Vince Eastman( 1967-) Virden MB Vince Eastman was one of the very elite Senior AAA pitchers in Manitoba during the 1990’ s. A real workhorse with a rubber arm and great control Vince had a lengthy career that also included success pitching for US College, professional Prairie League, and Senior AA teams. Vince was a regular all-star in the MSBL with five second team and three first all star selections. He led the Neepawa Farmers to their only provincial title in 1997 by posting a league best 8-1 regular season record and a 5-0 playoff MVP performance. That year Vince was also named the Senior AAA Player of the Year by Baseball Manitoba. He was named the top pitcher at the Western Canadians with the title winning MSBL all-stars in 2000. Vince was always heavily recruited throughout his career by Manitoba teams at all levels of competition from Bison to Senior AAA to pitch at Provincial, Western, and Canadian championships. This was not only because of his obvious talent but also his durability, competitiveness, and sportsmanship.
Small Community Team: Ebb & Flow Lakers( 1990- 1996) The Ebb and Flow Lakers
David Nychyk( 1968-) Winnipeg MB David Nychyk has over 35 years of being involved with baseball in Manitoba as a player and a coach. He has played on six provincial champion teams from Midget to Senior AAA and is a two time Western Canadian Senior champion with the 1990 Teulon Cardinals and 2002 Elmwood Giants. Dave was also an all-star wherever he played highlighted by being named tournament MVP at both the 1985 Midget Provincial championships and the Senior AAA 1990 Westerns. From 1989-95 David had an outstanding career playing for and coaching US college teams. He was a member of the 1995 Manitoba all-star team that defeated the Canadian National Team. In 1992 Dave founded the Legion 141 Senior Baseball Club and served as vice president of the North Winnipeg Baseball Association for eight years. David was the recipient of the annual Manitoba Junior Baseball League’ s Brain Domes Award in 1995 for dedication to baseball in Manitoba. In 2013 he was named Baseball Manitoba’ s High Performance Coach of the Year. He now coaches the Winnipeg Junior Goldeyes Baseball Academy, supported by Home Run Sports.
Gord Paddock( 1964-) Oak River MB Gord Paddock has worked very hard for many years to promote baseball in the Oak River area as a player, coach, team manager, tournament organizer, and facility manager. Like most great players he started as a teenager in Senior AAA ball performing for the Hamiota Red Sox in 1982. He then spent over 30 years playing or coaching competitively with his hometown Dodgers and other local Senior teams. In 1992 Gord was named the Senior AA Player of the Year in leading the Dodgers to the Manitoba Senior AA championship. He has coached minor and high school ball in the Oak River area for many years. Gord was the coach of the Senior AAA Oak River Dodgers in the MSBL from 2011-2015. In the MSBL’ s last year of operation, the Dodgers captured the 2015 League title which allowed them to represent Manitoba at the 2016 Nationals held in New Brunswick.
representing the Ebb and Flow First Nation in central Manitoba were a very successful tournament team during the early 90’ s not only in the province but also in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Minnesota. Although no statistical records were kept, the team had an estimated. 900 winning percentage against several levels of competition including such top teams as the Elmwood Giants, Teulon Cardinals, Reston Rockets. Competing one year in the provincial intermediate playoffs they were runner-ups to the Waskada Orioles. Their successes culminated in 1995 at Blaine, Minnesota, when they won the North American Indigenous Games final by a score of 4-1. Archie McIvor pitched a three hitter to beat the state-selected team representing Minnesota.
Orville Renwick( 1945-) Melita MB Orville Renwick has been an outstanding baseball promoter in South West Manitoba for many years. Orville started out as a player with the Coulter Red Sox, an Intermediate team that lost the provincial finals in 1968 to the Thompson Reds. Orville then coached the Red Sox for a few years before putting his talents to work for the betterment of all the South West baseball region. He started umpiring for minor and Intermediate ball in 1978 and didn’ t retire until 2010. Not content to merely contribute on the field Orville also served as the South West League President from 1980-97. He also served as an area director for the Manitoba Baseball Association for six years and was made a member of the Manitoba Baseball Honour Society.
Special Category: Bob Boyce-Umpire Bob Boyce( 1950-2013) umpired Junior and Senior baseball for over 30 years in the Winnipeg area. He travelled to and from most of his games by city transit which was viewed as a tremendous sign of dedication. He also mentored and evaluated many young umpires who developed into top level umpires. For many years Bob assigned the umpires to Junior and Senior games, often on short notice, making sure the games had competent umps. He refused however to provide replacement umpires when Northern League umps went on strike in 1995. Bob was highly respected among other prominent Manitoba umpires and the Winnipeg baseball community in general for his competency and long-time dedication and service to the game.
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