To commemorate our 30th anniversary season, Ron Arnst spoke with several key figures from our past and created multimedia articles which first appeared in the Goldeyes Digital Magazine throughout the 2023 season.  For those who may have missed those articles, we will be reposting them here on Goldeyes.com. Enjoy!

Doug Simunic, the manager of the Rochester team the year before, was brought on as the Goldeyes’ first manager.

Winnipeg sporting equipment retailer John Hindle was hired as the team’s first General Manager. Hindle recalls that he initially contacted Katz because he saw the new team in town as a great business opportunity. And when the two first met, Katz began to interview what he thought was a potential management candidate but Hindle was still trying to make a deal to provide the new team with their equipment needs.

The initial misunderstanding was quickly resolved and Hindle came on board.

That first season also had the hiring of another critical piece of the Goldeyes’ history – Andrew Collier. Then 24, Collier was working at IBM when he joined Katz in a golf game. On the 14th hole, Andrew asked Sam for a job.

Collier quickly rose from box office employee to management and ultimately General Manager. On and off the field, the Goldeyes have consistently proven the value and wisdom of acquiring good people, putting them in the right place, and letting them succeed.

If baseball was church, Opening Day would be the highest of high holidays. Coinciding with spring and the freshening of a new year, Opening Day brings its own freshening - a new season full of promise and possibility.

June 7th, 1994 marked an Opening Day like no other. It confirmed the re-birth of the historic Winnipeg Goldeyes franchise - in a different league, in a different ballpark but the Winnipeg Goldeyes nonetheless.

And Winnipeg was more than ready for the return of professional baseball.

Without professional baseball for more than two decades - the Triple A Whips were a distant memory - Winnipeg was a much-desired location in the eyes of the fledgling independent league. Northern League Commissioner Miles Wolff told Scott Taylor of the Winnipeg Free Press that the Winnipeg was a coveted site for a franchise.

“When the old Northern League was establishing itself… as one of the best minor-league operations in baseball, Winnipeg was one of the flagship franchises. That’s why we still want Winnipeg in the league. For a year and a half, I’ve made it clear that Winnipeg is a desired city.”

General Manager Hindle recalled the mammoth task for preparing the newly-minted Goldeyes organization for its first season was “different, exciting, crazy, wild” extremely fast-paced and overwhelming, with too many things to do and not enough people to do them. Hindle says he found the only way they could make progress was by communicating well and focusing on what needed done right now.

He says it all paid off on Opening Day on June 7th when 14,764 Winnipeg fans showed up to watch their new team in action.

They would not be disappointed.

Tim Cain, an All-Star with Rochester the year before, threw the first pitch in the new Goldeyes’ history. His battery-mate, former big league catcher Dann Bilardello, contributed a single and a double in a 9-1 win over the Duluth-Superior Dukes. The Goldeyes struck for 7 runs in the 5th inning, effectively putting the game out of reach. Second baseman Dave Lowery hit a 2-run triple in the big inning.

With a wildly successful first game behind them, things looked pretty rosy for the team.

But baseball has a way of bringing you back to earth and the Goldeyes landed with a resounding thump.