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Mister baseball

Ladner resident honoured for his devotion to the diamond
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Ladner's Ray Carter—shown here at Ray Carter field in Tsawwassen—has been selected to receive a lifetime achievement award from Sport BC for his dedication to local

Ray Carter has attended plenty of Sport BC awards ceremonies, but the Ladner resident has yet to be in the spotlight.

Until now.

The longtime baseball devotee has been selected to receive the Daryl Thompson Award at Sport BC’s 45th Annual Athlete of the Year Awards, Feb. 24 at the River Rock Casino Resort.

The prestigious award—which has previously gone to the likes of Terry Fox, Rick Hansen and John Furlong—recognizes a British Columbian who has contributed to sport in an extraordinary way over an extended period of time.

Carter is being honoured for for his 35 years of dedication to developing baseball in Canada at the local, provincial and national level.

“It takes an amazing amount of passion to dedicate the time Ray Carter has to the development of sport in not only his community, but also his province and country,” said Tim Gayda, president and CEO of Sport BC. “It is people like Ray upon which amateur sport is built, and we thank him for his continued commitment over the years.”

Carter was “shocked and excited” when he received the news a couple weeks ago.

“I can’t believe that I’m singled out when I know so many other people, not only in baseball but in other sports, that are so deserving,” he said.

Originally from Vancouver Island, Carter played the sport as a youngster. But it wasn’t until he settled in South Delta in 1975 that he got seriously involved.

A friend asked him to help coach a kids’ team in Tsawwassen—and the rest is history.

Carter went on to become president of the Tsawwassen Amateur Baseball Association, president of BC Minor Baseball, president of Baseball BC, and vice-president of Baseball Canada.

In 2000 he was elected president of Baseball Canada—a position he still holds today.

He was also honoured with the Governor General’s medal for volunteerism in 1993, and in 2006, was inducted into the Delta Sports Hall of Fame.

The baseball junkie still makes time to catch a few amateur games in Tsawwassen.

“I quite enjoy going out there, especially to Ray Carter field,” he laughs. The Midget baseball diamond was named after him in 2009.

For Carter, the difficulty of batting, throwing and catching sets baseball apart from all other sports.

“It’s a tough game to learn and be accomplished at,” he said. “Hit the baseball three times out of 10, you’re considered a good hitter.”

During his time with Baseball Canada, Carter has worked with young stars like Justin Morneau, Jason Bay and Adam Loewen who went on to play for Major League Baseball teams. But witnessing their success is just a bonus for Carter.

“Seeing kids play the game and enjoy the game, that’s really the big thing that I get out of it.”

His daughter never picked up the sport, but Carter’s four-year-old grandson is excited to join his first team in Surrey this season.

“He’s looking forward to it and his grandpa is looking forward to it.”

It may even inspire Carter to put his coaching hat back on after years of working on the administrative side.

"Who knows? Maybe I'll get back to it."