Championship Rings!

(Note: The picture you see here is courtesy Vancouver Canadians Head Groundskeeper Tom Archibald.)

Vancouver will always be a Canucks/hockey town, but how about those Canadians from the Northwest League?

The 2011 champions handed out championship rings to the players in Dunedin several weeks ago, and earlier this week, it was the stadium staff who received their rings.

From game-day staff to controllers to broadcasters to groundskeepers to team physicians to everybody who was a part of the 2011 staff, everyone was handed a personalized championship ring in a special ceremony this week. (When I say 'personalized,' I mean your name is engraved on the ring!) The picture you see here is what the ring looks like (with this shot taken by Head Groundskeeper Tom Archibald). It looks terrific, and everybody was just thrilled to receive one. Talking to several people during the festivities, I learned that there were those who have been in minor-league baseball for 30 years, those in the industry for 6 years, and so on, and it was their first ever championship ring. It was just fantastic listening to everybody's story about how long they've waited for this moment. T-Mac told me the awesome anecdote about how he and I--and he and I alone--will forever be linked in Canadians' lore! What a terrific story!

When it was my turn to say how I felt about the ring, well, my first response was: "I guess I'll try to be Jeter; try to win a ring every year!"