It's set to be a very special Thursday (April 17) for the Abbotsford Cardinals.
The British Columbia Premier Baseball League team hosts the Ontario Blue Jays senior and junior teams to kick off the 2025 season and a full opening ceremony at DeLair Park is planned.
The action kicks off when the junior Cardinals host the junior Blue Jays starting at 1:30 p.m. Volunteers from Abbotsford Fire Rescue Services are running the concession and barbecue beginning with this afternoon game and will continue to do so into the evening.
The junior Cardinals coaching staff for 2025 consists of head coach Taylor Bratton, assistant coaches Brett Jackson and Joel Van Ea and pitching coach Surya Viswanathan. The senior Cardinals coaching staff for 2025 consists of head coach Kevin Nicholson and assistant coaches Max Ishikawa, Atsu Inomata and Jarrod Manick.
The senior Cardinals and Blue Jays take batting practice starting at 4:30 p.m. and the opening ceremony begins at around 6 p.m. Banners for Major League Baseball legend Jackie Robinson's number 42 and former Cardinals player Sean Phillips' number 14 will be raised. Phillips died in a car accident on Nov. 20, 2007 and the team has honoured him with an annual bursary in the years that followed. The numbers 42 and 14 will never be worn by an Abbotsford Cardinals player again.
Thursday will also be a celebration of the Abbotsford Angels 13U AAA national champions, 13U AA western Canadian champions and 13 U A provincial champions teams. The teams will be on the field and recognized publicly for their achievements in 2024. Abbotsford Angels president Rob Brandsma will also be on the field as recognition for the Angels receiving the 2024 organization of the year by the BC Baseball Minor Baseball Association.
Cardinals president Brad Rosse stated that it will be a memorable evening for the local baseball scene.
"We expect 400 to 500 people at the game," he said. "It will be a real big deal in Abbotsford baseball."
OBJ originally visited Abbotsford back in 2023. The connection between both squads is former Abbotsford resident and stalwart of the local baseball community Corey Eckstein. He helped build the Cardinals and Yale Secondary’s baseball academy and then joined the Blue Jays in 2020.
The Ontario Blue Jays were established in 1996 as an option for baseball players in the greater Toronto area to pursue collegiate and professional opportunities in the sport. They have gone on to produce over 500 college placements, more than 120 Major League Baseball draft picks and signings, dozens of Canadian national team players and eight players who have suited up in the MLB.
Notable MLB alumni include pitcher Shawn Hill, shortstop Peter Orr, pitcher Jordan Romano and outfielder Josh Naylor.
Eckstein was the director of player development and baseball operations with the Cardinals from 2005 to 2020, owned the Sandlot Baseball Academy and directed the baseball academy at Yale. He also served as an assistant coach with the UFV Cascades and the Canadian junior national team.
He spent several years as a scout for the Kansas City Royals and earned a World Series ring as part of the team in 2015. Eckstein was recently ranked by the Canadian Baseball Network as the 68th most influential person in Canadian baseball.
For more details on the games, visit abbotsfordcardinals.com.
