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A Living Legend Across BC

From MVP to Team Canada to Baseball BC Head Coach, Norm Caig classifies as a "Living Legend."

When sitting at Elks Stadium throughout the summer watching the Kelowna Falcons take on the West Coast League, every now and then you may hear the name “Norm” blurted out by a fan.  It’s not the Norm from Cheers, but this Norm has the same legendary status.  In fact, if it wasn’t for Norm, Elks Stadium in Kelowna would look far different from what it does today.

Norm Caig has been in Kelowna since 1992. Born in New Westminster and grew up in Surrey/Delta, Caig began his baseball career when some childhood friends and their Dad gave him a glove and introduced him to the sport.  At 15, he began to take baseball seriously playing for the Whalley Chiefs as a catcher, which led to a two year scholarship to Yakima Valley College south of the border.  After graduation he would dive into “semi-pro” ball with the Vancouver Villa of the Industrial League and the Pacific International Baseball League (PIL).  In his final year with the Villa, Caig would win a gold medal at the Senior Championships in Nova Scotia.

When he was 20 Caig got an opportunity of a lifetime playing for Team Canada.  The head coach at the time was Jerry McKay from Brandon Manitoba who called him and said “I hear you’re some kind of a catcher” to which Caig answered “Yeah, I play ball” (laughing).  His tour with Team Canada lasted four consecutive years playing the Pan-Am Games (1969 in Columbia), and the World Amateur three times in Cuba, Nicaragua and Italy.

1973 was his final year as a player before taking over the head coaching role with Baseball BC for the Select program in the Canada Games travelling the Province scouting players which he remained in until 1985. 

Two of his highlights while coaching came in 1977, when he would coach Team BC to a gold medal at the Canada Games in St. John Newfoundland.   Then in 1981 he received a tremendous honour for his efforts and was presented the Baseball Canada “Coach of the Year” Award.

During his stint as the head coach for Baseball BC he was invited by the Toronto Blue Jays to come to Dunedin Florida and Spring Training to learn different skills and drills.  As a catcher meeting and getting to know Ernie Whitt was a “thrill” for Caig.  What he took away from this experience, is coaching and playing baseball is repetition, “the difference between what I was doing and what they’re doing is that they’re doing it every day and fielding a hundred ground balls a day and they’re hitting a hundred balls a day, it’s just repetition.  But I was teaching all the right stuff it was just in a different circumstance altogether.  I came away feeling good about the fact that I was teaching guys the right stuff.”

To this day Caig can be seen helping up keep Elks Stadium.  From cutting grass to edging the infield to general maintenance Caig volunteers his time for the betterment of the facility and the game.  He is often seen at not only Falcons games, but he’s in the stands for the Okanagan Athletics, Kelowna Jays and Okanagan College.  When asked, why do you keep coming to the ballpark? He answered, “Because I enjoy it first of all, I like watching young players play.  The other thing is, there was a day that somebody introduced me to the game and showed me the game and I just feel like whatever I do around the park, is just giving back.”

Caig passed down his love of the game and sports to his two sons; Ryan and TJ.  Ryan played all over the diamond, and now plays slo-pitch, while TJ was a catcher who has now focused on hockey.   As a matter of fact, TJ has played in Europe for the past nine seasons and is currently in Italy.

The Kelowna baseball community has been lucky to have Norm Caig, who deserves a “Cheers” next time you see him.

Ryan Watters - Baseball BC Media