WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Goldeyes brought the party to Winnipeg. After winning the 2016 American Association crown on Monday in Wichita, an estimated one-thousand Goldeyes fans turned out at Shaw Park for the championship party. They gave the Goldeyes a standing ovation to kick off the festivities.
“They support us year in and year out, 23 years now,” said general manager Andrew Collier. “I think when we started playing in ’94 there’s a lot of people that didn’t give us much of a chance to survive.”
RELATED: Winnipeg Goldeyes are American Association champions
48 hours has passed since the Fish clinched their third championship in club history. Reggie Abercrombie was the game five hero, hitting a pair of homers, while driving in seven runs in the clincher.
“I just wanted it so bad for this city and for Andrew (Collier) and skip (Rick Forney) and Sam (Katz),” Abercrombie said. “I just went out and blacked out and had a great game of my life.”
WATCH: Goldeyes record final out to win American Association title
The Goldeyes were actually in the middle of the pack, below the five hundred mark nearing the midway point of the season when it still looked like the team could go either way.
“I knew we were a great team,” said Goldeyes pitcher Kevin McGovern. “I knew we had amazing talent and the only way to go was up. And we just kind of stumbled at the beginning.”
Manager Rick Forney was rewarded for staying the course. The Goldeyes used only 32 different players this season, by far and away their lowest total in the team’s 23 year history according to the G.M.
“It’s not even close,” said Collier. “Just a couple tweaks here and there. No major overhauls even when we were 21 and 22 when some people might have panicked and said hey, let’s blow this thing up and get better, but Rick believed in his team.”
RELATED: Winnipeg Goldeyes to host championship celebration at Shaw Park
With their last two championships both won in the city of Wichita, the question now is when will they win one on home field like they did for their first title way back in 1994.
“Who knows maybe next year we’ll win enough games to get the final three here. It sure would be nice to celebrate in front of our fans.”
Forney and a handful of Goldeyes players weren’t in attendance at Wednesday’s championship celebration as they went straight home from Wichita after winning the championship.
WATCH: Goldeyes Championship Celebration
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