About NFTN
Every summer up in Vancouver, when the half an inch of winter snow has melted, and the spring rains have long swept over the Rockies, a group of young men from different nations gather within the historic confines of Nat Bailey Stadium to play a little baseball.
They inevitably call themselves the Vancouver Canadians. And we, the baseball fans of Vancouver, British Columbia, pay a little money to watch.
Notes From The Nat is the chronicle of their exploits - a place where Vancouver baseball fan, visiting coach, lowly-paid employee and hard-working player can kick back, throw some anonymous wisdom about, and be mocked roundly for their haircuts and/or hockey allegiances.
Things you won’t find here, though we know from our server data that people have come to the site looking for them:
- Vancouver Canucks (sorry, but they get the other 99.9% of Vancouver’s sporting press, so they’ll just have to learn to live with their banishment here)
- Canadian Tire (hey, we love an $8 power drill as much as the next guy, but we don’t sell ‘em here)
- Vancouver Canadian border information (suffice to say, ‘easier than getting into the US’)
- Jobs in Vancouver Canada (we could use some help with the vacuuming, but not on a full-time basis)
- Vancouver Canadian pharmacy (you wanna buy some cheap Cialis? Barely used…)
- Vancouver Canadian hotel (try Priceline - seriously)
- Vancouver Canadiens (try Montreal)
- Montreal Canadians (try Vancouver)
- Granville Island Vancouver (at least until they build that waterfront stadium…)
- Vancouver salaries (If you work in construction, seriously, get out here pronto)
- Vancouver AAA (oh, we can dream)
- Vancouver Giants (the kids can play, they just don’t play here)
- Vancouver NBA (hahahaha! Bwaaaahahaha!)
- Vancouver Cascade little league (there are days when this would make sense, but…)
- Baseball in Vancouver Washington (isn’t it time they got their own name down there?)
- Vancouver real estate (keyword: expensive)
- Vancouver Voodoo (who would have thought professional roller hockey wouldn’t take off?)
- Stadium seats (you can’t have them - they’re attached)
- Links to Armenian nightclubs and strippers (for those, you’d have to look for the previous domain we had, which was swiped by an Eastern European spammer - adjust your bookmarks accordingly)
Things you WILL find here:
- Short-season minor league Low-A Northwestern League (NWL) baseball, played at Nat Bailey Stadium, in affiliation with the major league Oakland Athletics, during the beautiful days of Vancouver’s summer months.
- Snark.
We’ve been doing this since 2004, but baseball in Vancouver has been about for over a century, so we’re doing our best to ensure that the next hundred years will be far better reported than the last.
Stick around. Mourn the mini-donuts.
Hey Oz,
just wanted to let you know I added your site to my “links” on lf4l1994.blogspot.com……………………thanks for the comment!
Jeremy
Comment by Canadians4Life — October 24, 2006 @ 10:03 pm
Hey Oz,
There is a news about the A’s relocating to Fremot, CA. Here are the links of the article:
http://deadspin.com/sports/baseball/the-bay-area-athletics-of-fremont-212965.php
http://www.kcbs.com/pages/121049.php?contentType=4&contentId=236382
http://athleticsnation.com/story/2006/11/6/141448/565
Comment by tom — November 7, 2006 @ 3:39 pm
Oz,
Enjoy the blog and your support of UBC Baseball. Thought I would give you a little scoop. C’s legend Chris Pritchett is assisting us as a volunteer coach this spring after moving up to Vancouver full time in January. Can’t work until his paperwork and visa is processed but is coming out when he can….great asset for us and of course has quite the playing experience and resume to help our kids and coaches.
He lives out by UBC and makes it out 2-3 times a week working with our hitters and infielders.
Terry
Comment by Terry McKaig — February 21, 2007 @ 12:48 pm
Great blog on the Canadians. Thanks as well for the nice comments on Jennifer’s art at the stadium; it’s much appreciated (my spouse has all the talent; I’m just along for the ride)
We organize a baseball meeting each summer in Vancouver for SABR (Society for American Baseball Research http://www.sabr.org). This year, the meeting will be at Nat Bailey on Saturday, August 25 at 2 pm (there’s no game that day) We’ll have several speakers, including Andy Dunn, and I’m trying to line up a couple ex-ballplayers to talk. In the past, we’ve had Kit Krieger (sort of a ballplayer :=) ), Ernie Kershaw, Bill Whyte, Phil Filiatrault (played in Pirates system), Ray Crosato and others. I’m always looking for others interested, so if you think of any, send an email to us at art@ettinger.ca. (I’m really interested if anyone has a contact for Hal Rodd, former announcer for the Capilanos)
Anyone interested in baseball is welcome to attend, and you don’t have to be a SABR member. There’s no admission charge and we also will have a bbq at our house afterwards to which all are invited.
Thanks again,
Max
Comment by Max Weder and Jennifer Ettinger — July 25, 2007 @ 9:20 pm