Elliott: Blaze celebrate former Mariners scout with 5th annual Wayne Norton game
Seattle Mariners minor leaguers and Langley Blaze after the fifth annual Wayne Norton memorial game in Peoria, Ariz.
March 29, 2026
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
Former Cy Young award winner Pat Hentgen never forgot his scout -- buying the man who drafted and signed him, Don Welke, a personally engraved Rolex.
Future Hall of Famer Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) never forgot his mentor/coach/tutor Bob Smyth (Ladysmith, BC) sending him framed jerseys and flying him to a golf tournament in Cooperstown on Father’s Day.
And the Seattle Mariners never forgot their employee Wayne Norton (Port Moody, BC). Nether have the Langley Blaze, run by Doug Mathieson, a former Arizona Diamondbacks scout, who is now in the employ of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Each spring on their March trip to Arizona, the Blaze play the Mariners first and second-year pros. This week was the fifth annual Wayne Norton memorial game, a tribute to the former Seattle searcher for talent.
As they don’t often say after each ball game “a good time was had by all.” The young Mariners edged the younger Blaze 2-1 in 14 innings as plenty of arms -- even two rehabbing double-A Seattle arms -- got their work in. Spring games often proceed without a clock.
Norton had scouted Canada since 2000 for the Mariners, was part of the Canadian Hall of Fame in St. Marys class of 2016 with former Expo pitcher Dennis Martinez, Blue Jays executive Howard Starkman, ex-Jays TV analyst Tony Kubek, pioneer William Shuttleworth and Hentgen.
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“It was a real treat for the Mariners to play the Langley group all those years,” said retired veteran Mariners scout Ted Heid, from Utah, after returning home for Arizona. “Then, we lost Wayne and it became the Wayne Norton game. We even had Wayne’s wife Trudy to the game one year.
“Wayne was a brother in the trenches with me. It was honour for me to work alongside him all those years. Pat Gillick (when he was the Mariners general manager) and scout Bob Engle too.”
Heid was most impressed with the Blaze catchers, saying “Doug Mathieson always runs a good program, but the catchers he ran out there were impressive. I’m not sure who is teaching them, but they are doing a good job.”
Looking after instructing the Langley catchers are Kayden Beauregard (Abbotsford, BC), who attended Illinois State, and former Blaze Zach Mihic (Langley, BC), who went to Mayville State. and is in his 10th year coaching. The pair work with the Premier and junior Blaze.
Former Canadian Baseball Network player of the year Aaron McRae (Surrey, BC), who played for the LSU-Shreveport Pilots and two seasons in the Detroit Tigers system, provides a foundation with the Blaze bantams.
Playing 30 games in 11 days with 70 players, Mathieson’s catching corps included Lucas Wheeler (Surrey, BC) of the Blaze, Gabe Laroque (Azilda, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays, Taye Thierman (Calgary, Alta.) of the Okotoks Dawgs, Sam Sugden (Langley, BC) of the Blaze, Will Dolphin (Langley, BC) of the Blaze and Lucas Carroll (Calgary, Alta.) of the Webber Wildcats.
Wheeler hit a pair of homers on the trip.
In no particular order, the best players were INF Easton Kitura (Spruce Grove, Alta.) of the Vauxhall Academy Jets, OF Finn Hochsen (North Vancouver, BC) of the North Shore Twins, OF Rogan Rivard (Bonnyville, Alta.) of the Vauxhall Academy Jets and LHP Sean Duncan (Port Coquitlam, BC), of the Blaze, who is expected to be the top Canadian high schooler drafted come July.
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As for the game itself ... the Mariners broke the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 10th ... Langley managed three singles by Joe Manco, Wheeler and Sugden ... RHP Kiefer Rabie-Jones (Victoria, BC) of the Blaze, RHP Sam Craven (Victoria, BC) of the Victoria Mariners and RHP Daxton Vanderkooi (Chilliwack, BC) of the University of Fraser Valley each had scoreless outings against the pros … Luke Laird (Langley, BC), of the Blaze, hit a scoring fly ball for the only run that the Blaze managed.
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Norton, named Canadian Baseball Network scout of the year both in 1998 and 2013, scouted and signed numerous Mariners, including OF Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC), OF Michael Saunders (Victoria, BC), RHP Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) and OF Tyson Gillies (Vancouver, BC). One off-season, a Mariners’ Baseball America top 10 list included Dutch OF Greg Halman, Italian 3B Alex Liddy and Aumont. All Norton signees.
Before that John Haar and Norton established the National Baseball Institute (NBI) in Vancouver. The NBI grads to play in the majors include OF-DH Matt Stairs (Fredericton, NB), 3B Corey Koskie (Anola, Man.), LHP Denis Boucher (Montreal, Que.), INF Stubby Clapp (Windsor, Ont.), RP Steve Sinclair (Victoria, BC), RP Paul Spoljaric (Kelowna, BC), OF Rob Butler (East York, Ont.), RHP Jason Dickson (Miramichi, NB), OF Aaron Guiel (Vancouver, BC) and RP Derek Aucoin (Lachine, Que.).
An inductee into the BC Sports Hall of Fame, Norton played more than 1,200 games in the minors as an outfielder in the New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals and Oakland A’s from 1961-70. He then founded and established Baseball Canada’s Junior National Team doubling as a part-time scout for the Montreal Expos and later the Baltimore Orioles.