You know about the Winterball program through your school and you know how fun and exciting playing Winterball is. Now, with the help of Major League Baseball, Winterball wants to know who your favorite Major League team is. MLB.com is conducting a poll to find out which Major League team is the favorite in Canada. You can vote for your favorite team at www.mlb.com/winterball and check out all the other fun stuff you can learn.
His career is certainly exceptional. Seven Gold Gloves, Five All-Star Game appearances, three Silver Slugger Awards, three time National League Batting Champion and the first ever Canadian to be named MVP in 1997, and that is only the beginning. Larry Walker was named to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame for his career accomplishments during 17 seasons in the Major Leagues with the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals. Walker has pieced together a career .313 average with 2,160 hits, 383 home runs, 1,311 runs batted in, 230 stolen bases and a .400 on-base percentage in 1,988 games. The former coach with Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic equated the honor of being named to the Hall with being named the National League MVP. “It’s a great moment,” says Walker in an interview with the Canadian Press. “I’m Canadian and I’ll always be Canadian.” In 1997, the year Walker won the NL MVP, he put together arguably the best statistical season in Major League history. The Maple Ridge, B.C. native hit .366 with 49 homers and 130 RBI that season. He also stole 33 bases and had an on-base percentage of .452 with a .720 slugging percentage. He was also in the top three in virtually every offensive category in the NL that season. “I’m proud of what I’ve done and hopefully I made a difference for some kids who may one day want to play baseball,” says Walker. Presently, Walker is a hitting instructor with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, but he hopes someday he will be a coach for Canadian Olympic and world championship teams. The gala induction dinner will take place at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto on Thursday, October 25, 2007. Walker is among six athletes and two builders to be inducted into the Hall this year.
The sport of baseball continues to grow across Canada. With the increase of kids registering to play this wonderful game, the demand for qualified coaches increases along with it. This is where the National Coaching Certification Program steps in. From January till April this year, 1286 coaches registered on-line with the NCCP, which is in line to surpass the 2006 mark of 2585. One of the coaches who registered this year is Sylvain Labatt of Varennes, Québec. He registered on January 7th and learned a lot from the on-line course. “The site is well thought of and is easy to navigate,” says Mr. Labatt of the website. “There are extensive materials available and it’s very progressive. It’s an indispensable tool to help create uniformity in the training of coaches and it will help retain players.” It is comments like that that André Lachance, Manager of Baseball Operations with Baseball Canada, takes to heart. “It’s nice, but it’s not only from coaches but from the other sports also,” adds Mr. Lachance. “The Coaches Association tells us that our on-line program is an excellent idea and other sports are starting to steal the idea.” Even with those words of encouragement from coaches who have participated in the on-line program, Mr. Lachance is always looking for ways to improve the product. “Right now we are developing the competition portion of the program and we are really investing our energy on that,” says Mr. Lachance. Baseball Canada organizes the program with the help of the provincial associations in order to cultivate the best possible coaches. The small fee the coaches’ pay is reinvested in to the program in order to improve the product and achieve its goal. The current program was developed as part of the transition from the traditional National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) to a Competency Based approach and represents a partnership with Baseball BC. Baseball BC had developed an online library for coaches that outlined skill areas and the progressions for various age groups plus video examples of drills in action. The Baseball Canada site now employs the information from Baseball BC and has implemented an online exam for coaches of athletes at the initiation stage so that they may receive coach education and ultimately trained status in a progressive and flexible manner. If you are interested in registering with the NCCP, click here.
Chris Begg of Uxbridge, Ontario was promoted to Fresno of the Pacific Coast League from Double-A Connecticut of the Eastern League. These teams are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants’ organization. The right-handed pitcher who was a member of the 2004 Canadian Olympic Team in Athens and a member of Team Canada at the 2006 World Baseball Classic was 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA in four games with 16 strikeouts in 25.2 innings pitched. Begg posted a 13-10 mark with a 3.40 ERA in 26 games and three complete games with Double-A Connecticut last season.
Baseball Canada has named the 21 players who will be invited to the 2007 National Women’s Team Selection Camp. The players invited are: Karine Gagné, Granby, QCMelanie Harwood, Newmarket, ONAutumn Mills, London, ONNicole Luchanski, Edmonton, ABKatherine Hannah, Toronto, ONSusan Douthwright, Riverview, NBTia Wishart, Comox, BCGeneviève Beauchamp, St-Jérôme, QCAshley Stephenson, Mississauga, ONSamantha Magalas, Burlington, ONKate Psota, Burlington, ONMarie-Josée Tremblay, St-Honoré, QCPatricia Landry, St-Étienne-des-Grès, QCAmanda Asay, Prince-George, BC Martine Nadeau, Québec City, QCMeghan Bremner, Moncton, NBMelissa Armstrong, Saskatoon, SKAshleigh Leon, Toronto, ONStéphanie Savoie, La Pocatière, QCLindsey McLaughlin, Ottawa, ONCindy Saavedra, Toronto, ON Additional players will be added to the camp following the National Championships in Québec City. The camp will start on August 26 in Windsor, Ontario before making their way to Cary, North Carolina for the 3 Nations Cup with Team USA and Team Japan. This grouping consists of the three best teams in the world at this time. At the reigns will be André Lachance who is managing this team for his fourth season. Joining him will be assistant coaches Jean-François Lacroix, who is also the Pitching Coach, Wayne Parro and Eric Laforest. Isabelle Higgins is also among the coaching staff as a Guest Coach. Baseball Canada would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Erin Forman, who recently announced her retirement. Erin was a member of the National Women’s Teams in 2004 and 2006 who went on to capture bronze medals at the World Women’s Baseball Championships. Erin will now devote her time to her two year old daughter, Logan.
