GOLD COAST, Australia – The beginning of the end starts now. The Senior National Team is at the National Training Complex for the Australian National Baseball Team for an exhibition series against the Aussies in preparation for the Final Olympic Qualifier in Taiwan from March 7-15. The weather has not been completely cooperative so far with drizzles in the area and the forecast calling for rain for the next few days, but that will not stop the Canadians who held their first full team practice today The players not only have to get ready for the upcoming tournament, but they also have the task of getting into game shape. Most of the players have not touched a ball or have swung a bat since the end of last season. This doubles the challenge on the Canadians, something the coaching staff and the players are well aware and are ready to face. “We have some of the best players out of Canada here,” says Senior National Team Manager Terry Puhl. “They know their talent and it’s a matter of letting their talent come through and see where it takes us.” The process of getting into game shape is a little trickier with the pitchers as the staff will need to monitor them in order not to extend their arms too quickly. “It’s a tough situation with the timing of (the qualifier), but alot of the guys have been throwing sides and batting practices already with their clubs so it makes things a little easier,” says Pitching Coach Denis Boucher. “We’re going to keep a close eye on (the pitchers) and we’ll start the exhibition games by limiting them to a couple innings a piece and then move on up to five innings if we can in the next few weeks.” So far, the process to get the players into game shape has been going smoothly, but the trick is to get them ready a bit of a quicker pace. “We’re going to do as much as we can and as much as they want and we’re going to take care of them as much as possible,” says Coach Rob Ducey. One thing is for certain. The goal at the end of this trip is to qualify for the Olympic Games this summer in Beijing and Canada will certainly be ready for that.
Canada’s smallest province, both in population and land mass, continues to become a big player in baseball the last few years. The registration numbers continue to grow and the Executive Director of PEI Amateur Baseball, Kelsey MacIntosh says that the last six weeks have been exceptionally busy. “We have a new V.P. Administration, Karen MacIntyre. We’ve approved a new constitution. We’ve had all our meetings with our minor league commissioners. We are having our 2007 Awards Reception on March 4th. We have set our calendar for the year, which will be released in March and we’ve secured a few contract agreements with sponsors,” says MacIntosh. Set in PEI’s calendar will be the Junior National Championship in Charlottetown from August 14-17 and from all accounts, the preparations are all on track. “We’ve secured a number of major sponsors, including a title sponsorship. Our field preparations for the two renovated fields went well last fall and will be ready for the season and everything else is going according to schedule.” The coaching staff for the junior team that will represent the province at that tournament, as well as the coaching staffs for all other provincial levels have been selected. Also, the Midget, Junior and Baseball Canada Cup players are already beginning their training camps. Business also continues to be on the up swing as the association signed a sponsorship deal with Rawlings to be the official baseball for the province and they are in the process of bringing in a new Technical Director. “Essentially, the person would be responsible for Winterball, Rally Cap and help organize clinics as well as become a learning facilitator.” MacIntosh sees the growth of the association over the years and appreciates and acknowledges the efforts put forth by everyone involved. “It’s definitely been a busy last few weeks.”
OTTAWA, ON – Baseball Canada was officially introduced as one of the 16 teams that will be participating in the second edition of the World Baseball Classic which was announced today by Major League Baseball. The Classic will take place in March, 2009 and will allow the best Major League Baseball players to represent their country in international competition. The 16 teams announced are the same as the inaugural tournament in 2006 with talks of expanding that number for the 2013 edition of the Classic. “We are very excited to be once again invited to participate in such a high caliber tournament and we look forward to showcasing some of the best baseball talent in this country and to compete against the best in the world,” says Baseball Canada President Ray Carter. A round-robin format will allow each country to play teams within its pool once. The top two teams from each pool after Round 1 will advance to Round 2, with the top two teams from each pool moving on to the semi-finals. Both the semi-finals and championship game will use a single-game elimination format. This time around, all four first round competitions will be played outside the United States leaving the door open for Toronto to potentially host for the first round. Games in the second round will take place in the U.S., which will also host both semi-final contests and the championship. An announcement on the host cities will be made next month. Baseball Canada’s field staff and team roster will be announced at a later date.
