On a recent March afternoon when Martin Winstanley strolled out onto the field where his Victoria Eagles play, he surveyed the sorry state of the ball fields.
“See the conditions of the dugouts,” he said. “Not good.”
Eagles president Winstanley, whose club competes in the B.C. Premier Baseball League, pointed to the first base dugout. It was full of water, debris and muck. A couple small bleachers sat rusting next to it, ready to provide spectators with some minimal accommodation.
Winstanley was out to show why his club and the Mavericks baseball league are teaming up to raise money for new facilities at Lambrick Park. He hopes the District of Saanich will take notice and chip in as well.
The two organizations are holding a raffle later this spring, with first prize being airfare, accommodation and two tickets to see the Yankees play the Red Sox in New York. The seats belong to Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, and are normally reserved for his parents. Because he is the catcher, the seats are 10 rows behind home plate.
Winners would also get the chance to watch batting practice and have a meet-and-greet with Red Sox starting pitcher and former Eagle Nick Pivetta, provided he is not pitching that game. If Pivetta does start, it would be a chance to see a hometown boy pitch in the Major Leagues.
Winstanley figures the full retrofit the field needs would cost between $500,000 and $750,000. This would include new dugouts, an extended backstop behind home plate, better fencing and proper bullpens.
Some of these fixes are for player comfort and better gameplay, but some are also to address safety issues, he said.
“This is the top level of the game for high school kids, they hit the ball hard,” Winstanley said. “You get people walking by — kids, bicycles — and there’s line drives going over that fence.”
Winstanley showed up to give the tour of the facilities with a couple of 15-year-old Eagles players who immediately began tossing a baseball back and forth.
“I think it needs some work, but I like I like playing on it,” said Keifer Rabie-Jones, an Eagles player in the Junior Premier League.
“Compared to some other fields in the league, it definitely needs some work,” added Will Henzi, who plays for the Eagles in the Bantam Premier league.
Lambrick has several ball parks, but the one that is used by primarily Eagles and Mavericks is the most dilapidated. The ball parks get a lot of use in the summer, and scheduling for the different fields gets difficult.
“These parks are absolutely full,” Winstanley said.
Winstanley also provided a bit of history as to how it got to be this way.
The Mavericks baseball league consists of six teams of mostly 18- to 40-year-olds and is one of the oldest leagues in B.C., dating back to the early twentieth century. In 1972, the league was convinced to move to Lambrick from Victoria’s Athletic Park, with the promise of a new field.
What was built in 1972 is the same field the players use today, despite expanded rosters and modern gameplay.
The Victoria Eagles are part of the B.C. Premier League, which includes teams throughout the province for young players aged 13 to 18. This league has proved to be a conduit for talented young players in B.C. to go on to college ball and the Major Leagues.
The Eagles are an expansion team that started in 2010, and now share the facilities with the Mavericks. Several Eagles players have already gone on the MLB, including Pivetta and Sam Shaw, who was drafted last year by the Toronto Blue Jays.
The raffle draw is scheduled for an Eagles home game on July 6. Raffle entry costs $20 per ticket, and will be available starting on March 30, with locations listed at victoriaeagles.com.
Second prize in the raffle will also include a tentative meet-and-greet with Pivetta, along with tickets to a Red Sox-Blue Jays game in Toronto. Third place is tickets to a Twins versus Blue Jays game in Minnesota. All prizes include airfare and accommodation, and they all have cash prize alternatives if winners don’t want the tickets.
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