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The Official Newsletter of the British Columbia Baseball Umpires Association
Hey Blue!
Fall 2014
Volume 6 Issue 2
From The Chief's Desk
-By Provincial Supervisor, Steve Boutang
Doug Hudlin 1922-­‐2014
“Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be
thy name”
I use these words cautiously at the
risk of offending many. But to know the
place of Doug Hudlin within the BCBUA and
Victoria’s baseball community would be to
understand how this exert of the Lord’s
Prayer relate to a man who dedicated
decades of his life to the game of baseball
and the art of Umpiring.
It is in his death that we remember
the many, many wonderful things about
Doug.
He was elected to not less than 4
separate Hall of Fames for his contributions
to Victoria Minor Baseball, Little League,
Victoria Sportsman’s, and of course the
BCBUA.
The Hudlin family name is
synonymous with sport in Victoria, and in
the community in itself. One of the first
African American families to settle in the
area nearly a century ago, Doug took on
active roles in Black History and promoted
equality for those less fortunate in BC. A
pioneer to be sure.
He was President of several
organizations, including the BCBUA. In 1974,
he, along with a dozen other umpires and
Volume 6 Issue 2
baseball people in BC, met with the
executive of BC Amateur Baseball. They
decided that it was important that umpires
have an association to belong to. A group
that could work towards better education,
better organization, and a better future.
Our association started with Doug Hudlin as
our first President some 40 years ago, and
the other 4 founding members who are still
alive today were at his funeral to honour
him. It speaks to what he represented. You
only need to mention the name Doug Hudlin
to those remaining Founding members
Howard Chapman, Richard Christie, Bill
Murphy, and Chuck Blaikie and you will see
the level of respect in the way they revere
him. Murphy eulogized the man so perfectly,
telling stories of his days in the boardroom
and on the field, both when he was a player
and then a fellow umpire.
And any recollection of Doug Hudlin
would not be complete if we didn’t
remember his outstanding career as an
umpire. After quitting as a player, Doug
volunteered his time umpiring Little League.
Eventually he went on to umpire at 2 Little
League World Series in Williamsport PA, a
Big League Series, including the Canadian
Championships in Victoria. So well-­‐regarded
and respected by anyone who went onto the
diamond while he was the arbiter, he was
always referred to as “the Gentleman
Umpire”. High praise indeed.
Mostly we thank Doug for being a
role model to so many, and an example of
what dignity is supposed to look like.
And so I repeat, “Our Father, who
art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name”
Mr. Doug Hudlin, our Patriarch, our
original member, Our (founding) Father. His
spirit -­‐ clearly in Heaven after the many good
deeds and good-­‐will he shared during his
time on Earth. Hallowed be thy name,
indeed.
www.bcbua.ca
From the Editor
"It was another exciting year for
the BCBUA with many of our
members finding success on the
Provincial, National, and
International Stage. I am excited to
be able to help celebrate our
accomplishments and share the
stories of our association. If you
would like to contribute please feel
free to send me an email."
-Matt Lowndes
m.t.lowndes@gmail.com
Inside This Issue
President's Report
page 2
A Day in the Life...
page 5
Tournament 12
page 8
Area Reports
And More!
Hey Blue! 1
President's Report -­‐ John Berry
I’m delighted to welcome our new Hey Blue editor,
Matt Lowndes, to his first edition. He’s following an illustrious
line of past editors of this august publication. I’m sure he will
add some fresh approaches, and continue some of the ideas
and traditions that have made Hey Blue the great
communications vehicle that it is.
Your association has had a very busy year, and we’ve
really ramped up our efforts in umpire development. Kudos
Chloe Elston and Don Violette between innings
to our partners in leagues and Baseball BC, who have been
very supportive of our efforts in umpire education and
new baseball year.
development. Our increased emphasis on mentorship, on
non-­‐working supervisors at tournaments, at doing more on-­‐
Finally, congratulations to Steve Boutang. Steve, our
provincial umpires supervisor, has just completed a three year
field evaluations, improving our approach to clinics; all these term following his initial appointment in 2011. His
things have meant a busy and rewarding year for your
reappointment to a new three year term was recommended
association. And we’ve surely learned from what we’ve done by the BCBUA board, and approved by the Baseball BC board
– we had a board meeting in September where we reviewed in September. Steve has accomplished a great deal in three
our progress this year, and will apply some “lessons learned” years, and we look forward to working with him for the next
as we develop our plans for 2015.
three.