OTTAWA, ON – Baseball Canada announced today the roster that will represent Canada at the Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Taiwan from March 7-15. Among the 24 players selected by Baseball Canada for the event are five former members of the 2004 Olympic Team who are 2B Stubby Clapp (Windsor, ON), LHP Mike Kusiewicz (Ottawa, ON), OF Adam Stern (London, ON), OF Ryan Radmanovich and OF Jeremy Ware (Guelph, ON). Also among the players selected, 17 will be returning from the team that represented Canada at the IBAF World Cup this past November. The roster will be a mix of experience and youth. “We are very excited about the blend of experience and young rising talent on this roster,” says Greg Hamilton, Director and Head Coach of National Teams. “With an Olympic bid at stake, we anticipate a very competitive tournament and look forward to challenging ourselves against some of the world’s best baseball playing nations.” The Olympic Qualifier will feature eight countries in a round-robin formatted tournament where the top three teams will earn the final spots for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing this summer. Canada will be competing for one of those three spots with Korea, Chinese Taipei, Australia, Mexico, Germany, South Africa and Spain. If Canada qualifies, they will join Cuba, United States, Japan, Netherlands and host China who have already qualified. Before heading over to Taiwan, the Senior National Team will make its way to Brisbane, Australia from February 24th to March 4th for a training camp and exhibition series against the Australian National Team at their national training complex. Click here to see the entire 24-man roster and schedule of the Senior National Team for the Final Olympic Qualifier.
OTTAWA, ON – Human Kinetics Publishers Canada is offering a chance to win the book Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way, autographed by Cal and Bill Ripken. The book combines the Ripkens’ knowledge and experiences in an all-inclusive guide to coaching children ages 4 to 15+. For your chance to win the autographed copy of this book, simply answer the following question: · When Cal Ripken’s record breaking streak ended, how many consecutive games had he played? Send your answers along with your name to rebeccal@hkusa.com before February 15 at 5 pm EST. There is only one entry per person. The winner will be chosen at random from all those who answered the question correctly before the deadline. The winner will be notified via e-mail at the conclusion of the contest.
WINNIPEG, MB - Baseball Canada, along with Baseball Manitoba, are pleased to announce that two Manitoban umpires have been selected to officiate at the 2008 Olympic Games this summer in Beijing. Brian Hodgson (Winnipeg, MB) and Ron Shewchuk (Minnedosa, MB) were selected by Baseball Canada and the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) to be members of the 16 person staff to umpire the games. This will be the first time for either of these officials at an Olympic Games. Hodgson and Shewchuk have extensive international experience, as both officiated at Olympic Qualifying Tournaments – Hodgson at the 2005 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona, and Shewchuk at the 2006 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Cuba. For Hodgson and Shewchuk, this will be the crowning accomplishment in their great umpiring careers. Hodgson has umpired 14 national championships and six international tournaments. In addition, he has done many provincial championships and has officiated in the Northern League of Professional Baseball since 1993. Shewchuk has also been umpiring in the Northern League since its inception, and has 11 Baseball Canada National Championships and seven international events to his credit. Both have earned Baseball Canada Umpire of the Year honours; Hodgson in 1999 and Shewchuk in 2001. The baseball portion of the Olympic Games will take place from August 13-23 in Beijing, China. Canada will be competing for a spot at the Olympics along with Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Chinese Taipei and Korea in the Final Olympic Qualifier, March 7-15 in Taiwan. The top three from the qualifier will advance to the Olympic Games. Other Canadian Umpires who have officiated Olympic Games include: 2004 – Don Gilbert (Ontario); Athens, Greece. 2000 - Robert Bellerose (Quebec); Sydney, Australia 1996 – Glen Johnson (Manitoba); Atlanta, United States 1992 - Ozzie Chavarria (British Columbia); Barcelona, Spain 1988 - Jim Cressman (Ontario); Seoul, South Korea
OTTAWA, ON – The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame has announced the class of 2008 to be inducted and Gladwyn Scott, former Vice-President of Baseball Canada, will be enshrined along with former Toronto Blue Jay Tony Fernandez, Billy Harris and Paul Widdrington into the Hall. A long time volunteer at the grass roots level, Scott, from Hamiota, Manitoba, was the Vice-President for Baseball Canada from 1986 to 1989 and President of Baseball Manitoba from 1983 to 1987. “This is a wonderful honour, real icing on the cake for my 60 year love affair with baseball,” says Scott in a statement form the Hall. “Good things happen if you wait long enough.” Scott was a coach with the first ever Canadian National Team, which competed at the Pan-Am Games in 1967. In that tournament, Canada defeated power house Cuba by a score of 10-9 which was the first loss suffered by the Cubans in 12 years. He was also the General Manager of the Junior National Team which won a bronze medal at the World Junior Baseball Championships in 1987 in Windsor, Ontario. He would serve in the same capacity for the World Juniors in 1988 in Sydney, Australia and in 1989 in Trois-Rivières, Québec. Scott will be officially enshrined in a ceremony on June 28, 2008 at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Mary’s Ontario.
