The baseball community in Canada was very saddened to hear of the passing of Jim Baba earlier in the week at the age of 69. Jim's influence on the game of baseball goes far far beyond Canadian borders as he was a well respected individual at so many levels of baseball around the world. 

A native of Mosse Jaw, Saskatchewan, he held his roots close to him as he loved everything about his home province. He served as the director of Parks & Recreation in Kindersley, Sask for nine years before taking a position with Baseball Saskatchewan as the Director of Baseball Operations. It was during this time that he started to build some of the player and coach development programs that are still in place today. He was also an NCCP clinican in the province as well as spending some time coaching provincial teams there as well. 

In 2000, his made the move with his family from Moose Jaw to Ottawa, Ontario to take on a new challenge as the Director of Baseball Operations for Baseball Canada. The following year, he was placed into the role of Executive Director of Baseball Canada; a role which he would hold for 20 years until his retirement in 2021. During his tenure in this role, Jim would help lead Team Canada through two Olympics cycles in 2004 and 2008 as well as a number of World Baseball Classic cycles in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017. 

As mentioned earlier, Jim's impact on the game of baseball was known around the world as well as he was a technical official for the World Baseball Softball Confederation. He would work at a number of international events including the World Baseball Classic, Olympic qualifiers, Pan American Games, the U18 Baseball World Cup, and the Women's Baseball World Cup, He would deliver educational programs to techincal officials which helped immensely with the global growth of the game of baseball. 

Jim was inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008 and is also a member of the Moose Jaw and District Sports Hall of Fame (see inset photo). 

Jim is survived by his wife Penny as well as their children Jamie, Mitch, and Melani. He was also a proud grandfather to five grandchildren whom he loved dearly. We send all of our love and strength to them during this most difficult time. Keeping all of Jim's friends and colleagues in our thoughts over the coming days and weeks. Thank you for eveyrthing Jim!!