I knew about this a few weeks back, but decided against posting about it because… well, excessive publicity tends to make cool events like this no longer annual affairs, if you know what I mean.

Regardless, the University of British Columbia baseball team had their yearly reunion game this past Saturday at Nat Bailey Stadium, and just as he did the year previously, Colorado Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis turned out to play in the outfield. According to reports from the Tbirds Baseball Fanpage, he accounted for himself pretty fairly too - as did the other current pro UBC alums in attendance.

The 2006 University of British Columbia Alumni game was entertaining, and included some good defensive plays, but the star of the show was clearly Yankee farmhand and Canadian Olympian Cory Stuart.

A relief pitcher in real life, Stuart played left field and shortstop on this occasion. He got two hits, and made a couple of very good defensive plays at shortstop. UBC Assistant Coach Cavanagh Whitely said, “Somebody should call up George Steinbrenner and let him know that there’s somebody in his organization that can hit.”

Turn-out was so good that they had to divvy the attendees into three teams - young, middle-aged and old - and just as with previous seasons, the oldies gave a good account of themselves. For a full breakdown of the day, head on over to Bob’s Tbirds Baseball Fanpage.

Hat tip to Bob Broughton for the pic of Cory Stuart above