St. Paul’s wins at fundraiser

SCENE & HEARD: The Vancouver Canadians’ annual celebrity softball game at Nat Bailey Stadium on Wednesday was all about raising funds for St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation and its awareness of the risks of heart disease across the Lower Mainland.

It did all of that, highlighted by a $ 5,000 cheque from UFC Canada director of operations Tom Wright. The former Canadian Football League commissioner ( 2002 to 2006) not only donned a jersey, but also made an impressive pop- fly catch in foul territory.

Former Canadians’ GM Jason Takefman made his return to The Nat in his capacity as UFC manager of content marketing for Canada. It was a love- in of sorts with the stadium staff — male and female — embracing in emotional hugs with the young man who started in ticket sales and under the direction of C’s president Andy Dunn rose to the rank of general manager. It was a storybook tale.

Fans also watched first- hand the inaugural public appearance of the Canadians’ all- new dancing grounds crew. Under previous head groundskeeper Tom Archibald, the C’s gained international baseball recognition with the musical fifth- inning dance routine when the boys would put down their rakes and shake their booties to the howls of appreciative customers.

Archibald’s gang broke up during the past winter, forcing the C’s to recruit replacements. It started with former Ottawa Lynx groundskeeper Matt Horan scouted at a Calgary golf course. His rookie shake ‘ n’ rake team includes Shawn Miller, a Calgary law student; amateur wrestler Kraemer Simmons from Port Moody and Abbotsford’s Kraig Krause, who has known the, uh, “inside workings” of C’s mascot Bob Brown Bear the past several seasons.