Among the international events that Shari Reiniger (second from left) and Jim Baba (third from left) worked together at was the 2019 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup. Also pictured is umpire Stephen Gomes (first on left) and scorer Don Darling (far right).

June 15, 2026

By Shari Reiniger

Special to the Canadian Baseball Network

When I stood on the field at Loan Depot Park in March as a member of the Game Organizational Technical Committee at the World Baseball Classic, I looked up through the closed roof and thanked a great baseball leader and friend who opened up trails for me to blaze - a mentor who handed me the baton to pave new pathways.

Only one other person had ever represented the World Baseball Softball Confederation at the WBC finals besides our late WBSC Baseball Technical Commission Chair, Jim Baba. And now it was me standing there in his place. Just like working as an International Baseball Technical Commissioner at the Tokyo Olympics, and being the first woman to do that, the moment was not lost on me.

My journey in international baseball was made possible by my friend, my mentor, my brother in baseball and our longtime WBSC Baseball Technical leader, Jim Baba.

2018 WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Technical Team in Viera, Florida
Left to Right: Narelle Gosstray (AUS), Stephen Lesfargues (FRA), Akisa Fukuzawa (USA), Robin Wallace, (USA), Jim Baba (CAN), Technical Director Shari Reiniger (CAN), Angel Bonilla (DOM), Angelo Fanara (ITA)

Hard to believe it all started when my husband met Jim instructing coaching clinics in the mid 90s. I came to hang out, chat baseball and enjoy a few cold beverages at the end of their sessions. When he came to town with Baseball Canada, we found a way to grab a beer between meetings and banquets. We always made space for Jim and he always made space for us. At that time, I had no idea the impact he would make on my life beyond being a good friend and a phenomenal baseball guy.

Before moving to Canada, I played junior college softball in my home state of California where I met my husband. As I finished my university degrees, I spent a couple of summers as the head groundskeeper at Legion Park in St. Albert, Alberta where we hosted the very first Baseball Canada Bantam National Championship.

After college, I coached competitive softball and went back to play in the top women’s fastball league in Edmonton which included two trips to the Western Canada championship. I served on the Sherwood Park Minor Baseball Association Board as a committee chair, tournament director and protest committee member for Provincial level tournaments. I coached a house league team with my husband one year and then became the GM and Chef de Mission for our son’s Provincial level rep teams that competed at a Western Canada Championship and then three straight Baseball Canada National Championships. I led the coaching staff for the U-13 Baseball Alberta Girls’ Provincial Team for two years and then took on the role of Playoff Committee Chair at Baseball Alberta where we redesigned the model of play into the tiered league concept that exists today. I sat on the Baseball Calgary Executive as well as the Baseball Alberta Board of Directors where I made presentations at Baseball Canada National Conventions. I was invested in the game I never got to play growing up but had always loved.

I had recently turned down an invite to travel with Team Canada’s Women’s National Team as a guest coach when my phone rang. It was Jim, who by then was the Executive Director for Baseball Canada. He asked if I would join the Technical team at the very first Women’s Baseball World Cup held in Edmonton in 2004. I had no idea what that even meant, or that I would be the first woman ever assigned to such a role (something he did not bring up either). I jumped at the opportunity to be part of the inaugural international women’s baseball championship and stepped through the door that has led to nearly 35 years in the game and over 20 years in international baseball.

Jim fought for girls’ and women’s baseball both in Canada and at the international level. He would be ecstatic to see Kate Psota inducted beside him into the Canadian Baseball of Fame this weekend, joining Ashley Stephenson and Amanda Asay, who was taken from this world much too soon. Because of Jim Baba, I got to see these women represent Canada with great skill and even better class.

2018 WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup in Viera, Florida with AAGPBL Honorees. Left to Right: AAGPBL Ambassador Shirley Burkovich, Technical Director Shari Reiniger, AAGPBL Ambassador Maybelle Blair and Baseball Technical Commission Chair Jim Baba.

Jim also believed that strong baseball women should be given the opportunity to work in the game. Thanks to his leadership, Ontario umpire Lisa Turbitt and I both worked that first Women’s Baseball World Cup, where Lisa earned the plate for the Gold Medal game. Lisa was the first woman to join the WBSC Baseball Umpire Commission in 2016 and to umpire at a World Baseball Classic Qualifier in 2022. When I spoke to longtime MLB Umpire Supervisor, Larry Young, about her plate assignment in Panama, he gave high praise in three words - ”She nailed it.”

I was appointed to work on the Technical Committee at the 2023 WBC Pool A in Taiwan so we both went from that first Women’s Baseball World Cup to the World Baseball Classic level after nearly 20 years in the international game. We each sit on the respective WBSC Umpire and Technical Commissions and work as Umpire and Technical Directors at WBSC baseball events. All thanks to Jim opening the door. As my good friend Lisa recently told me, “Jim always made space for others to shine and because of Jim, we both got to shine brightly!”

