Greg Hamilton

From BR Bullpen

Gregory Hamilton

Biographical Information[edit]

Greg Hamilton has long been active with Team Canada.

Hamilton was born in Toronto, ON and grew up in Peterborough, Ontario. He played hockey as a freshman at Princeton University then became a pitcher for the team. Hamilton was on the Ivy League champions in 1991. He also was assistant coach two years at Princeton. In 1992, Hamilton was hired as pitching coach for Team Canada. He got a job as pitching coach and GM of the Barracudas de Montpellier of Division Élite in France in 1993 and helped the team to three titles in a row, their most successful run to date (as of 2007). Part of his success came from his recruitment of Jeff Zimmerman, who became the most notable player to emerge from the French league in the 20th Century. He was pitching coach for the French national team in 1994, making him pitching coach for two senior national teams on different continents. He also coached for Canada in the 1994 Baseball World Cup.

Hamilton left Team Canada in 1996 to become head coach of the Canadian junior national team, leading them to a Bronze Medal in the 1997 World Junior Championship. He was named Baseball Canada Coach of the Year that season. It was also his last year as Montpellier's coach and GM.

Hamilton was an assistant coach at the University of Maine in 1998, taking a break from coaching the junior Canadian national team. He returned to his role as junior national team coach in 1999. Hamilton also coached for Team Canada's senior team in the 2004 Olympics, 2007 Baseball World Cup, 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament, 2008 Olympics, 2010 Pan American Games Qualification Tournament, 2011 Baseball World Cup (Bronze Medal) and 2011 Pan American Games (Canada's first Gold in the Pan American Games in baseball). He was director of national teams from at least 2004-2008.

He took over full-time coaching duties for the Canadian junior national team at the 2012 World Junior Championship.

In May of 2012, the city of Montpellier, Herault renamed its ballpark "Greg Hamilton Baseball Park" in his honor. He coached for Canada in the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, 2013 World Baseball Classic and when they defended their title in the 2015 Pan American Games (becoming the second nation, after Cuba, to win more than one baseball Gold at the Pan Ams). He was a coach for them in the 2015 Premier 12 and managed them in the 2017 U-18 Baseball World Cup. He was part of Canada's coaching staff at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Sources: 2005 Team Canada Media Guide and other materials on the Baseball Canada website

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