NOTHING LIKE THE NAT
Stadium brings back fond memories
Nat Bailey Stadium gives Toronto Blue Jays prospects a running start at succeeding in pro baseball.
So says John Schneider, who managed here with the Vancouver Canadians for part of the 2011 Northwest League season and then again for the entire 2014 and 2015 campaigns with the Blue Jays’ short-season single-A affiliate.
Simple numbers agree with Schneider, who is now at the helm of the Dunedin Blue Jays, a Toronto farm club two levels up from Vancouver in the advanced single-A Florida State League. He was one league up last summer, with the Lansing (Mich.) Lugnuts of the single-A Midwest League.
As of Monday morning, the C’s were listing their per-game attendance at 6,284 (capacity: 6,413). Not only did that top the eightteam Northwest League, but it was better on a per-game basis than 12 of the 30 triple-A teams. It was also a second-best clip among the Jays’ eight farm clubs behind only the triple-A Buffalo Bisons (7,853) and ahead of the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats (4,645), Dunedin (560) and Lansing (4,477).
You can easily argue it’s a unique experience. You can easily argue it helps players improve.
“The first game report I wrote in 2011, the first thing I mentioned was how loud the crowd was at The Nat,” said Schneider, 37, a former catcher in the Toronto system. “To me, Nat Bailey provides one of the biggest competitive advantages in all of the minor leagues.
“There are times now in the Florida State League where we don’t draw that many fans. I’ll be sitting in the dugout or coaching third base and I’ll picture what it would sound like at The Nat in the same situation. It’ll be bottom of the eighth with the go-ahead run on second base and I’ll be like, ‘In Vancouver, you couldn’t hear yourself think.’
“I wish every player and every coach and every manager in the system got a chance to experience Vancouver. The fact that I’m still talking to a newspaper in Vancouver speaks to that.”
There are other obvious pluses having a team here. For some U.S. and Latin America players, being based out of The Nat is their first experience in Canada. They get used to dealing with Canadian money in day-to-day life, for instance.
It can be even bigger than that, too. C’s president Andy Dunn tells a story of an opposing manager asking him to speak to some of his players during a trip to The Nat. There were several of them who apparently thought they could take a ferry to China in the morning and be back in time for a game in Vancouver that night.
Being the lone “affiliated” minorleague team in Canada isn’t without its troubles. Coming back and forth across the border can create logistical problems. The Idahobased Boise Hawks missing five players for two games at The Nat during the 2013 Northwest League final due to visa and passport issues is the most glaring example.
Schneider still maintains “it’s more than worth it.”
“The border adds an extra 20 minutes or so, but you get used to it,” explained Schneider. “And Andy and JC (Fraser, the C’s general manager) and everyone else in the office has the visa stuff worked out before the season even starts. They have those things figured out.
“Did working in Vancouver make me better at my job? One hundred per cent yes. It was my first chance to learn how to deal with the media on a regular basis. It was my first chance to learn how to deal with playing in an atmosphere like that. It was a fabulous experience.”
The C’s have been a Toronto affiliate since the 2011 season. It was announced in January 2016 that the clubs had extended their player-development contract through the 2018 campaign.
I wish every player and every coach and every manager in the system got a chance to experience Vancouver.