St. Marys – It’s time we build on the momentum of the World Baseball Classic and ensure Canadian baseball is represented to the world in this year’s All-Star Game.

Canadian Jason Bay had statistically one of the best all around seasons last year in the 120-year history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, yet he did not make it into the top 15 of All-Star Game fan voting. "Jason is exactly the type of ambassador that we as fans should be telling the baseball industry we want representing the game right now," said Tom Valcke, president & CEO of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum.

"He's a five-tool guy with big numbers in addition to being an unselfish, wholesome, honest and hard-working player.  Like Mike Weir, Steve Nash, and Wayne Gretzky, Jason is an awesome role model for young Canadians."

This year Jason Bay has won Player-of-the-Month, two Player-of-the-Week awards, and is on pace to have his best season ever, yet he is still not in the position to start in the All-Star Game.  The people of this great country can not let it happen again. 

Every Canadian is asked to click on the following link and vote 25 times for Jason Bay:  http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2006/ballot_pop.html.  Filling out the ballot is simple and repeat voting is just a matter of a couple clicks of the mouse. 

Please forward this on to your friends, family, colleagues and fellow Canadians. If only 150,000 of us take a few minutes to vote 25 times, Jason will get the votes needed to be elected. 

We all need to take a couple of minutes to vote 25 times so that Canada and our player can get the international respect both deserve.

Canada’s Jason Bay – Was named the National League Player-of-the-Month for May after hitting .321 with 12 home runs, 35 RBI and 21 runs scored in 27 games...He set a club record for most homers during the month of May and went deep 10 times in his final 11 games, which included homering in six straight games from May 22-28...The last Pirate to take home the monthly honour was Barry Bonds, who won the award in September of 1992....Jason has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games, going 21-for-55 (.382) with eight home runs and 18 RBI...He has started all 58 games in left field this season...He has gone 12-for-23 (.522) with six homers and 11 RBI in his last six games played on the road.

ST MARYS – 14 June 2006