The 50th anniversary celebrations had to be scuttled because of the pandemic. So the players on the Victoria Centennials are left with their private remembrances of representing sa国际传媒 at the 1970 world baseball championships in late November and early December in Cartagena, Colombia.
Time hasn鈥檛 dulled the memory of facing U.S. star pitcher Bert Hooton 鈥� later NLCS MVP and World Series champion with the Los Angeles Dodgers 鈥� and taking the mighty Americans to 11 innings in a 4-3 loss.
鈥淣othing can describe the feeling of putting on a Maple Leaf jersey for the first time,鈥� said Jerry Lister, an infielder on the Victoria team.
鈥淚 traded a lot of gear with the Cuban national team players,鈥� Lister added, of a time-honoured international sports tradition.
The Centennials beat Vancouver in the sa国际传媒 final in Kamloops and then picked up the Vancouver team star player Dave McKay for nationals and the worlds. McKay went to play for the Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland A鈥檚 from 1975 to 1982 and has been a coach in the MLB from 1984 to presently with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
鈥淒ave McKay is the most humble guy you will ever meet and still keeps in touch with all the sa国际传媒 guys,鈥� said Lister, who went on to play for the Yankees鈥� farm team in Omaha.
The Centennials beat 颅Saskatchewan in the Canadian final at Brandon, Man., and were allowed several pick-ups, including McKay, for the world championship.
The Centennials consisted of the all-stars from the Victoria Amateur Baseball League at Lambrick Park, now known as the Mavericks League. The Centennials also won the 1971 Canadian championship to represent sa国际传媒 in the Pan American Games that year in Cali, Colombia. Star Victoria players of that era included Lister, brothers Les and George Brice, Russ Holmes, Bob Mabee, Doug Hill, Barry Harvey, John Yankowski, George Fuller and Gord Strongman.
The Centennials, representing sa国际传媒, placed 10th at the 1970 world championship and had a winning record in the 1971 Pan Am Games but finished out of the medals.
鈥淭he worlds were held in the heart of the South American season, which was this time of year, and well past our season had finished,鈥� noted Lister.
