There will a familiar name inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame this week.
Corey Borthwick has been announced as part of the 2023 induction that will be inducted on Saturday, Aug. 19. Borthwick, who currently resides in Prince Albert, says he is proud to receive the recognition.
“It’s a special achievement for sure. It’s a great honor to have and to be recognized as someone that achieved something in baseball. So, it’s pretty meaningful for sure.”
Borthwick grew up in Kindersley and started playing for the Kindersley Royals at the age of only 16. He would become a foreign exchange student in Exeter, California for his Grade 12 year, and would play two seasons at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California.
After his playing career came to a close, Borthwick transitioned to a coaching role. He even got a chance to coach one of the few Saskatchewan-born players to make it to the major leagues in Andrew Albers.
“It was 20 years ago before I had kids. In 2002, I was the head coach for the Baseball Canada Cup team for Saskatchewan, and we had a really good team that year that included Andrew Albers, who was the last Saskatchewan player to play in the Major leagues. Since then, I’ve been kind of off and on with different various teams and programs”
A teacher by trade, Borthwick has been involved with baseball at the grassroots level. While he lived in La Ronge, Borthwick played an instrumental role in helping baseball grow in the north.
“I love baseball, so that was kind of my thing. My wife and I thought, ‘let’s just give it a try.’ We had a few meetings with a few people that came out, but we said, ‘let’s just do it. I’m sure we can get people to help.’ Our first year, I think it was 2006, we had 125 registered that year. It kind of expanded a few years after that, and then we were constantly, consistently getting 200 kids registered, which is good. It was great because we had kids that had never played baseball before playing baseball up there.”
This past summer, Borthwick served as an assistant coach with the U15 Prince Albert Royals where he got an opportunity to coach his son Declan and daughter Crisayde on the same team. As a whole, Borthwick says baseball is taking off in Prince Albert.
“I think it is starting to thrive in Prince Albert. Right now, the numbers are getting higher. The team that I coached this year, the 15Us, had a really good team. We finished up with a 20-6 record, even though we came up short in the provincial championship. It was for sure one of my top coaching experiences this year. The kids were great, they were eager to learn, and we just got that much better throughout the year.”
