Islanders join Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

Victoria umpiring legend Doug Hudlin, the first non-American to be invited to work the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame during festivities this weekend in St. Mary’s Ont.

The City of Victoria proclaimed June 11 Doug Hudlin Day during ceremonies held at National Little League that day.

Also in the induction Class of 2017 is former former Baseball Canada president Ray Carter, of Nanaimo, and the 2015 Pan American Games gold-medallist Canadian team, which included infielder Jesse Hodges of Victoria.

Headlining the Class of 2017 is former Toronto Blue Jays pitching ace Roy Halladay and former Montreal Expos slugger and four-time NL all-star Vladimir Guerrero. It is the 21st induction ceremony.

Hudlin, who umpired a generation of Island ball players over four decades, died in 2014 at 91. He umpired twice at the Little League World Series, in 1967 and 1974 — when Esquimalt-Vic West represented Canada — and twice at the Senior Little League World Series in Gary, Indiana.

Hudlin was known for his empathy toward the young players he umpired.

“In Little League, you're the umpire and the coach at the same time,” he once said.

“You help and guide youngsters along — that's part of an umpire’s job at that level.”

That attitude spilled into the stands in an era when parents did not seem as strident when cheering their young offspring. Hudlin would often turn to the mothers of players he had called out, and ask: “Do you still love me?” The answer was always the same.

Hudlin once said his greatest thrill in later years was being stopped throughout the Island and asked: “Do you remember me? You used to umpire my games at National Little League, American Little League, Babe Ruth or wherever.”

Carter was president of Baseball Canada from 2000 to 2016 during a time of tremendous growth and success. He helped establish the Canadian women's national team in 2004, now ranked No. 2 in the world, and Challenger Baseball for kids with disabilities. Under Carter’s reign, Canada won men’s gold at the 2011 Guadalajara and 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games and won 11 other international medals.