Welcome to the Richmond Budgies New Home Page





Team History

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is: "Who, how, and why is your nickname the Budgies? Why not the Eagles, Hawks or Falcons? Why the Budgies?" Please indulge us as we briefly take you back in time.

The seeds of our organization were planted in 1959, when a then 17-year old catcher, who is now our current President & General Manager, joined C.Y.O of the Senior Industrail League playing out of the Powell Street grounds in Vancouver. When the Industrial League concluded its' storied 30-year run in 1972, a new Senior Amateur League was then formed in 1973, combining both the Industrail League and Dewdney League. The new League moved to a then vacant Capilano Stadium (now known as Nat Bailey Stadium).

During this process, the C.Y.O. team became Budget-Rent-A-Car in 1973, however much to the chagrin of the Budgets' players and managers, opposing teams referred to us as the "Budgies". After three years, we reluctantly came to accept our new name and adopted it as our own.

In 1976, we moved to Brighouse Park in Richmond. During the next eight years, although we had two other sponsors, Fraser Arms Hotel and the Bella Casa Restaurant, we continued to be "The Budgies". Richmond Auto Body, a Juvenile-B team formed in 1967, was the dominant premiere baseball team in Richmond during the Budgies early years. In 1982, the Budgies had a surplus of players and formed a second team to play in the newly created Intermediate League of the P.M.B.L.

In 1983, the two Budgie teams moved from Brighouse Park to the newly built Minoru Field, which re-christened Latrace Field. At this juncture we acquired the Auto Body team giving us 3 teams under the Budgie umbrella. Auto Body (our current Junior Team), a Senior Team (nee Intermediate), and a Premier Team (nee Senior). All of these teams were known as "Budgies". Richmond Auto Body continued to sponsor our "Baby Budgies" and in 1984, became generously, the sole sponsor of our teams.

After a phenomenal season, in 1994, in which the Premier team went 43-4 culminating in a Canadian Championship, we entered that team in the semi-professional Pacific International League. The P.I.L. was/is comprised of U.S. College players situated in Washington, Oregon and B.C. (In 2000 the Budgies have taken a sabbatical from the P.I.L.). In 1999, in concert with Richmond Minor Baseball, we took on a fourth team, the Richmond Premier Midgets comprized of players 16-18 years old.

All teams practice together, wear the same uniforms, use the same system and have the same philosphy and credo- "class, pride and hustle", naturally all teams are called the "Budgies". So to all of you who are/were curios about the name, please just remember this: As we tell our American counterparts, when they ask us- "what the hell is a Budgie"? We respond, "It is a ferocious predator indigenous to British Columbia and feasts on Eagles, Hawks and Falcons"!