We’re having our AGM on November 22, in
Richmond. That’s a Saturday, which allows us to meet with
the current board that morning, and then with the new board
the next day. We hope to see many of you at the AGM.
Congratulations to our umpires who worked so many
tournaments this summer. Our members umpired at
Ron Boutang Umpire
Scholarship
provincial tournaments in various leagues, and we again sent
a very strong group of umpires to national tournaments
across the country. And as you’ll have seen elsewhere in this
issue, our own Vice-­‐President Rhonda Pauls represented
Canada and BC at the Women’s World Cup in Japan, a terrific
achievement.
Watch for the plans for the 2015 clinic season; we will
have clinics at all levels, and every one of us benefits from
attending a clinic, refreshing and adding to our knowledge
and ability, and enjoying the chance to interact with other
umpires as we get ready to work together on the field in the
Volume 6 Issue 2
Umpire School is a tremendous opportunity
to learn more about umpiring, the game of
baseball, and yourself. If you have a desire to
improve, and take your game to the next
level. Or want to pursue a job in Professional
Baseball, our umpire scholarship can help
you reach your goals.
Application form can be found at
www.BCBUA.ca
For more information contact Steve Boutang
by email:
sboutang@shaw.ca
Hey Blue! 2
LC3 Triolgy Book 7
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT IN SUMMER OF 2014
by EAGER BEAVER
As summer draws to a close , I have been
assigned to travel to the wilds of
Southern Manitoba to observe and report
back on the intrepid group of umpires
trekking to Altona for the
Olympics....sorry, the Pee Wee
Westerns, almost the same thing.
the on field performances at Shaw Field,
"peas at the knees" yelled Stevie, a sexy
young Tomato plucked...yes plucked
Tremor Surfer Dude and Matt from
Saskapoon from the crowd to participate
in the World Famous Burrito Race
betwixt innings.
This group, travelling by Caravan and
those new fangled flying machines
consisted of yours truly, the Level 3
Coordinator (L3C), Beel Keebler (the
elf), Tremor Surfer Dude (TSD) and
Stevie Boats. L3C, The Elf and TSD
were travelling to put on a display of
Western Umpiring for the local yokels
and Stevie Boats was travelling to be the
Lead Stupidviser.
Everyone was on the edge of their seats
in anticipation of this Titanic struggle.
At first TSD's longer legs gave him the
advantage as they gathered their cheese,
lettuce and meat. TSD had a substantial
lead as they rounded the plate enroute to
the tortillas. Both runners stopped,
dropped and rolled in their tortillas,
popped up and started their hop to the
finish line. Matt from Saskapoon was
considerably shorter and this vertical
challengement was to his benefit as he
didn't have to hop as high and could get
more horizontal distance. Chalupa, the
god of Burritos, saw this and promptly
tripped Matt from Saskapoon so TSD
had an easy hop from there to the finish
line. The crowd went wild!!!!
All the spectaters, players and other
umps were agog...agog, I say at what
they saw on the field from the 3 BC
umps. I have never seen such a display
of sartorial splendour, amazing
zoominess and being in chargeness in all
my years of reporting Baseball. The
stupidvisers were almost speechless,
having never seen a display such as that
in all their years and were proud to
award all the BC umps their highest
rating of Horse Sh.....ah Poop minus.
In celebration of their amazing
tournament our intrepid group travelled
up to Winterpeg to watch the Goldeyes
play The New Joisey Jackals. While
Stevie Boats and the L3C were analyzing
The evening concluded when Chris
Kissock, from Fruitvale, BC, came in for
the save, struck out the Pancake Batter
and the Goldeyes won the day! The next
day Winterpeg flooded and nobody got
to eat pancakes after all.
