Our strength begins with our membership base, and thus we trust we can count on you joining our team for 2010, which promises to be one of the more exciting years in recent memory.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE OR CLICK Membership Form 2010 TO OPEN A MEMBERSHIP FORM.

We will soon be releasing the winner of the 2009 Tip O’Neill Award. Once again, we saw history in the making this past season, as a good case can be made for Jason Bay (36 HR, 119 RBI, SLG .537), Joey Votto (.322 BA, 25 HR, 84 RBI), Justin Morneau (30 HR, 100 RBI in 135 games), Ryan Dempster (11 W, 172K in 200 inn), Rich Harden (9 W, 171 K in 141 inn), Eric Bedard (2.82 ERA, 90 K in 83 inn), Mark Teahen (12 HR, 50 RBI, 34 D), Russell Martin (led MLB in inn caught, 7 HR, 53 RBI), and Scott Richmond (8 W, 117 K in 138 inn).

Other Canucks that played in the majors included World Series finalist Matt Stairs, John Axford, Luke Carlin, Jesse Crain, Dave Davidson, Blake Hawksworth, Shawn Hill, George Kottaras, Chris Leroux, Peter Orr, Mike Saunders, and RJ Swindle. We’d also be remiss not to mention Rob Thomson, who coached third base for the World Series Champion New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals first base coach Dave McKay.

Team Canada, led by 2009 inductees Ernie Whitt, Larry Walker and Bernie Soulliere, won the Bronze Medal at the 2009 World Cup held this past Fall in Europe, the first time in 70 years that Canada has finished above fourth place. USA won Gold and Cuba Silver. Canada is now seventh overall in the IBAF World Rankings! Cuba, USA, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Netherlands are ahead of us, but the quality of the 65 national teams behind us really speaks to the accomplishments of our guys sporting the Maple Leaf, including Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Australia, Italy, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, China, Panama, and Spain.

We enter 2010 with great anticipation of more Canadians shining at the Major League level, and a revamped front office in the Rogers Centre transcending into more wins on the field for our beloved Toronto Blue Jays.

Please mark your calendar Saturday, June 26th for our 2010 Induction Ceremony, and don’t forget that the day before we’ll be hosting our 14th Annual Celebrity Golf Classic, and the night before that a Celebrity Slo-Pitch game.

When completing the form, simply check the renewal box on the form if you are renewing and fill in only the blanks that are new or changed. Remember too that we provide income tax receipts to all levels of membership now, although they will be for less, as registered charitable organizations are required to deduct the value attributed to the tangible benefits received in exchange for your membership fee.

Also, if you have influence at your place of employment or service club, we would naturally appreciate you promoting our Grand Slam Membership option. We also have advertising options for corporate Canada both in our Annual Program/Yearbook as well as on the outfield fence of St. Marys Cement Company Field. We will gladly send you more information on those partnerships if needed.

Other opportunities to be remembered here include shade trees and benches (both with donor plaques) surrounding Canada’s Field of Dreams, our main field, The St. Marys Cement Company Field. We also can put your name on a bat that serves as a balustrade on the deck adjoining our museum.

Yet another consideration is a charitable gift of publicly traded securities, now even more tax-advantageous. We’ll gladly explain if you wish to discuss the possibility.

 Again, we thank you in advance for your support and on behalf of your fellow members, our volunteers, inductees, board of directors and staff, I hope that before too long, I have the opportunity of thanking you in person as well.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE.

 Yours in baseball,

Tom Valcke

President & CEO