The official letter that explains it all:

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Partners,

As you may know, I joined what is now the Vancouver Canadians right out of college when the team was located in Southern Oregon.  While I have loved every minute of it, it has been my only work experience.  For some time, I have had a desire to take a new and exciting direction in my career.  This may be in the world of investment, it could be to travel and experience the rest of the world, or as many of you know, I’ve expressed interest in getting involved in the National Football League

I spoke with Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney, soon to be new owners of the C’s, when we first met over 6 months ago.  We discussed my future and as requested, have helped them get their feet on the ground during the first six months of ownership transition.  Now that we are on the brink of the sale of the club to the new ownership, and the transition being complete, I’ve talked to Jake and Jeff about moving on.  So, as of Monday, February 19, I will be resigning as President of the Vancouver Canadians.

As difficult as it is for me to leave the exciting opportunities with the new Vancouver Canadians, I am eager to move my career in a new direction.  I will be available to help with specific projects as the Canadians head towards the season opener, and accordingly will not be leaving until April 1^st.  After April 1^st, I will act as a consultant for the team, will make sure my clients partnerships with the club are looked after and will be available as needed.

I will always feel a part of the Canadians family.  I am also confident that Jake, Jeff, and the excellent team left behind will take C’s baseball to new heights.

I want to thank you all for your friendship and support over the past seven years here in the Vancouver and I’m sure we’ll stay close with our shared love of the Canadians and the Nat and my continued involvement in professional sports.

Sincerely,

Dan Kilgras

President, Vancouver Canadians

Classy exit.

The NFL, huh? Well, I guess when you’ve been dealing with 32 home games a year for long enough, a sport that only plays ten home games per season would have some appeal.

Say what you will about Mr Kilgras (and there are as many detractors as fans out there, as there always will be with a GM or President), but you’ve got to give credit to the guy for playing this the right way, looking after the team’s best interests as well as his own, and also, making it all the way from the position of intern to the top of the corporate ladder with the one company.

Yes, Dan and I have had our disagreements over the years (and then some), but we always managed to find a solid middle ground in which we could co-exist, both serve the team’s interests, and not feel like either of us were getting the worst of the deal. And that’s not easy, being as we’ve both got a little alpha dog in us.

Sure, there have been times when I’ve shaken my fist at the general direction of the guy’s office and muttered something vaguely Monty Burns-like, but I’ve also got to admit that, if not for Kilgras’ forward thinking, this blog wouldn’t get nearly the access it does to games, players, management and information. Most blogs are frozen out of ‘official accreditation’, which is an incredibly dumb policy seeing as there are so many great bloggers out there pulling ‘larger than newspaper’ numbers of readers, but the C’s have assisted this blog wherever and whenever they could, almost from the outset. Without Kilgras and GM Delany Dunn having the smarts to put up with my big, uncontrollable mouth bitching from the sidelines, even when I’m saying things they don’t want said, who knows if Notes From The Nat would even exist. It certainly wouldn’t exist in its current form, that’s for sure.

So thanks, Dan. Well played, sir.

Anyone want to lay down a fiver on who will take his place?