This the intrepid reporter Eager Beaver
signing off from the pretty little town of
Altona, MB.
Congratulations to a Canadian Big
Leaguer
Congratulations to Regina's Stu Scheurwater who became
the first Canadian to umpire in the Major Leagues this past
summer since Victioria's Ian Lamplugh and Quebec's Jim
McKean.
Scheurwater worked his first series at Dodger Stadium in
late April, and has since been called up again.
Scheurwater attended the Harry Wendelstedt School of
Umpires in 2006 later made his professional umpiring debut
working the Arizona Rookie League in 2007. He progressed
Volume 6 Issue 2
2014 Baseball Canada
National Assignments
Congratulations to these BCBUA Members
that represented our Association at a
Baseball Canada National Championship
Rob Allan - Sr Men
Matt Lowndes - Jr Men
Don Violette - Canada Cup
Kelly Hunter - Midget
Dan Rogers - Bantam
Sean Sullivan - Peewee National
Phil Bourgeois - Peewee Atlantic
Bill MacMillan - Peewee West
Bill Keegan - Peewee West
Trevor Sharpe - Peewee West
Mike Green - Sr Women
Gary Webber - Sr Women
Corey Klein - Sr Women
Jerry Tregaskis - Sr Women
Andre Jean - Sr Women
Sean Weatherill - Sr Women
Chloe Elston - Bantam Girls
Rob Allan, Mark Bodwell, Kris HartleyTournament 12
Supervisors:
Rob Allan - Lead Supervisor Sr Women
Steve Boutang - Lead Supervisor Peewee
through the different levels of minor league baseball with stops
in the Northwest League and South Atlantic League (2008),
Carolina League (2009), Texas League (2010 & 2011), while he’s
spent the last three seasons including the early part of 2014
working the triple-­‐A Pacific Coast League.
Prior to his professional
career, Scheuwater was
a member of Baseball
Canada's National
Program.
Source credit:
www.baseball.ca
Hey Blue! 3
Next years Baseball Canada National
Championships
Sr – Moncton, New Brunswick
Jr – Regina, SK
Canada Cup – Saskatoon, SK
Midget – Quebec (city tba)
Bantam – Vaughan, ON
Peewee National – Ontario (city tba)
Peewee Atlantic – Nova Scotia (city tba)
Peewee West – BC (city tba)
Sr Woman – tba
Bantam Girls – tba
Area 3 Annual
Report
MLB # 85 Stu Scheurwater with Steve Boutang
and Rhonda Pauls
over 100 coaches attending and over 250
players. Everyone received outstanding
development instruction and had a great
time in doing so.
We had 4 Area 3 Umpires at Nationals this
year, 3 first Time National umpires and All
Advanced to become level 4A Umpire.
Congratulations go out to Poco UIC Trevor
I would like to welcome Pat Casico the New Sharp, Abbotsford umpires Mike Green,
UIC of Coquitlam-­‐Moody and look forward Gary Webber of Pitt Meadows and Rob
to working with him next year.
Allen of Maple Ridge. We also had one
International assignment this year for
I want to thank Rhonda Pauls for her hard Rhonda Pauls to the Woman’s International
We started the year with 12 very
work in getting the mentorship program upin Japan.
Successful level 1 and 2 umpire clinics with and running in Associations across the
104 Level 1’s Attending and 114 level 2
Province and to Mike Pratt UIC in
To end the year, Chilliwack hosted a very
Attending for a total of 222 of 243 umpires Abbotsford for his continued work on the successful Midget AAA Western
registered in Area 3. We had 87 of the 243 mentorship program. I had nothing other championship. I would like to thank the
umpires take the on line Level 2 and 3 tests than great reports about the umpiring
Chilliwack Association for a great time and
from the BCBUA web site for the first time there at every level.
Jerry Tregaskis for supervising the
and had the only Level 3 in the Province to
umpires.
archive 100 %. Great job Ted Williams of On a little bit of a down note we had 78
Coquitlam-­‐Moody. I would like to thank
ejection reports sent in from Area 3 this
See you all next year,
George Smith, the BCBUA Secertary for all year with just under 30 of them being from
the hard work in getting the Tests set up on BC Minor level teams.