After that first World Cup, I was invited to sit on Baseball Canada’s Long Term Development Committee. I worked alongside Jim and a who’s who list in Canadian baseball as we developed the framework for Baseball Canada’s LTAD policy. This group of top level baseball guys always invited and valued my input. They proved to me that anyone with strong knowledge, skills and approach belongs at the table. Many of them remain great friends to this day.

Jim always led the way to support people building toward their own potential and elevated them based on performance and approach. Period. If Jim believed you could do the job, he let you do it and offered support, but never micromanaged. He didn’t care what gender you were, what your skin colour was or what country you hailed from. He gave credit where credit was due and was willing to put his reputation on the line to sponsor good people to new roles they had earned.

2012 IBAF Women’s Baseball World World Cup - Edmonton, Alberta
Left to Right: Tournament Director Jim Baba (CAN), Technical Commission Members Shari Reiniger (CAN), Beppe Guilizzoni (ITA), Technical Director Justine Siegal (USA), Hugh Allen (CAN), Kitti Au (HKG), Robin Wallace (USA), Megumi Kitta (JPN) and Umpire Director Corrie Davis (CAN)

I finally got the chance to work with Jim on the field in 2012. In total, I worked on his technical teams at four international championships and he worked on my team at one. No matter which role we were in, we worked well together and saw the game the same way. Perhaps that’s why we were able to accomplish so much working on major international baseball technical projects together the last five years.

Technical Commissioner Shari Reiniger helping with field work at the 2019 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup with Technical Director Jim Baba overseeing progress. Photo Credit: WBSC

I still remember the night when Jim told three of us that we were being appointed to work the Olympic Games. We got sideswiped by two typhoons that year at the 2019 U-18 Baseball World Cup in Korea. Jim and I pulled tarps when the grounds crew was busy on the field beside us and we all jumped in to repair the fields and bullpens to keep games moving. After a long week, our Technical Team was enjoying a celebratory beverage after selecting the All-World Team. Jim pointed directly at me with a stern look, and called me over. I remember saying, “Uh oh, looks like I’m in trouble.” Then Jim grinned that boyish grin and said, “I just want to tell you that you’re going to the Olympics.” I had to put my hand down on the table beside me to hold myself up.

I never even dreamed that working the Olympic Games could be an option. I just kept showing up and doing the work alongside a great team of people, just as Jim has done his entire life. Baba never broadcast what was next, but when the time came, he gave you a high five and opened another door. All we had to do was walk through and keep doing good work. And we knew he always had our back.

Jim was named our Technical Delegate for the Tokyo Olympics and everything was ready to go. Then Covid hit a week before we were set to run the Americas Olympic Qualifier. Before we could get out on the field again, Jim was diagnosed with leukemia and lost what ended up being his final chance to work the Olympic Games. We missed him in Tokyo and it hurt to know he lost his Olympic dream. True to his nature, he never complained and was genuinely happy for every one of us who did get to fulfill our dreams.

He came back to the international field in 2022 and 2023 and never stopped working virtually from home. There were weeks where he was too sick to meet and days where he only had enough energy to sit up with us for an hour. If he could, he did. And then when he was in the airport on his way to work the Women’s Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay in 2024, he got a tough call that sent him back home to face his biggest battle. I was coaching at the World Children’s Baseball Fair in Fukuoka, Japan when he told me what happened and I literally sobbed for him and for Penny. Not one to sulk, he got up and endured as long as his body would allow. They both did. Their courage to fight and to live right to the end will forever be my inspiration.

Last summer, Jim told me he found it gratifying to appoint others to do what he had been doing for so long. He was the master at running baseball championships both in Canada and globally. He taught us well and was finally ready to hand over the reins for us to take the game from there.

When Jim Baba finally received his call to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on February 5, 2026, I literally wept with joy. One of the most deserving inductees in Canadian baseball who shaped the game not only in Canada, but around the world. Who championed building the game for anyone who loved the game and who wanted to play a part, on or off the field. Players, coaches, scorers, umpires, tournament directors and especially volunteers - they all had a special place in Jim’s heart. He treated each person like they were just as important as anyone else in the game.

Jim exemplified teamwork, hard work and having fun when the day was done. He was humble, kind and treated everyone with respect. Calm, cool and collected. That is until his fiery side came out. At our last World Cup together, a third base coach walked to the mound to meet their new pitcher between innings. Everyone could hear Jim yelling, “Get him out of there” from the press box. He believed in playing the game the right way and he made sure everyone did just that. Everyone respected him for that. And I do mean everyone.

I have never heard anyone say one bad thing about Jim Baba after a lifetime in the game around the globe. He was as fair as can be and ensured nobody received an unfair advantage, no matter who they were. He never big leagued anyone and he did not take it well when it happened to someone on his team.

