SPORTS FLASHBACK 2012: Blatz on way to Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
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Steinbach athletic therapist Dave Blatz, will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame at St Mary’s, Ontario this weekend, as part of Canada’s 2011 gold medal Pan Am Games team.
Blatz, owner of Eastman Therapy Centre in Steinbach, has crisscrossed the globe the last decade or more, as he worked with national teams in volleyball, rowing and baseball as an athletic therapist. He has been with the national baseball program for 10 years. Among his other gigs, he has worked at two Olympic Games (Beijing and Vancouver), but his induction ceremony this weekend ranks up there with all of that.
It was Blatz’s involvement with the 2011 Canadian National Baseball Team that won the gold medal at the Pan Am Games in Mexico last year that will see him inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame along with that historic team.
Although Blatz has a pretty good glove himself at second base, playing senior baseball in recent years, it is not his baseball-playing prowess that will have him ushered into the Hall this weekend.
The entire team and its support staff will be inducted in the ceremonies Saturday afternoon at St Mary’s, Ontario, which is the permanent home of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
As many players from that 2011 championship team are committed to their current teams, Blatz will be one of only a handful of personnel from that team that will be there in person for the induction. One who will be there is former Blue Jays star and national team manager Ernie Whitt.
Winning the gold medal at the Pan Am Games was an historic achievement for Team Canada, as they prevailed over baseball powerhouses such as the U.S. and Cuba. Canada is now ranked sixth in the world by the International Baseball Federation, its highest ranking ever.
With a record 26 Canadians having played in the Major League Baseball in 2011, Canada is also peaking at the big league level. However, Whitt had only three ex-major leaguers in the lineup, as Canada upset the unbeaten U.S. 2-1 in the Pan Am gold medal game in Mexico.
With files from Terry Frey