Once again this season, the Capitales will hold their traditional tryout camp on Thursday, May 10 at 11:00 am at the Municipal Stadium. As in previous years, one or several players present at the camp will have the chance to participate in the team’s training camp, which begins on Saturday, May 12. The camp is open to all players over 18 years of age and who have at least minimal experience playing in the Ligue de baseball elite du Québec (LBEQ). All players interested in attending the tryout camp must contact the new assistant coach of the Capitales, Jean-Philippe Roy, at (418) 953-7532 or via e-mail at sebaseballcr@yahoo.ca.
In the final game of Spring Training Camp, the Junior National Team could not muster up enough offence as they go down to the Atlanta Braves Extended Spring Training Team 7-1. Daniel Lazarou of Newmarket, Ontario, who started the game for the juniors, threw a solid two innings allowing only one hit and two walks with two strikeouts in his second outing of the spring. Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C. drove in the only run of the game for the Canadians, scoring Tanner Craswell of Charlottetown, P.E.I. in the eighth inning. Lawrie went 1-for-2 in the game with the RBI. Craswell was also 1-for-2 with the run scored. Colin Buckborough of Niagara Falls, Ontario gave up one run on one hit and a walk in his inning of work. Cameron Gray of Toronto, Ontario walked four batters, but was able to get out of his inning of work unscathed. Also Daniel Reid of Nasonworth, N.B. threw one inning, only allowing one hit. Throughout the 10 days of camp, Jordan Wideman of Mississauga, Ontario led all hitters with a .364 average (4-for-11) and an RBI. Marc Bourgeois of Granby, Quebec hit .316 (6-for-19) with two runs scored and an RBI and Carter Bell of Courtenay, B.C. hit .294 (5-for-17) with two runs scored and an RBI. Philippe Aumont of Gatineau, Quebec posted an ERA of 0.00 during the camp, allowing only two unearned runs with three walks and six strikeouts in five innings pitched. Evan Grills of Whitby, Ontario also posted an ERA of 0.00, allowing three unearned runs, three walks and two strikeouts. Kyle Lotzkar of Delta, B.C. was the only other pitcher to collect six strikeouts, doing so in four innings of work. The juniors were unable to get a win throughout the camp, going 0-8. However, the experience gained from this camp is far more valuable for these young men than wins and losses. They are now heading home until they reunite in May to participate in the Dominican Summer League in the Dominican Republic.
It was a pitchers duel throughout, and the Extended Spring Training Team of the Detroit Tigers held the Junior National Team to just one hit as they would take the win 2-0. The only hit of the game for the juniors came from Jordan Wideman of Mississauga, Ontario on an infield single. Philippe Aumont of Gatineau, Quebec started the game and allowed both Tiger runs, albeit both were unearned. In his three innings pitched, Aumont allowed three hits and one walk with two strikeouts. Evan Grills of Whitby, Ontario came in after Aumont and threw two innings, only allowing a walk and recorded one strikeout. Evan Hildenbrandt of Abbotsford, B.C. followed suit, throwing two innings and allowing two hits and fanned a batter. Leslie Williams of Scarborough, Ontario came in to pitch after Hildenbrandt and put up the exact same line as his predecessor. To close out the game was Daniel Reid of Nasonworth, N.B. He allowed one hit and walked one as well. Next for the juniors is the Extended Spring Training Team of the Cleveland Indians on Friday at 1:00 pm.
The Edmonton Cracker-Cats of the Northern League announced today the signing of outfielder, and Calgary, Alberta native, Ryan Radmanovich. The member of the 2004 Canadian Olympic Team in Athens and 2006 World Baseball Classic Team hit .302 with 27 home runs and 66 RBI in 98 games last season with the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League. Originally selected in the 14th round of the 1993 Major League Baseball Draft by the Minnesota Twins, the former Seattle Mariner has a career average of .279 with 240 homers and 863 runs driven in.
The Cleveland Indians’ Extended Spring Training Team took an early lead and never looked back as the Indians beat the Junior National Team 8-1 in a game that was called in the bottom half of the eighth inning due to rain. Canada’s only run of the ball game was driven in by Derek Sinke of Bowen Island, B.C. in the bottom of the fifth inning. Sinke was 1-for-1 with a walk and the RBI. Marc Bourgeois of Granby, Quebec also had a solid game, going 2-for-3 with a stolen base, while Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C. and Greg Wallace of Nanaimo, B.C. both went 1-for-3. Brad Furdal of Ancaster, Ontario was the top pitcher for the juniors, allowing one run on one hit with two walks in two innings pitched. With Canada batting in the bottom of the eighth inning, heavy rains started to fall and the game was called. Next up for the Junior National Team is their final contest of the spring as they will take on the Atlanta Braves Extended Spring Training squad at 9:00 am on Saturday.
