The Santa Barbara Foresters will hold their annual Hall of Fame banquet tonight at the Carriage House Museum, and this year’s induction class will include a current major leaguer.
New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil — a Santa Barbara native who played for the Foresters in 2010 and 2011 — will join former Forester associate head coach and general manager Pat Burns, and Aaron Gordnier, who played for the team in 1996 and 1997. Gordnier was one of the top base stealers in Forester history, and was a standout player at Cal.
McNeil, who, last season, set the Mets’ franchise record for the best batting average (.329) through the first 50 games as a rookie, was a key member of the Foresters’ 2011 team that won the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan.
Burns, the current commissioner of the California Collegiate League, in which the Foresters compete, was with the team as a coach and GM from 1995-2008.
The event will also feature former Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach Jim Colborn, who will be a guest speaker. Colborn pitched for 11 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners. He threw a no-hitter for the Royals in 1977.
Tonight’s banquet begins at 5 p.m.
