TORONTO – Registration spiked this season at the Fredericton Minor Baseball Association, so much so that they have some 45-50 kids on a waiting list with nowhere to put them. The demand is such that Matt Stairs recently got an email from one father asking about private lessons for his three boys, all beginners, eager for any way to get them started.
“We have over 800 kids in our program, which we've never had before in our lives, up like 15 per cent from last year,” says the beloved former Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics slugger. “It's hard to put kids on a waiting list. We do a lot of programs. We started with a program where every night from five until 10, I sit out at a batting cage and we're full every night. Kids come in and hit and hit and hit. All we do, is hit. And it's because of the Blue Jays. Everywhere you go, it's, ‘Hey, can we wear the Blue Jays coat after home runs?’”
The surge in interest after the Blue Jays advanced to the World Series a year ago was expected, following a similar pattern following the back-to-back championships in 1992-93 and ALCS runs in 2015-16. With competition and pressures on limited field availability across the country, accommodating all the incoming players is a shared challenge for youth baseball administrators regardless of location.
In Fredericton, there are efforts to put up five new fields, said Stairs, one of many reasons a $300,000 donation by the Blue Jays and Jays Care Foundation, split into $50,000 chunks and allocated to grassroots organizations selected by six former Canadian players, is especially timely.
While one infusion of cash won’t resolve the shortage in roster spots, any initiative that helps improve the participation experience, even for just a small segment of players, is important. Especially so while trying to maintain the momentum created by the Blue Jays and a solid Canadian showing at this spring’s World Baseball Classic.
“When the Blue Jays are playing well, that has the most influence on kids and in turn, it creates the kids that want to be on the field trying to pretend like they're their favourite player that they watch,” said former all-star catcher Russell Martin. “For me, that was 1992-93. I'm sure that guys like Josh Donaldson and Jose (Bautista) and (Edwin) Encarnacion, the list goes on and on, probably had that impact in '15-'16. And then last year, making it to the World Series, we'll probably see that impact in a few years. Then when you have other Canadian players get to the top, it shows, hey, this is possible, this is attainable. And I feel like we're trending in the right direction.”
Here’s a look at where and why Stairs, Martin and fellow Blue Jays alums John Axford, Paul Quantrill, Scott Richmond and Michael Saunders targeted their donations:
John Axford
Organization: Port Dover Minor Baseball
Goal: Field improvements at Misner Park
Quote: “I played with them all the way up until I was 18, until I went to school at Notre Dame. So even when I was playing with Team Ontario and Team Canada, I would always come back to play in Port Dover. I still got to be a hitter at times when I was there, I got to play first base and centre field, still swing a bat. Ontario, Team Canada, pitcher only. So it was pretty great. Really from when I was eight I was there and I played on the same diamond the entire time. Port Dover has one field, it's all dirt, so from rookie ball to the teams playing 18U, it's the same field. The Jays Care donation is going to help upkeep a few things there, maybe just add a little extra something for the ballparks.”
Russell Martin
Organizations: Baseball Canada and Academie de Baseball du Canada
Goal: Helping programs for pre-draft and college-eligible players
Quote: “Baseball Canada was a no-brainer. They helped me so much in my progression, playing international baseball and on Canada Day, it just seemed fitting to represent Canada and Baseball Canada does that really well. And Acadmie, it was like, do I go with the elite level, the guys who are kind of knocking at the door of the professional level? Or do I go to the grassroots of where I grew up playing? I was in between, but I feel like when the guys are close, they're dedicated, they're right there, they deserve some of that money to get the best equipment, or whatever they choose to do. But they're both places where I felt like I progressed and getting to the point where baseball was really becoming serious.”
Paul Quantrill
Organization: Kendal Minor Baseball
Goal: Help refurbish the baseball field at Harvey Jackson Memorial Park
Quote: “It's giving back to something that's very, very important to me in baseball and my whole life. Giving back to our communities is something that we all want to do, doing it through the Blue Jays and them being so gracious, especially to little places like a lot of us came from. Kendall Park, there are families that grew up there, I grew up and played ball there and went to my father’s games there. It would be a community of about 100 people so it's nice to give back where they've kept baseball going strong. Baseball is really strong in Canada, but we want to grow it.”
Scott Richmond
Organization: Baseball BC
Goal: Supporting grassroots girls’ programs and high-performance efforts
Quote: “My daughters all play baseball in Arizona with the Peaches program (started by former Blue Jays reliever Jeremy Accardo's wife Carly for their late daughter, Leighton, to play in) and I've been coaching girls baseball for about five years now, it's an 8-12 league. So any time I had an opportunity to donate back to British Columbia girls’ baseball, and some of the boys, too, but to give back to that girls program and grow it, I thought that would be a great avenue.”
Michael Saunders
Organization: Lambrick Park Baseball and Softball Academy
Goal: Supporting scholarship program for players needing financial assistance
Quote: “I’m a very proud alumni of Lambrick Park Secondary. None of my kids currently play softball or baseball, so when we moved the family back to Victoria, baseball is obviously a huge part of who I am, and my dream essentially was to try to give back to Victoria, which has given me so much on and off the field. I'm working part time at the baseball and softball academy at Lambert (while also launching a summer camp series through his nascent Saundo Athletics program) and this seemed like a no-brainer. It's sort of a no-kid-left-behind financial aid. Just very proud to have gotten this started with the backing of Jays Care.”
Matt Stairs
Organization: Fredericton Minor Baseball Association
Goal: Infrastructure improvements at Royals Field and Johnston Field
Quote: “That's where I started and I'm still there coaching, so it was an easy pick. When the Jays called they said it worked well going to fields and stuff. We want to put it more towards batting cages around those two fields. You just have to start competing with other programs throughout Canada and try to get nice facilities and good people that enjoy hitting as much as I do. We know we don't really want to lose players. I've taken four out from New Brunswick over the last two years to the Okotoks (Dawgs) academy (where Stairs spends time as a hitting coach). So that's just something to really figure out.”
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