From War Field to Ball Field

John "Mr Oakey" MacKay

John MacKay didn't start the Burnaby Oakeys and nobody knows how he picked up the nickname. Maybe it's because he helps sponsor the organization and is out watching games every weekend.

"I like to imagine what I might do if I were coaching, in various situations" John says with youthful enthusiasm.

Before the war he played baseball. He talks of playing baseball before the war at Central park in Burnaby.

After the war he turned to softball. He played both fastpitch and slowpitch before becoming the Oakeys number one fan.

His collection of medals are all from WW II. The star medals were awarded to him for being in places of danger. They include the Mediteranean Star, the Italian Star, and the North Western European Star.

The round medallions were for "defense of Britain", the CVSM (Canadian Volunteer Service Medal), and what he calls the "EBGO (everybody got one)".

John was a Detachment Commander, who's main function was maintaining 2-way radios. "One day a shell smashed into my truck, but I had been called away to fix a radio" he smiles.

To keep in shape John still plays ball - sort of...

Oftentimes he can be found on diamond #3 at Squint park. John hits softballs across the field and then goes and gets them!

"It's better than hitting golf balls" says John, "I imagine that it's a skull and I toss it up in the air and whack it". He's not sure if he'll be able to hit the ball again this year though - "it hurts my hands so much now" he says, "it hurts for days".