Nat Bailey Stadium
The
Vancouver Canadians are a minor league baseball team located in Vancouver
, British
Columbia
. The
Canadians are the
Northwest League
affiliate of the
Oakland
Athletics.
As of the 2008 season, they are the only
Canadian
team in the "affiliated" minor leagues—i.e., part
of the farm system of a Major
League Baseball team. This came about after the Ottawa Lynx moved to Allentown,
Pennsylvania
. The NWL Canadians supplanted a Triple-A
franchise of the same name that played for 22 seasons (1978-99) in
the
Pacific Coast League.
The
current incarnation of the Canadians was established in after the
AAA Canadians moved to Sacramento, California
and became the Sacramento River Cats (which is now an
affiliate of the Athletics).
History
As a
Northwest League franchise (dating
back to 1979 in Medford,
Oregon
), the Canadians have had players such as José Canseco, Rod
Beck, Rickey Henderson,
Scott Brosius, Jason Giambi, Tim
Hudson, Nick Swisher, Jeremy Brown, Troy
Glaus, Sammy Sosa, Jason Windsor, Joe
Blanton, Rich Harden, Travis Buck, Sean Triplett, Danny Putnam,
Dallas Braden and Miguel Tejada. The team formed after
Medford,
Oregon's Southern
Oregon Timberjacks relocated to Vancouver.
Vancouver was a heavy player in the early history of the
Northwest League, a charter member in every
version of the league that would eventually form the NWL, notably
as the sole team that survived the collapse of the
Western International League in
1922 when it reformed in 1937, winning four pennants in the WIL
(1942, 1947, 1949, 1954) as the Vancouver Capilanos (1939-1954).
However, even though they were the final champions of the WIL,
Vancouver was not part of its reformation into the
Northwest League, due to the NWL's shedding
of all of its Canadian teams in order to focus on the American
Pacific Northwest. Vancouver was
without professional baseball in 1955, but in 1956 the highest
calibre of minor league play, in the form of the
Open-Classification Pacific Coast League, came to British Columbia
when
Oakland Oaks transferred
there as the
Vancouver Mounties.
The Mounties played in the PCL from 1956 through 1962, and from
1965 through 1969.
Current team and management
The Canadians announced January 10th, 2007 that Rick Magnante would
return as
Manager for
2007, as well as pitching coach
Craig Lefferts, who entered his 4th season as
the pitching coach. Former Vancouver Canadian slugger
Chris Pritchett was named the team's latest
hitting coach in May 2007.
Since February 7, 2007 the Canadians have been owned by a local
ownership group, Vancouver Professional Baseball Partnership, who
intend to keep the team in Vancouver and initiate extensive
upgrades to Nat Bailey Stadium. The stadium will be restored to a
state similar to when it opened in 1951 with murals and trees
adorning the outside, in addition to modernization improvements to
the rest of the stadium.
The Canadians announced that former
Washington Nationals marketing guru
Andy Dunn would become the President and General Manager of the
Canadians, on January 7, 2008.
For the 2008 season, the team has many 'headline names' on the
roster, including Jeremy Barfield, son of
Jesse Barfield and brother of
Josh Barfield.
Roster
See also
External links
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