Gary Webber
line.
The Midget AA Provincials were held the Area 3 Director Lower-­‐Mainland East
The BC Minor Road show was held the
first weekend of August with 4 of the 9
weekend of April 12 and 13 in Aldergrove umpires being from Area 3.
Abbotsford, Poco and Ridge Meadows with
First of all I would like to Welcome our
Provincial Supervisor of umpires, Steve
Boutang to Area 3 and look forward to
seeing him on the field next year.
Volume 6 Issue 2
Hey Blue! 4
A day in the life….Miyazaki Japan…WCWB 2014
-­‐Rhonda Pauls
Most mornings started out grey…overcast… and some mornings it rained… a lot. I tried not to assume what the day
would hold looking out my window each morning at the Pacific Ocean coastline, because the weather changed in an
instant. The one constant was the humidity.
Miyazaki was more like a rural fishing and surfing community that was alive during the tourist season but had shut
down when we got there.
There were two baseball stadiums in Miyazaki:
Sun Marine and Ivy Stadium. Sun Marine was
their premium facility (holds 30,000) and is
where the Japanese pro league plays during
spring training. I was most fortunate to work
every game at that stadium. It was beautiful
and well-­‐manicured. Every evening when I
looked at the schedule to check my crew and
assignment for the next day, I was amazed and
felt very blessed.
My first game was a plate for the 7pm
televised game where Japan played Australia.
You can think you are prepared all you want –
but you never can be. You can draw rotations
on a white board with your non English
speaking crew, and get nods of agreement, but when the game begins things are just not that straight forward. I
learned very quickly to watch what everyone else did before I decided where to go…rotations are NOT the same in
other countries. “Pause, Read and React” became “Paaaaauuuuuse, Read, Anticipate the next move, and React”!!!
There is the TV crew, and the “guy” who will cue you when the commercials are over that you can start the next
inning. Warm up pitches??? Don’t worry how many they throw – starting the next inning before the break is over is
not ok. Translators are the “in thing”…everyone has one. An umpire should play Charades a lot leading up to an
international assignment, as that will serve you as well as studying a manual – or maybe even better! I would say
adaptability and flexibility are the two most necessary skills at such an event.
To summarize my assignments is easy: Plate, 1st base, Plate, 1st base, Plate. I worked all USA and Japan games, many
of which were televised, and did the plate for the cross-­‐over between USA and Japan – both of which were
undefeated at that point. That game turned out to be the show-­‐down of the tournament. The weather was perfect.
Both teams were hungry. Pitching was stellar. Both teams had seen me on the plate before so they knew what to
expect. I took a page out of Mariano Rivera’s philosophy on pitching in high pressure situations…extreme focus on
the pitch – like I was in a tunnel with the battery. Shut out everything else. Consistency was my goal. Both sides
played championship defense and neither gave up an error in the entire game. There were 6 hits between them…
but only 1 run scored. The final for the game was 1-­‐0 for Japan. Thankfully my focus was good despite my nerves.
These teams deserved my best.
(Continued on Page 6)
Volume 6 Issue 2
Hey Blue! 5
(A Day in the Life...Continued from Page 5)
As it turned out the Gold medal match-­‐up was the same teams as my cross over game, with Japan earning the right to be
home team. I worked 3rd base and was the back-­‐up plate. It poured rain all that day. The start time was delayed
significantly, and the game was disrupted during play. It was a good game with Japan winning 3-­‐0 against the USA despite
the playing conditions. However, I will
have to say…the cross-­‐over game will
always be my favorite assignment of the
tournament. There was a recorded
attendance of 14,000 fans – the highest of
the tournament. The quality of that game
and the intensity of the players…how
everything happened in slow motion for
me…how I could hear my own heart-­‐beat
in my ears the whole game…will stay with
me for a long time.
