James Paxton’s weekend back in his hometown included his surprise 30th birthday party at the Ladner Fishermen’s Hall and stepping up in a big way for the Delta KidSport chapter.
The Seattle Mariners’ ace, who tossed a no-hitter last May against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, ran a pitching clinic at Delta Secondary School on Saturday morning. The hour-long session was auctioned off at last April’s Delta KidSport chapter gala evening and raised $5,000.
“This clinic has helped eight families in Delta to be involved in sports,” explained Kathleen O’Neil-Speiran, KidSport Delta’s Chief Coordinator. “The room was crazy that night with a sell out crowd. We even had the mayor bidding on it but it was the Armstrong family who ended up with the winning bid.”
O’Neil-Speiran had reached out to Chad Dey to see if his lifelong friend would be willing to donate his time.
“I kind of just told him he was doing it,” laughed Dey. “James is pretty good about wanting to give back to the community. Obviously, Ladner still holds a pretty big place in his heart. It’s easy for him to do stuff like this.”
Paxton was in the DSS gym for the first time in about a decade.
He graduated from the Ladner high school back in 2006 and has spent much of the past 12 years down south, initially on a full-ride scholarship to the University Kentucky before taking his career to the Major League level.
He finished with an 11-6 record this past season and the hard-throwing lefty has established himself as one of the top strikeout pitchers in the majors.
“This is awesome. It’s something I always wanted to do and I look forward to doing more stuff like this now that I am more settled in my role in the major leagues and getting more comfortable with what I have to do to stay where I am at,” said Paxton, who turned 30 on Nov. 6.
“I’m really looking forward to giving back to the community. Showing kids what is possible is so cool. I know we have a lot of hockey players out there but even the kids that love baseball, just showing them if you do the right things and work hard, you can make it from here.”
Paxton added he can relate to the high cost of playing sports, especially at the elite level which typically demands more instruction and more travelling. He came through Ladner Minor Baseball before joining the North Delta Blue Jays of the B.C. Premier Baseball League.
“All the guys I play with in the United States played high school ball. Here, we have to play club sports and, especially those higher level club sports, it can get really expensive,” he continued. “Anyway to set things up like this and do fundraisers to allow kids to play at that level is awesome.
“Today, I’m just teaching the kids little tips that I have learned along the way. It’s a way to help out and give back to this community that gave to me.”
Paxton and his wife Katie enjoyed a family dinner on Friday night before his 30th birthday party that was organized by Dey. It was Sunday brunch with his family before heading back to Seattle. The Paxtons will be off to Wisconsin later this week to celebrate American Thanksgiving with Katie’s family.
