After Jef’s post on the very successful Hastings team, it brought to my attention that some people out there in VIA-land might not know about the literal bevy of talent that B.C. has/is/will produced/producing/produce on the Baseball diamond.

It all pretty much started with Maple Ridge’s Larry Walker blazing the trail. (fact: he and Cam Neely went to the same high school) He was drafted by the former Montreal Expos and played most prolifically for the Colorado Rockies where he won the MVP in ‘97. He finished off his great career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006. His home-run at Ambleside Park still lives in infamy because he not only hit it over the fence but he hit it over Marine Drive and then into a house on the other side of the street!

(Walker, top, Morneau, above)

Since then we have seen a bumper crop of players enter the bigs. Gibson’s Ryan Dempster, Delta’s Jeff Francis, Surrey’s Adam Loewen, North Van’s Scott Richmond and New West’s Justin Morneau another MVP award winner! Plus Trail’s Jason Bay and Victoria’s Rich Harden have also made huge splashes with their play as well.

Another big-name coming up through the ranks is Brett Lawrie (whose sister Danielle is a pitcher for the University of Washington and Canadian National Softball Team) he grew up in Burnaby and played for the Langley Blaze, a team in the B.C. Premier Baseball League (which the North Shore Twins, my local team, has won 3-straight years). He is the highest ever drafted Canadian position player (non-pitcher) behind the aforementioned Jeff Francis and Adam Loewen taken at #16 by the Milwaukee Brewers.

I actually played against Brett in a game when he was 13 and I was 12. All I can remember from that game is that he hit three home-runs. I now don’t feel so bad knowing that those dingers hit off me we by a future major league-r. Good times.