This crew of officials was like nothing I
have ever experienced before with a
group of strangers. There were umpires
from Japan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Australia, Venezuela, Canada, USA, Taiwan, and Nederlands. Within a day or two it was
like we had known each other forever. The Japanese umpires did such an outstanding job of acting as hosts to us, with
such genuine enthusiasm, it was truly one of the best experiences I have ever had off-­‐field. We went sight-­‐seeing
together. We shared many meals – where we had to learn HOW to eat things that we didn’t even know what they were.
We gathered at night for “Sochu parties” where we learned about how the Japanese love their distilled rice, wheat and
potatoes . I simply can’t convey how amazing it was to thoroughly enjoy the company of people that (most of which) I
really couldn’t even have a conversation with. Baseball truly is a universal language that draws the best of people from all
walks of life.
Obviously this opportunity came to me as a result of all the years of support, teaching, training, mentoring and advice
given to me by our senior umpires, our quality programs, and the confidence of Baseball Canada. Having Steve come to
Japan with me to encourage me when I was frustrated, calm me when I was rattled and advise me when I needed help,
was something most people don’t get at such an event. From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU to all those who helped
make this possible for me -­‐ and for us as BC Umpires to be represented internationally. From what I have seen being at a
World Cup 3 years in a row now (the first 2 as a spectator), Canada has the highest quality of officials. We have much to be
proud of and much to look forward to.
GOOD LUCK KRIS HARTLEY
One of our top umpires in the province has flown the coop and landed in Cochrane Alberta.
Kris Hartley has taken employment as an elementary school teacher there after completing his
degree this past spring. Alberta’s gain is our loss. Kris was a tireless worker as an Area Rep,
local UIC in Kamloops, assignor for Thompson Rivers University, and one of the best umpires in
our province. Not to mention being all around great guy. Good luck in Alberta Kris, and we’ll
see you when you come home to visit!
Volume 6 Issue 2
Hey Blue! 6
National Clinic
Provincial Umpire Supervisor Steve Boutang reports the Annual
National clinic are April 2-­‐5 in Kamloops has been confirmed. All
National umpires Must attend as per usual. Any umpire not attending
will forfeit their eligibility to receive a National assignment in 2015.
Further, there will be a number of Special Invites made to
qualified level 3 umpires. Once Superclinic is completed and the level 3
list is finalized for spring, any umpire interested in being considered
must apply in writing to Steve.
Area 5-­‐2014 Lower Mainland South Report
-­‐Rick Antoniak
Similar to 2013, the start to the 2014 season in Area 5 was a cold and wet one. Snow had an impact on our clinic
schedule, however things went smoothly and 232 members received training in our 11 Level 1 and 2 clinics. Many thanks
to the UICs and Clinic Instructors who spent time making that happen.
Ladner and Tsawwassen hosted the 2014 John Main Peewee AA tournament. 26 BCBUA umpires from all over the
Lower Mainland participated in the 16 team, 4 field tournament. Several of our National Program umpires volunteered
their time to come out and mentor umpires both on and off the field. A new Peewee umpire prospect was identified
when Provincial Supervisor Steve Boutang took to the field to work his first Peewee game in 25 years as an injury
replacement. Allocators in the Lower Mainland wishing to book Steve for their Peewee games should contact him directly.
Our area hosted four Provincial Championships this summer:
• 11U (Mosquito) AA – Newton – July 30th – August 4th
• 13U (Peewee) A – North Delta – August 7th – August 11th
• 13U (Peewee) AAA – Cloverdale – July 30th – August 4th
• BC Premier Baseball League – Whalley – July 30th – August 4th
Later in the summer, August 14th – 18th, Whalley also hosted the 2014 Senior Women Invitational
Championships.Congratulations to umpires from Area 5 who are assigned to a National Championship in 2014:
•
Bill Keegan – 13U (Peewee) Western – Altona, Manitoba
•
Sean Sullivan – 13U (Peewee) – London, Ontario
•
Phil Bourgeois – 13U (Peewee) Atlantic – Charlottetown, PEI
•
Jerry Tregaskis – Senior Women Invitational – Surrey, BC
It was a terrific summer to be involved in baseball, whether you were umpiring, playing, or taking in the games. Thanks to
the umpires of all levels who participated in the various Provincial Championships and other BCBUA assigned
tournaments. It takes commitment and hard work from a lot of people to successfully staff these events. Good luck with
the rest of your year, see you in 2015!
