Vancouver Canadians
The Vancouver Canadians are the Northwest League affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. As a minor league baseball franchise (dating back to 1979 in Medford, OR), the Canadians have had players such as José Canseco, Rod Beck, Rickey Henderson, Scott Brosius, Jason Giambi, Tim Hudson, Nick Swisher, Jeremy Brown, Jason Windsor, Joe Blanton, Rich Harden, Travis Buck, Danny Putman, Dallas Braden and Miguel Tejada. The current incarnation of the Canadians was established in 2000 after the AAA Canadians moved to Sacramento, California and became the Sacramento River Cats (which is now an affiliate of the Athletics; the team formed after Medford, Oregon's Southern Oregon Timberjacks relocated to Vancouver. The team became affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels, among others).
Vancouver was a heavy player in the early history of the Northwest League, a charter member in every version of the league that would eventually form the NWL, notably as the sole team that survived the collapse of the Western International League in 1922 when it reformed in 1937, winning four pennants in the WIL (1942, 1947, 1949, 1954) as the Vancouver Capilanos (1939-1954). However, even though they were the final champions of the WIL, Vancouver was not part of its reformation into the Northwest League, due to the NWL's shedding of all of its Canadian teams in order to focus on the American Pacific Northwest.
The Vancouver Canadians play home games at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Their season lasts approximately 12 weeks, including the Championship Series. In 2005 the team averaged approximately 3,300 fans per game.
The Canadians announced January 10th, 2007 that Rick Magnante will return as Manager for 2007, as well as pitching coach Craig Lefferts, now entering his 4th season as the pitching coach. Former Vancouver Canadian slugger Chris Pritchett was named the team's latest hitting coach May 2007.
On February 1, 2007 it was announced that the Canadians had been sold to a local ownership group, Vancouver Professional Baseball Partnership, who intend to keep the team in Vancouver and initiate extensive upgrades to Nat Bailey Stadium. The stadium will be restored to a state similar to when it opened in 1951 with murals and trees adorning the outside, in addition to modernization improvements to the rest of the stadium. With the new ownership's intention of keeping the team in Vancouver the Canadians will become the lone MLB affiliated minor league team in Canada after the 2007 season when the Ottawa Lynx move to Pennsylvania.