Barnstormers name year-end award winners

The Chatham-Kent Barnstormers recently announced their three year-end major award winners. They include:

Ed Pinnance Most Outstanding Player of the Year
Seth Strong

Strong previously won the Intercounty Baseball League’s most valuable player award. He’s also the IBL home run champion with 16 and was named an IBL first-team all-star.

Harry Muir Most Outsanding Pitcher of the Year
Brock Whitson

Whitson had a 5-3 record and a 4.04 ERA.

Boomer Harding Most Outsanding Offensive Player
Spencer Marcus

The first player signed by the Barnstormers, Marcus was an IBL first-team all-star. His .365 batting average was second in the IBL. He added five homeruns and 26 RBI.

Here is a breakdown of the awards and a brief autobiography of who they are named after.

The Ed Pinnance Award for the Most Outstanding Player of the year.

Ed Pinnance, nicknamed “Peanuts”, was a Canadian First Nations Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics during the 1903 season. Pinnance, from the Walpole Island (Bkejwanong Territory), was the first person of indigenous ancestry to play in a regular season game in the majors. He also went to Michigan State University. To honor Ed, the Barnstormers are naming the Most Outstanding Player of the Year Award with his name

The Harry Muir Award for the Most Outstanding Pitcher of the year.

Harry is a baseball lifer, a former Toronto Blue Jays minor leaguer, and the first Barnstormers’ general manager.

He spent four years in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system during their heyday of title runs in the early ’90s. He also etched his name in the Canadian baseball history books by becoming the first Canadian to throw a no-hitter in international play. Muir won a gold medal representing Team Ontario at the Canadian Nationals in Trois Rivieres with Team Ontario in 1990. Later that summer, Muir was selected to join Team Canada and traveled to Cuba for the World Junior Championships. In his first start, Muir would throw that historic first-ever no-hitter by a Canadian in international play.

To honor Harry Muir, the Barnstormers are naming the Most Outstanding Pitcher of the year award under his name.

The Boomer Harding Award for the Most Outstanding Offensive player

Boomer Harding, joined, as a teenager, the Chatham Coloured All-Stars in 1933. His position was first baseman, and he was known to be on the bases regularly due to his hitting capabilities.

During the time of the championship win in 1934, Harding had a .339 batting average.

To honor Boomer Harding, the Barnstormers are naming the Most Outstanding Offensive player of the year award under his name.