97 players registered on 16 teams at that level. Girls make up 15 percent of players registered at that level, which is the highest percentage at any level in its association. “The objective has always been to get kids into baseball earlier,” explains Wise. “The Rally Cap program allows us to do that and we’ve been pursuing it and so far has been very successful.” Also, the association requires that at least one coach be certified at the initiation level of the NCCP as well as encourage all other coaches to pursue to complete the initiation certification. This year will also be the first season that Winnipeg South will implement the pitch count. Other that a few concerns with some coaches, Wise says the implementation was an easy process. “We certainly had no qualms in incorporating (the pitch count). I think it’s something that coaches can develop some strategies.” For 2008, RBI accreditations are awarded to local baseball associations that comply with the minimum operating standards in these four areas: Development Programs Membership with Baseball Canada Coaches Training Accessibility An Association can become a Baseball Canada RBI Approved Association in 2008 by meeting these following criteria: The Association is a member in good standing with the Provincial Baseball Association (as recognized by Baseball Canada) and with Baseball Canada through the registration of all players, coaches and umpires participating in the local Association. The Association is fully utilizing the Rally Cap program as the main Initiation program for kids between 5 and 8 The Association is providing support to its coaches by driving them to the Baseball Canada NCCP Programs ensuring that all Rep level coaches are properly certified as per Baseball Canada requirements and that all house league/community programs have at least one coach per team who have completed the Initiation Coach level at minimum The Association is providing access to all programs to boys and girls at any age The Association is in support and using the Baseball Canada pitch counts for the Mosquito and Pee-Wee divisions In order to become a RBI Approved association for 2008, simply send an email to rbi@baseball.ca addressing all the criteria mentioned above. Baseball Canada will contact you to approve your Association or to ask additional questions.
CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI – The PEI Amateur Baseball Association announced the hiring of Desi Doyle as Technical Director, a newly created post within the association. Doyle is a native of Fort Augustus, PEI, just east of Charlottetown, and will hold a number of responsibilities including; organizing players and coaches’ clinics for the local associations, assisting with coaching clinics, and working with the VP High Performance on the development of the Provincial team program. “The Associations are extremely excited to have Desi on board,” says Don LeClair, President of Baseball PEI. “This hiring will allows us to expand our services to our local associations,” adds Kelsey McIntosh, Executive Director of Baseball PEI. Doyle, who is a sixth grade teacher at Morell Consolidated Elementary School, will also assist with the implementation of the Winterball program in the province. His connections with the various schools in the province will make him an excellent representative for the program. “He is tied in with the Physical Education contact list in the province which puts him a good go to guy for the Winterball initiative,” explains McIntosh. Doyle is also an accomplished athlete and coach. On the athletic side, he has participated in two Canada Games with the PEI baseball team in 1993 and 1997. He was a past member of a PEI team which participated in the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League. He was selected to the NBSBL All-Star team for a matchup with the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League All-Stars and was the game’s MVP. He currently plays in the Kings County Senior Baseball League with the Morell Chevies where they are the defending champions and Desi the reigning league playoff MVP. On the coaching side, Doyle is a Level 3 Certified coach. He will be balancing his new position and his teaching position with his coaching responsibilities as an assistant coach with the PEI Midget team, the PEI Canada Games team.
It has been business as usual for Baseball Manitoba. Selection camps will soon be underway for the provincial Selects team, Local associations are in the middle of player registrations and the province is preparing to host one of the Baseball Canada National Championships. As far as registration numbers are concerned, they have been on the rise in Manitoba, especially at the grassroots level. “The Mosquito and Pee-Wee levels are doing really well. We’ve seen some good increase at those levels and we anticipate an increase again this year,” says Executive Director of Baseball Manitoba, Morgan de Peña. One of the reasons for the increase has been the implementation of the Rally Cap and Winterball programs in the province. The Rally Cap program has been very popular de Peña says but he admits that there are still some hurdles to overcome. “It’s tough because of the number of sports that have grown over the last few years. You don’t want to say that we’re in competition with each other, but in a sense we are. That makes it tough on everybody.” One tough competition will be the Baseball Canada Senior Championship in Brandon from August 21 to 24. This is not the first time that the city of Brandon has played host to a baseball championship. This will be the fourth time that the city will host the senior nationals, the last time being in 2006. They have also hosted the 1989 Baseball Canada Cup, the 1991 World Junior Baseball Championship and the 1997 Canada Games. “The organizing committee has been working really hard. They have a good frame of reference having hosted in 2006. They know what works, what doesn’t and they go from there.” It's just business as usual for Baseball Manitoba.
