The baselines have been drawn, the gloves worked to a soft pillow and the skies are blue and clear.
When Todd Campbell thinks of a perfect day, baseball is always a part of it.
As coach and player with the New Westminster Mariners of the Over-30 Baseball League, Campbell welcomes the beginning of a new season with open arms, and an appreciation that is understandable for someone once told he’d be a paraplegic.
“It’s baseball season and we’re ready to go,” said Campbell of his team, which is in its second season at Queen’s Park Stadium.
Formerly called the Delta Cardinals, Campbell chose Queen’s Park as the team’s new home two years ago as part of an overhaul.
The club has existed for approximately 12 years and Campbell has been a member since 2010. But for most of its history, the Over-30 Cardinals were the exact opposite of St. Louis’s – stuck in the baseball’s basement.
“We were very much the doormats of the league, perennially at or near the bottom,” says Campbell, who took on the managing duties three years ago and decided, in collaboration with the other team leaders, to make major changes.
“We made a coaching change, made other changes. I knew we needed to shake things up, so we brought in new players, released some others… Moving to New West was all part of it. A new life, new uniforms,” he said. “And our luck changed.”
Last year the Mariners finished third overall with a 10-6 record, finishing the regular season with five straight wins. But despite owning the Burnaby Pirates in all three games during the season, they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by an unflattering 15-1 score.
It’s a memory that will provide perfect motivation, Campbell remarked – seeing that they open the season on Sunday, 10 a.m. against the same Pirates that ended their season.
“We’ve added two more pitchers and one of them throws in the 80s (miles-per-hour),” he noted.
Campbell’s own story is one of surviving and then exceeding all expectations. Pitching in a rec league in his hometown of Brampton, Ont. in 2006, his life changed dramatically when he was hit in the head by a line drive and told at the hospital that if he survived he would never walk or use his arms again.
Harsh words to hear, and ones he rejected outright. The process to relearn everything took a long time but now he takes the mound and pitches, plays the occasional first or third, and enjoys the game all the more.
“Personally I didn’t want my last memory being hauled off the pitcher’s mound in an ambulance,” he said. “There was a lot of rehabbing and therapy. It was basically a whole new learning process.
“It’s still ongoing. I still don’t have much feeling along my leftside, but you adjust. I lost all my home run power so I’m more of a high-average hitter now. I use to really hammer the ball.”
Having survived a near-fatal ordeal and returned to the field, Campbell now volunteers with local brain injury organizations and Challenger baseball, which provides an introduction to the game for children with cognitive and physical challenges.
The Over-30 league has its share of weekend warriors, former collegiate players and guys who were once drafted. It’s highly competitive and Campbell says New West will be in the thick of it.
The M’s roster includes outfielder Maurice Jackson, the 49-year-old assistant coach who also mans centrefield.
“He looks like he’s 29 and he’s the best centrefielder in the league. (Jackson) is a great hitter, with great power and what’s funny is he had never really played much baseball before. I converted him over from football four years ago.”
The players come from a variety of backgrounds, from a police force employee to a construction worker and a couple of corporate vice presidents.
“We have quite a mixed group from diverse backgrounds and different shapes. … Our team has a lot of diversity and we gel well together.”
The team plays in a 10-team league, with the opposition coming from places like Burnaby, West Vancouver and Richmond.
The Mariners’ home games are Sunday mornings, 10 a.m. at Queen’s Park Stadium.
