Baseball Canada to Host National Teams Awards Banquet & Fundraiser January 16, 2010

Courtesy of Baseball Canada

OTTAWA -- It is that time of year again! Baseball Canada announces it will hold its annual National Teams Awards Banquet and Fundraiser on Saturday, January 16, 2010 at the Renaissance Toronto Hotel at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

The banquet, which will once again take place in the Northern Lights Ballroom, was first held in 2003 and serves as the associations primary fundraiser for the National Teams program.

Many of the programs' Major League alumni and current national team players attend the banquet each year, along with several professional and amateur baseball executives and dignitaries.

"We have been fortunate in the past to receive great support from our alumni playing in Major League Baseball as well as from personnel in both the professional baseball and corporate communities," says Greg Hamilton, Baseball Canada's director of national teams. "We look forward to celebrating a season of Canadian baseball excellence in an environment that fosters future national team success."

Throughout the evening, Baseball Canada plans on honouring its national teams and players both past and present; including its 2009 World Cup team which earned Canada's first ever medal at the event, capturing the bronze medal.

Baseball Canada will also honour the Most Valuable Player of both the junior and senior national teams as well as pay tribute to other notable contributors to the association in the form of alumni and special achievement awards.

In addition to the awards portion of the gala, an auction will take place featuring several popular and exclusive items.  Past featured items included tickets to the MLB All-Star Game and to NCAA college football games, a one-week stay at a luxurious golf and ski resort in Panorama, BC, as well as an exclusive package offered by Chicago Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster which includes a trip for four to Chicago to see a four game series at Wrigley Field, three night hotel stay, two restaurant meals, Cubs bat boy for a game, pre-game batting practice and clubhouse tour with Demspter and autographed jerseys. There will also be several autographed pieces of baseball memorabilia available.

Tickets to the event, which will be emceed by Toronto Blue Jays radio announcer Jerry Howarth for a eighth consecutive year, cost $400 per person, $3,200 for a table of eight guests or $4,000 for a table of ten guests. Baseball Canada has registered charitable status.

For more information, please contact Greg Hamilton, director of national teams, at 613-748-5606 ext. 225 or via e-mail at ghamilton@baseball.ca.

Baseball Canada National Teams Awards Banquet and Fundraiser Registration Form