The former National Team Manager in Jim also loved to win. When Team Canada won the 2015 Pan Am Games on home soil in extra innings to defend their crown, he threw off his proverbial Tournament Director hat and yelled out something I cannot share here. Let’s just say he was as excited as any National Federation Executive Director could be.

2019 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup officials and staff - Gijang, Korea. Photo: WBSC

I remember the final night after the medal games finished that year in Korea. Jim was asked if our technical team wanted to join the staff for dinner and he politely declined. Instead, we literally took over a restaurant with the umpires and scorers and everyone got to see the young man Jim still had inside. I can still see him laughing as he chirped our umpire friends with “That’s a Review!” Our officials team all got to see the fun side of Jim that I knew from hanging out with him for over the course of 30 years.

Technical Team in Busan, Korea at 2019 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup
Back Row Left to Right: Jon Ma (HKG), Jan Kuipers (NDL), Lucio Taschin (ITA), Shari Reiniger (CAN), Myunghoon Yoon (KOR), Rodolfo Puente (CUB), Kwang Yull Lee (KOR)
Front Row Left to Right: George Santiago (PUR), Technical Director Jim Baba (CAN), Kyung Ko Lim (KOR)

I will be forever grateful that I was able to drive to Saskatoon to see Greg Brons and his Baseball Saskatchewan crew name a U-15 field after Jim. He never would have allowed them to do that if they had told him ahead of time. Instead, they duped him into working as the Tournament Director at the Canadian National Championship and planned the big surprise. He worked the entire first day before his entire family and many of us longtime friends snuck onto the field as they presented him with the honour. Then they told him he was off the hook for the rest of the weekend and we went to the beer garden to celebrate.

That was actually the first time I got the chance to meet Penny in person and to meet their kids. Penny had already become a special friend of mine. She joked that she used to call me Jim’s baseball wife. I reminded her I was more like his little sister that got the chance to follow in his footsteps. Thank goodness we all got to have one more cold drink together in Ottawa in the fall of 2023 before both of their cancers took a tragic turn. I miss them both dearly.

2022 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup Technical Team in Sarasota, Florida
L to R: Technical Director Jim Baba (CAN), Tom Valcke (CAN), Shari Reiniger (CAN), Joe Carbone (USA), Lucio Taschin (ITA), Peter Caliendo (USA), Frank Marcos (USA)
Missing from photo: Mitsuyoshi Sato (BRA)
Photo Credit: WBSC

WBSC brought me onto the Technical Commission in 2022 where Jim and I worked together on projects to improve our processes and support our technical people around the world. One of my hardest days as his friend was seeing him tell me in a virtual meeting there was nothing more the doctors could do for him. I told him he had given enough to the game - go hold hands with your loved ones and hug those grandkids - but he wanted to finish the meeting we started. I sent him a few Watermelon Wednesday items to share with the grandkids as that was his thing. He was definitely the fun grandpa and he even had the watermelon shirt to prove it!

Jim stayed committed to the game right to the end. We finished off a big project the week he passed away. He joined us via a virtual meeting then gave his formal resignation right after. Our WBSC Events Manager, Giovanni Pantaleoni and I got to tell him that we loved him and thanked him for his lifetime of impact on the game. I promised Jim we would carry his torch forward. But I could never bring myself to say goodbye.

He made an impact like nobody we’ve ever known. We will never forget what he did for the game, and for each and every one of us in the game.

Instead of stepping up on stage to give his induction speech on Saturday, his incredible family will accept his invitation into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Jim and Penny will watch from their stadium seats above and Jim will probably shout an instruction or chirp someone down below. Truly fitting for our good friend and mentor who preferred to elevate others into the limelight and remain in the background to cheer them on. This time, it will be our turn to cheer as Jim’s name is called and he takes his place in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the best coaches, leaders and builders this game has ever seen.

You did a lot of good, Jim Baba. The game of baseball is forever blessed by all of the progress you led and, more importantly, how you led. We will forever remember you as a legend in the game and everyone’s best friend in international baseball.

A final note to Jim’s children and grandchildren:

Thank you for sharing your dad and grandfather with all of us in the game across Canada and around the world. I know he loved you all more than he loved the game of baseball. And he really loved baseball and those Yankees. He was so proud of you all and loved nothing more than being a husband, dad and especially grandpa. We all miss him greatly and know you all lost so much. Jim and Penny both have incredible spirits and showed undeniable strength that will live on in all of you. I know they will keep an eye on you all from their seat above. Wishing you much love, peace and strength as you celebrate Jim’s induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. We will raise a glass to honor our good friend Jim Baba, here in Alberta and around the world.

Shari and Kirk Reiniger

Reiniger: New CBHOFer Jim Baba was everyone's best friend in international baseball