FRONT OFFICE

Barnstormers' Dignitaries

Ferguson Jenkins

Honourary Team President

Fergie Jenkins is one of Canada's most recognizable sports figures of all time. Canada's first inductee into Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame, Fergie's baseball story began in Chatham.

Fergie grew up in Chatham, where he excelled in baseball, basketball, and hockey. In his first season as a full-time starter with the Cubs, he recorded 20 wins and was selected to play in the 1967 all-star game. He also compiles six consecutive 20-win seasons (1967 to 1972). In 1971, he led the National League with 24 wins, 30 complete games and 325 innings pitched and became the first Cub to win the Cy Young Award.

A bonafide icon, our local pitching legend retired with 284 career wins and is the only pitcher in history to record more than 3,000 strikeouts (3,192), while allowing fewer than 1,000 walks (997). Jenkins was enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1991, becoming the only Canadian to be so honored. He is also a Canadian Hall of Fame honored player.

Fergie is very excited and happy that his home now has an IBL team his ballpark. ‘’I am convinced that the population as well as the corporations will greatly support our team.’’ It is an honor for me to be the team’s Honorary President and I hope I will have a chance to meet with you this summer at one of our games. Go CK Go !

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Bill Atkinson

Team Ambassador

Bill Atkinson grew up in Chatham and still calls C-K home today. Drafted by the Montreal Expos, Atkinson threw 98 games at the MLB level. He was signed by the Expos on his 17th birthday and climbed through the organization quickly, reaching AAA in 1975 and first appearing in the majors in 1976.

He was the top reliever for the 1976 Denver Bears, who won the American Association championship, picking up 15 saves that summer. Bill was called up to Montreal in September 1976 and did not allow a run in four outings. He made the Expos in 1977 and had a solid rookie season. After retirement, he returned to live in his hometown. ’

’It’s a wonderful time for Chatham-Kent to have an IBL franchise," said Atkinson. "This is the oldest league in Canada that started in 1919 and that develop many players that reached pro ball as well as the ones that made it and came back for great caliber. Let’s all cheer together for our team. I am honored to be the team Ambassador of the new IBL baseball club. Being a resident of Chatham-Kent all my life, I can testify that it is a great location and needed this baseball team. We have the fans, the facility and I am certain that the CK corporations will also be great support of our team."

Bill's role as Team Ambassador will be to greet and assist fans, and corporate partners throughout the ballpark at our home games. Bill will welcome fans as they arrive, shake hands, answer questions, provide information and directions, and offer tips to make the game-day experience efficient and hassle free, whether you are a first-time visitor or a season ticket holder.

You will find Bill on the perimeter of the ballpark to greet fans or hanging out in the Lounge section to offer corporate partners a great time at the ballpark. Atkinson will also participate to selected special events in the community to help promoting the team.

Bill invites you to enjoy a nice summer evening at the ballpark watching a great baseball game with the terrific calibre of play that the IBL offers.

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Executive

Dom Dinelle

Co-owner, CEO, President

Emailinfo@ckiblbaseball.com

Dom spent 12 years in professional baseball until 2016 as a player, coach and scout with the Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins. Dom was a part of the 2015 Can Am League Trois-Rivieres Aigles league champions coaching staff. Also, an MLB analyst on RDS, a French sports TV station in Quebec. Dom spent 20 years owning an international baseball camp company.

"As a professional instructor, I am always happy to see my athletes working to improve their fundamentals and get closer to their dreams."

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Matt Nahdee

Co-owner, Corporate & Regulatory Affairs

Matt grew up in Chatham-Kent and London. He has always been an athlete and an entrepreneur which led him at a younger age to an academic/athletic path that brought him to six different institutions and three different law schools. His passion is to help others and the importance of serving future generations and their socio-economic progress. He is hugely involved in his indigenous community.

Harry Muir

Baseball General Manager

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Chatham-Kent Barnstormers' organization is proud to introduce baseball lifer and former Toronto Blue Jays minor leaguer Harry Muir as our first ever General Manager. From London, Muir spent four years in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system during their heyday of title runs in the early ’90s. He also etched his name in the Canadian baseball history books by becoming the first Canadian to throw a no-hitter in international play.

Muir won a gold medal representing Team Ontario at the Canadian Nationals in Trois Rivieres with Team Ontario in 1990. Later that summer, Muir was selected to join Team Canada and traveled to Cuba for the World Junior Championships. In his first start, Muir would throw that historic first-ever no-hitter by a Canadian in international play.

The following spring, Muir would travel to Florida, after being signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as a Canadian free agent directly out of high school. He would spend the next four years in their minor league system. While a member of the St. Catharines Blue Jays, Harry was featured in an award-winning documentary produced by CBC television titled, Chasing the Dream. In 1995, Muir found himself in Montpellier, France playing for the Barracudas of the French Premier League. He went undefeated, won another national championship and captured Import Pitcher of the Year honours.

Upon returning to Ontario, Harry had a brief stint with the London Majors of the IBL as a player before switching his focus to coaching for the team. Muir also spent 12 years managing and coaching in the London Tecumsehs organization helping to grow youth players passion for the game.

Recently, Harry helped launch POSI (Purpose of Sport Initiative), an organization to promote and support the growth of positive character and culture in sport.

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Scott Currie

Communication & Media Relations

Scott was born and raised in Chatham-Kent and is an inductee of the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the ‘01-‘02 JMSS basketball team. He played basketball at St Clair College before pursuing a career in professional sports and working in the front office of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He has worked as an official stat recorder at the CFL combine and has instructed at the off season camps of top CFL players. With baseball being his top passion, he eventually left the football club to join the baseball start up of a leading sports technology company. Now residing back in Chatham, Scott works as a Financial Planner for TD Wealth and will look to leverage his vast experience on the business and operations side of both professional and amateur sport to be an integral part of our organization.