It almost seems as if Jim Swanson, a consummate baseball man, was born to play some sort of role in the sport he loves.
The veteran diamond administrator has been named the new general-manager of the Victoria HarbourCats of the West Coast League, replacing the departed Holly Jones.
“Victoria opened its arms to the WCL [the HarbourCats were second in league attendance in their inaugural season last summer]. This is an incredibly strong situation to be able to walk into,” said Swanson, whose first task as off-field boss will be to attend the league meetings Friday in Salem, Ore.
Swanson has been chairman of the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George, which in 2009, 2011 and 2013 featured the national teams of Canada, Cuba, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, China, the Bahamas and the U.S playing at Citizen Field. He has been heard across the province for five years as MLB analyst on Dan Russell’s radio sports talk show. Swanson was also sports editor of the Prince George Citizen for several years and Western Hockey League beat writer covering the Cougars.
“I’ve played junior A hockey [with the hometown Quesnel Millionaires and also Flin Flon Bombers] but my greatest love has always been baseball,” said Swanson.
“It’s been the foundation of my life and my family’s life. All vacations were built around baseball, whether in tournaments [with teams he managed] or going to Mariners games. I don’t watch Survivor or Biggest Loser on TV. I watch baseball games.”
Swanson was manager of the host Prince George Axemen, which won the gold medal at the 2012 Baseball Canada senior championship, and head coach for Team B.C. at the 2013 Peewee World Series in Cincinnati. He also coached in four Baseball Canada senior championships, with his clubs winning one gold medal and two bronze from 2001 to 2012, and has been an instructor in Toronto Blue Jays Super Camps in Vancouver, Kelowna and Prince George. At the minor-pro level, Swanson was administrator and co-commissioner of the independent Prairie League and also vice-president and GM of the Grand Forks Varmints of that league.
“I’m really excited about this because Jim has a body of knowledge and a tremendous amount of experience,” said HarbourCats owner John McLean.
The 45-year-old Swanson will be leaving his current management role with Telus in Prince George and moving his family to Victoria. Swanson and wife Lori, a kindergarten teacher, have two children — 13-year-old Zach and 10-year-old Rachel.
The HarbourCats were 22-32 in their inaugural season but a hit with the Royal Athletic Park faithful with a 2013 per-game average attendance of 1,437. That didn’t include the single-game all-time league record crowd of 4,210 that turned out at Royal Athletic for the 2013 WCL all-star game.
Former GM Jones, a native of Oregon, was named WCL executive of the year for 2013 but left the HarbourCats after the season. The club said it was for family reasons.
The 12-team WCL is a summer league for top-ranked U.S. collegiate NCAA players. A total of 57 players who played in the WCL were selected in the 2013 MLB draft.
Veteran Dennis Rogers was the HarbourCats’ on-field manager last season. McLean, a Vancouver private equity investor, said he will name his coaching staff next week. McLean also said 35 players have committed to the HarbourCats for 2014 and they will be announced in December.
“My job is to create an environment that allows the coaches and players to do their jobs,” said Swanson.
The HarbourCats’ 54-game 2014 regular season runs June 6 to Aug. 10.
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