Sam Katz

• BIRTHPLACE Winnipeg, MB

• BORN August 20, 1951

• INDUCTED 2014

Sam Katz was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on August 20, 1951. Over the course of his childhood, Katz developed an immense love for baseball, and he committed himself to bringing professional baseball back to Winnipeg. He later promoted a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Canada’s national team in Winnipeg in 1987. Then, he signed a deal to start an independent professional Northern League expansion team in Winnipeg in 1994, and became the owner and president of the Winnipeg Goldeyes expansion team that year. Katz saw his team capture the Northern League championship in that year. He then went on to oversee the first phase of construction of CanWest Global Park in 1999. In 2012, two years before his induction into the MBBHOF, his Goldeyes captured the American Association of Independent Baseball Clubs championship.