Despite having a population that continues to decline, Baseball Newfoundland continues to find ways to keep its registration numbers at a fairly elevated level. With so many Newfoundlanders migrating west, it can be difficult to find players every year. But the people at Baseball Newfoundland keep finding them. “The local associations really worked hard on keeping our registration numbers fairly stable,” says Baseball Newfoundland President Tom Devine. “The game sells itself here. We’d love to get the numbers up, but we just don’t have the bodies here.” Keeping registration numbers steady is not the only challenge for Baseball Newfoundland; the weather plays a big factor. While other provinces would be starting their seasons this time of year, Players have yet to be on the field in Newfoundland. “We have late summers over here; therefore it’s hard to get anybody on the field. In central Canada, spring sprinkles a little earlier so they can go out and do stuff, but here by the time we get started as far as programming we’re in June.” But the coaches and players do not wait until June to pick up a baseball. Selection camps are already in full swing for provincial teams. Also, coaches for the Newfoundland Selects team have been scouring the province to identify players to assemble for training camps. They use whatever methods at their disposal to keep competitive with the rest of the country. In future plans, Newfoundland and Labrador will play host to the 2009 Baseball Canada Fall Convention. Baseball Canada delegates will come into St. John’s where Devine says that they will provide the hospitality that only Newfoundland can offer. “We’ll have some Newfoundland flavour where entertainment is concerned.” “People usually enjoy coming here and I expect that when people come here for the convention that we’ll put on a good show.”
Baseball Nova Scotia has a big year ahead of them. The province will be the host for two Baseball Canada National Championships. They will play host for the Midget boys in Halifax, as well as the Senior Women in Sydney. On top of that, they have raised their efforts to improve programs at the grass roots level in the province. For example, the Rally Cap program has been pushed heavily as well as the NCCP coaches’ initiation program. “We’re really focusing on communication through to our local associations so they know the programs that Baseball Canada and we are offering,” says Baseball NS Executive Director Brad Lawlor. The baseball diamonds are also on their to-do list. The provincial association is in talks with local communities to improve field conditions in order to meet the Baseball Nova Scotia standard requirements. “A lot of the fields throughout the province were built a few years ago and the communities have sort of let them go. We’re trying to get out there and show them that we have minimum requirements for provincial events.” The new Baseball Canada RBI program is another initiative that Lawlor is trying to push to the local associations. “We’re looking at the RBI program so that we can offer all the Baseball Canada initiatives down to the local associations.” The 2008 season will be a busy one for Baseball Nova Scotia, but Lawlor says that it is not too difficult to see which direction the association is heading. “We’re definitely more grassroots focused, but we also have these national events that are going to come in and create some exposure for our high performance programs.”
OTTAWA, ON – The International Baseball Federation announced the schedule for the 2008 Women’s Baseball World Cup which will take place in Matsuyama, Japan from August 24th to 29th. The Canadian women will join Japan, Hong Kong and Korea to form Group B in the tournament. Group A will consist of the United States, Australia, Chinese Taipei and India. Canada’s preliminary schedule is as follows: August 24, 12:30 pm – Canada vs. Hong Kong August 25, 7:00 pm – Canada vs. Japan August 26, 12:30 pm – Canada vs. Korea The preliminary round will be followed by a second preliminary round on August 27th and 28th. The top two teams from each group will play two games, one against each team of the other group. The second preliminary round will decide the medal matchups. The medal games will take place on August 29th, starting with the Bronze Medal Game at 2:30 pm followed by the Gold Medal Game at 6:30 pm. This will be the third edition of the Women’s World Cup, which occur every two years. The first two installments in 2004 and 2006, Canada won the bronze medal. For the complete schedule of the tournament, click here.
