Blue Jay great gives back in New Lowell
By Vince Trama
On April 5, Smith Brothers Baseball Central held its second annual “Wine and Dine with a Sports Celebrity” in New Lowell. The emcee of the evening was one half of the Smith Brothers, Konar Smith.
After a delectable buffet meal, the evening began with a quick recap of what has happened here over the year. SBBC is much more than a training facility for baseball, although that’s its main purpose. The building also houses an exercise room, dance studio, meeting rooms and a parents’ lounge. Besides baseball clinics, tryouts and team practices, we have had winter golf, birthday parties and a winter bocce ball league. The U16 Wasaga Canadian girls’ soccer team practiced at SBBC all winter to prepare for their recent tournament in Italy. In February, SBBC hosted our first annual College, University and MLB showcase where 50 baseball players came to impress three Major League Baseball scouts, as well as representatives from five colleges and universities from Canada and the U.S.
At the “Wine and Dine” event, there was a live and silent auction, with many worthwhile items up for grabs. The big- ticket item was a 30” x 40” painting of the baseball card of former Blue Jay relief pitcher, Duane Ward, who was our guest of honour. It was painted live in two-and-a-half hours by artist Mark Grice. The beautiful painting sold for a whopping $450! There were great items being raffled off, including the highly coveted Melky Cabrera-signed baseball bat. There was also the opportunity to have a picture taken with Duane, with the prints produced right on the spot.
A portion of the money raised was donated to Candlelighters Simcoe, a support organization for parents whose child or teenager has been diagnosed with cancer.
Duane was the keynote speaker for the event. While playing for the Blue Jays, Duane was a part of the World Series-winning teams in 1992 and 1993, respectively. He pitched the ninth inning to set up the iconic Joe Carter walk-off home run. Duane also set the single-season Blue Jays Save record in 1993, with 45 saves in his first year as the team’s closer.
Duane was charming and entertaining when he took to the mound to address everyone. He told interesting stories about his career experiences and about his former teammates. He was very humble and was hesitant to bring up his personal accomplishments. Instead, he insisted on sharing his involvement in the Blue Jays Care Foundation and Blue Jays kid’s camps. Duane feels that since his baseball career is over, the best stories to share are about how much he enjoys giving back to the baseball community.
On the morning of April 6, Duane got back to his current passion: passing on his baseball knowledge to the younger generation. Duane performed a pitching clinic for kids ages 10 to 15 where he went over pitching mechanics while incorporating his personal experiences from the Major Leagues. The clinic was a great success with every participant receiving an autographed picture of Duane. The parents also got their chance to rush onto the field to get their Blue Jays memorabilia signed when the clinic was complete.