The summer is quickly approaching and Baseball New Brunswick is getting ready for another season of exciting baseball in the province. For New Brunswick, the lead up starts in the schools. “The Winterball program has been huge for us,” says Jason Dickson, Executive Director of Baseball NB. “Getting the Physical Education teachers on board was key and now that they’re understanding the LTAD program (Long Term Athlete Development) which matches a lot of the ideals that they want to incorporate, the Winterball program fits into their class format and allows us to encourage kids to play baseball.” In New Brunswick, there are more kids registering to play baseball in the southern part of the province compared to the north. A factor being that the three major metropolitan areas of the province, Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton, are in the south. But along with Winterball, Baseball NB is planning a Baseball Caravan with the focus of hitting the northern communities and trying to increase the numbers. “Our high performance coaches, coaches who deal with grass roots, our women’s baseball committee, officials committee and our coaching coordinators would all be involved and we would hit some major spots in the province,” explains Dickson. “This is a big push for recruiting and whoever comes out to any of our presentations, we will have people handling any and all aspects that anyone would like to get involved with whether it is coaching, officiating or scorekeeping.” The biggest efforts for recruitment in New Brunswick happens during the winter and spring months and like all the other provincial associations, Baseball NB is always on the lookout for more volunteers. “We always stay active in communities as far as recruiting volunteers and seeing at what level they would like to be involved and creating a good environment for them,” says Dickson, “and we also make sure that our coaches are certified with the NCCP (National Coaching Certification Program).” As Executive Director, Dickson coordinates most of the initiatives for Baseball NB, but he’s more than simply a coordinator. He himself tours the province and gives presentations and demonstrations, particularly for Winterball. As a former Major League Baseball player, he uses that status to help with the presentations. “I like doing this because it gives you an opportunity to add some character to the program and talk to the kids about staying in school and other things.” All those efforts lead into the summer where the coordination of registration, certification and organizing tournaments takes place, which is pretty much the status quo for Dickson. “Going into the summer, it’s business as usual.”
OTTAWA, ON – Canadian baseball team at the age levels of 9-12 and 13-16 are invited to apply for the 24th Junior International Baseball Tournament of Sala Baganza in Sala Baganza, Italy. The tournament, organized by the Sala Baganza Baseball Club, will take place from the 6-10 August, 2008. A team must consist of no more than 16 members (14 players, 2 coaches) and must apply for the ragazzi division, which is for palyers aged 9-12, or the cadetti division, which is for players aged 13-16. The registration cost is 200 EUR (approx. $300 CDN) with an additional 200 EUR for a security deposit in case of damages or for a team that would be a no show at the tournament. The deposit will be refunded at the end of the tournament. Accommodations and meals are included, but travel costs are at the expense of the teams. All costs are only to be paid after notification of a successful application. The deadline to apply to participate in the tournament is April 15, 2008 and you must specify if you are applying for the ragazzi division, the cadetti division or both. Teams will be notified of a successful application by April 30, 2008. To apply to participate in the tournament or for more information, send an e-mail to torneo@salabaganzabc.com. For more information on the Sala Baganza Baseball Club, visit their website at www.salabaganzabc.com.
OTTAWA, ON – The Baseball Canada National Teams Awards Banquet and Fundraiser auction was once again a complete success. However, there are still some items remaining and Baseball Canada wants to give you a second chance to win Starting now until 4 pm EST on Thursday, January 31, bids will be taken on all remaining items which include four tickets to a University of Michigan Wolverines football game in Ann Arbor. This is only a peek into the extraordinary items that still remain. Click here to see the complete list of auction items. To bid, please send an e-mail with your name, item number, bid and phone number with subject line “gala auction” to media@baseball.ca. Bids will be updated once daily at 4 pm EST. Auction winners will be notified on Friday, February 1. Shipping charges will apply.