Volume 6 Issue 2
Hey Blue! 7
Tournament 12
Mark Bodwell, Rob Allan, and Kris Hartley represented the BCBUA
at Tournament 12 this summer. Below is a summary written by Rob
Allan.
Tournament 12 is a tournament that is
sponsored by Roberto Alomar and the Toronto Blue
Jays to showcase the best Canadian amateur players
with college eligibility.
This tournament had 8 teams and was played at
the Rogers
Centre in Toronto. There were 6 games a day starting at
8 AM, but the games
had a couple modified rules than normal, which I liked.
First off all
batters started with a 1-­‐1 count and secondly all games right on the
were on a 2 hour
field as we could really look at positioning and angles for
time limit. We only had 1 game of 23 games played that plays much
actually hit the 2
better that you can on a white board.
hour time limit. Most games were in the 1:20 to 1:30
Baseball Canada and the Toronto Blue Jays took
time frame. I had the
very good care of us and were first class all the way.
semi-­‐final game on the plate on the final day and my
From the beginning being picked up from the
game was 1:10, but then
airport by Toronto Blue Jays staff, to being put up in a
Mark had the next semi-­‐final game and he had to beat fancy hotel only
me with the shortest
walking distance from Rogers Centre, to being given a
game of the tourney at 1:09.
tour of the Blue Jays
We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and went right clubhouse and having Roberto Alomar waiting to give
into classroom work on the 4-­‐umpire system as all
each of us an
games were umpired in the 4-­‐umpire system. You would autographed bat. He personally thanked us for the tough
think that the 4-­‐umpire system would be easy but it
job that we do.
actually is more
It was also neat to see some of the Blue Jays
complicated than a 2 or 3 man system. After the
Alumni and friends like Lloyd Mosbey, Devon White,
classroom work we went out
George Bell, Dwayne Ward, Sandy Alomar Sr, and others
onto the field at the Rogers Centre and did a warm-­‐up as celebrity coaches for the teams. They and Roberto
and then did some
Alomar were there from the first pitch of the day to the
simulated plays working on positioning and rotations. last pitch.
The tournament started the next morning with
Tournament 12 was a very good experience with
each of us working 2 games a day working with different where I learned more about the 4 umpire system then I
umpires each day. We had a total of 14 umpires
ever thought possible, and it was great to see that of the
from coast to coast which included 3 working
14 umpires there were 3 umpires from BC who
supervisors Andrews Higgins,
represented us well.
Trevor Grieve, and Ron Shewchuk. We had at least 1
-­‐Rob Allan
supervisor watching each
game and then after the game we would go onto the
field and do our post-­‐game
debrief right on the field. It was great to do the debrief
Volume 6 Issue 2
Hey Blue! 8
I was fortunate enough to be asked to umpire Tournament
12 in Toronto at the Rogers Centre in mid-­‐September along
with two other BC umpires (Mark Bodwell and Rob Allan). It
by Kris Hartley
was an amazing learning experience as all of the umpires
selected to umpire are all on the International Umpiring
This past year saw some change as I was out of my Area for pathway. Games were umpired using the MLB 4 umpire
most of the season due to umpiring and work commitments. system and a large emphasis was placed on development
Chris Connelly, Mark Wright and Joe Mallinson stepped up to and analyzing umpiring as a collective group rather than the
sometimes stressful evaluation process that occurs at most
look after the area with my guidance in the background.
National Championships
AREA 6 REPORT
Mentorship:
Good Luck
This was the year that Kamloops Minor Ball was hoping to Good luck to Mark Wright and Joe Mallinson who have both
get the mentorship program off the ground and while there applied for the Ron Boutang Umpire Scholarship, provided
was some mentorship started at the Peewee and below level through the BCBUA, as they both are interested in pursuing
through Chris Connelly (who took over as KMBA’s UIC) as
the opportunity to go to Professional umpiring school in
Florida this off-­‐season to better their skills and pursue a
well as the partnering of some of our up and comers/
national members with some of the bantam level umpires – career as an umpire. I look forward to hearing which one of
the 4 candidates is selected by the committee.
this program is still limited due to the lack of umpires
capable of doing those Bantam and Above games as well as
Moving Forward:
assisting Kelowna to fill their games on a regular basis.
