The Thunder Bay Border Cats of the Northwoods League announced the hiring of Mike Steed as their new field manager for the 2010 season.  The native of Burlington, ON becomes the first Canadian to manage the Cats and is the eighth manager in team history.  Steed replaces Joel Barta, who elected not to return for family reasons. 

Steed was an assistant coach with the Border Cats during the 2009 season and has considerable coaching experience at the college and summer collegiate league levels.  The 39 year old has previously worked in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League as manager of the Lake Erie Monarchs in Toledo, OH and as pitching coach with the Michigan Panthers in Ypsilanti, MI.  He has also served as pitching coach at Madonna University in Livonia, MI and as an associate head coach at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, MI.   Steed has also worked as Ontario scout for the Minnesota Twins and as a pitching instructor for the Toronto Blue Jays summer youth camps.

The Cats new manager is eager to get started for next year. 

“I would like to thank Brad and Janice Jorgenson and the entire Border Cats organization for the opportunity to return to Thunder Bay and manage the ball club for the 2010 season.  I believe the Northwoods League is the premier summer league and I look forward to the task of building a championship roster for the Border Cats organization.”

Border Cats General Manager Brad Jorgenson was pleased to be able to promote from within the organization. 

“As Assistant Coach in 2009, Mike is very familiar with the league and our club, and he has the ability to maximize the number of returning players. Mike’s contacts with Baseball Canada also gives us the opportunity to hopefully bring in some of the top Canadian talent as well.”