The Vancouver Canadians are set to hit the diamond for the home opener June 20th with a new skipper at the helm and given his resume; he’s no stranger to the game.
John Tamargo Jr has a solid history of ball in his blood given the fact that his Father John Sr. played for three MLB teams which include St. Louis, San Francisco Giants and the Montreal Expos.
John Sr was drafted out of Tampa Catholic High School by the Yankees in 69, but failed to sign, but chose to attend Georgia Southern University.
He was drafted an additional three more times in the following two years, but never signed until he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 6th round in the 1973 MLB draft.
July 1978 Giants catcher Mike Sadek was injured, so Tamargo was sent as a replacement, spending the rest of the season with the Giants organization, splitting playing time with Marc Hill.
He was traded to the Expos in 1979 June 13th, the same day his Son was introduced to the Vancouver media as the new skipper.
He was the back-up catcher to Gary Carter in (79-80) and appeared in 37 games, batting .275, but the following season he went back to the Denver Bears, which was his last season.
John Jr. on the other hand is new to the area and extremely excited to be faced with this new challenge in a new city for him.
He recently celebrated a birthday in May and his resume has him playing in the 1994 Baseball World Cup as a second baseman for Team USA, which finished in 8th place.
John was selected in the 21st round of the 1996 Amateur Draft by the New York Met, playing 8 seasons in the minor, 7 of which were for the Mets.
He (Tamargo) resume includes Coach of the Salem Avalanche in 2004, Corpus Christi Hooks in 2005-2008, and Traverse City Beach Bums in 2009.
Tamargo was a coach for the Lansing Lugnuts in 2010-2011, going 4-0 as interim manager in July, 2010.
In 2012, he was appointed the team’s full-time manager.
He returned to coaching with the Dunedin Blue Jays in 2015, but now was given the promotion to the Vancouver Canadians, which is for him a step-up in the Jay’s organization.
When asked about what his goal is, he states “it’s to make the players better at the end of the season, than they were at the start.”
He has heard from several about what baseball means to Vancouver and the talent that has played on the diamond at the “Nat” and is looking forward to an exciting time with the C’s.
Sportswave will have more to follow on the club as we are making plans on getting some exceptional coverage for the sporting community.
Photo is the some of the 2016 roster for the Canadians this season and it’s interesting to note that they do have one Canadian on the roster from Guelph Ontario – Mattingly Romanin.
We managed to grab an interview with him, but saving that for a clear day on the mound!!
Thanks to Rob Fai and staff for all the hard work and keeping us informed and up to date!!