With my departure to the “SNOWY” Calgary area, Asst. Area
Rep, Chris Connelly has agreed to step into the role on a
Provincials:
interim basis. Mark Wright who has been taking more and
Kamloops hosted the Mosquito Provincials and under the
more of a role in Area 6 as a Asst. Instructor, mentor, ,etc.
guidance of Chris Connelly (Asst. Area Rep) this proved to be will play a more dominant role as well as Joe Mallinson.
a very successful and rewarding experience for all umpires
involved. The 10 umpire crew consisted of Mark Wright,
Richard Connelly, Matt Hicketts, Brody LaFrance, Rob Irving,
Shyla Fryer, Joe Mallinson, Chris Penner, Jarrett Mirtle, and
Michael Fryer. For 6 of the crew this was their first
provincial championship, and everyone proved that they
deserved to be there. The weekend served as a great
learning experience for our younger officials, and as an
opportunity for our senior officials to develop their
mentoring skills. The gold medal crew, Brody LaFrance on
the plate and Matt Hicketts on bases, called a fantastic
game and ended the weekend on a very positive note.
Jr. Umpire of the Year
2014 Jr. Umpire of the Year for Area 6 will be: Matt Hicketts
of Kamloops. Matt stepped up this year and was one of the
key contributors to Area 6 umpiring. He was always willing
to take whatever games his association asked him to do
regardless of level and strived to improve his skills every
game. He assisted Kelowna a couple of times throughout
the season and will be an umpire to keep our eyes on for
years to come.
Tournament 12
Volume 6 Issue 2
Andre Jean of Terrace BC, Selling the Out Call
Hey Blue! 6
Area 4 Report
-Don Hass
Area 4 had the most clinics it has
seen in a number of years.
Richmond and Burnaby continue
to be solid with both hosting level
1 & 2 clinics this year. Vancouver
has seen a resurgence and looks to
be a good partner in the future. For
the first time in a long while
Powell River came on board. With
a new President running that
association they are very interested
on improving their umpire base
and should be on our radar every
year.
Longest Game in Trail Baseball History
The Sr Men’s Provincials Finals went became an all-­‐day affair in Trail, BC over the August
long weekend.
Langley had to beat Kamloops twice to defend their title from 2013 but came up
just short.
The Defending Champion Blaze beat Kamloops 2-­‐1 in the first final but because of
the double knockout had to win game 2, just half-­‐hour later.
Game 2 was a back and forth affair which began at 2pm and finished at 7:05 pm.
Finally Kamloops won 4-­‐3 with a base hit in the bottom of the 15th inning.
Statistician Brad Elliott who has been living and umpiring in Trail for nearly 50
years indicated that it was the longest game in the history of Butler Park!
Some fans who left midway through (Bill MacMillan being one of them) came
back for the end of the game (after they had gone grocery shopping, made dinner,
watched the Jays game, consumed a few drinks, took a shower, and realized that the
game at Butler Park was still ongoing!)
In total, the clubs played 22 innings of baseball in 7 and-­‐a-­‐half hours and scored
just 5 times each. The game time temperatures were in the high 30’s to top it off!
Congratulations to the very tired crew from the final:
Steve Boutang, Plate
Kris Hartley – 1st Base
Rob Allan – 2nd Base
Phil Bourgeois – 3rd Base
On the Road to
Recovery
Former Provincial Umpire
Supervisor (1974-­‐2008)
Howard Chapman is on the
mend following heart surgery
this summer. While it knocked
the 74 year old out of action
for the remainder of the
season, Chapman indicates
that he is feeling much better
and is considering a return to
the field for next season. Most
importantly we wish Howard
all the best from a health
perspective as he recovers.
Annual General Meeting
1:00PM
November 22, 2014
Holiday Inn, 10720 Cambie Rd.
Richmond, BC
www.bcbua.ca