The UBC Thunderbirds softball team is made up of Mackenzie Siddall. She didn’t have a right hand from birth, which made it hard for her to play softball.
Siddall didn’t come to UBC to play softball; she chose it for the city and the academics.
Siddall’s choice to play softball shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Her dad, Joe Siddall, played catcher for the Detroit Tigers, the Florida Marlins, and the Montréal Expos. Over four years, he played in 73 major league games. He also helped with the radio and TV coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays games.
Mackenzie Siddall, daughter of Joe Siddall, knows how to play the game with one hand.
Mackenzie Siddall is a second-year kinesiology student from Windsor, Ontario. She plays outfield and pitches for the Thunderbird softball team.
Siddall didn’t come to UBC to play softball; she chose it for the city and the academics.
When she was younger, she played many sports, but softball and hockey stuck. She thought she could try out for softball because she was a little better at that than she was at hockey, but when she first went to college, she focused mostly on her studies.
Siddall’s choice to play softball shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Her dad, Joe Siddall, played catcher for the Detroit Tigers, the Florida Marlins, and the Montréal Expos. Over four years, he played in 73 major league games. He also helped with the radio and TV coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays games.
10 Facts About Joe Siddall’s Daughter
- Jim Abbott, a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played at the highest level without using his right hand, is Mackenzie’s counterpart because she doesn’t have a right hand.
- Siddall also throws with her left hand and quickly switches the glove to that hand after she throws the ball, just like Abbott. She also plays in the field. In her first year, she joined the UBC Thunderbirds as a walk-on.
- Now that Mackenzie is 19, the Siddall family is used to things going wrong. So when she said she wanted to go to UBC and try out for the varsity hockey or softball team, no one was surprised.
- Siddall said that many people ask her if playing softball is hard, but for her, it’s easy, and nothing has stopped her from getting better. She played in 26 of the Birds’ 41 games last season. She had a fielding percentage of.966 and only let in three runs in six innings of work.
- Her Canadian father used to be a major league baseball catcher. He was a baseball player for the Detroit Tigers, the Florida Marlins, and the Montreal Expos in Major League Baseball (MLB).
- She is always going, and the memory of her younger brother Kevin, who died at 14 from non-Hodgkins lymphoma two years ago, gives her a little extra push.
- Joe and his wife Tamara are the strong center of their family. They are very proud of being parents to their three kids, Brett, Mackenzie, and Brooke.
- Siddall and the ‘Birds, on the other hand, don’t let not being at school get in the way of practice or a game. Last year, the team played its home games in Rock and sued UBC to get back its varsity status. There were only two home games, and both of them were in Delta.
- Mackenzie Siddall is the owner of AOG Windsor, which offers online training and fitness classes in pop-up locations all over Essex County. She is a strong female leader with a lot of charisma, energy, and positive vibes.
- After her younger brother died of cancer, she was inspired by how her family used Kevin’s memory as a reason to live life to the fullest.
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Who Is Mackenzie Siddall Dad?
Mackenzie Siddall was born with only one hand, but she made the UBC Thunderbirds softball team. Her father, Joe Siddall, is a radio announcer for the Blue Jays.
Was Joe Siddall a radio or TV host?
The Toronto Blue Jays hired Siddall on March 1, 2014, to work with Jerry Howarth during Blue Jays radio broadcasts.
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Which School does Mackenzie Siddall study?
Mackenzie is in the Kinesiology school at Holy Names Catholic High.
Mackenzie Siddall didn’t know that her parents were watching her as she struggled, like most six-year-olds do, to tie her shoelaces.
Her father, Joe Siddall, said, “We were looking over by the back door, and there she was holding the bow with her fist.” “We thought she would need help with things like tying her shoes and doing up her buttons, but she’s pretty determined. She won’t be stopped by anything.”
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Mackenzie is now in her second year of studying kinesiology at the University of British Columbia. She remembers the day she figured out how to tie those laces.
She said, “I practiced a lot, and when I finally got it, I was so happy I couldn’t wait to tell my first-grade teacher.”
Mackenzie, who is now 19 years old, has taught her family to expect the unexpected from her. So no one was surprised when she said she wanted to go to UBC and try out for either the softball or hockey team on the varsity level.
She played both sports in her hometown, and her mother Tamara coached a team of young girls called the Lady Expos that won a national championship.
Mackenzie is like Jim Abbott, a baseball pitcher who never had a right hand but still made it to the highest level of the game.
Joe Siddall also played in the Major Leagues at the same time as Abbott.
Siddall also throws with her left hand and quickly moves the glove to that hand after she throws the ball, just like Abbott. She plays in the outfield, too. Last year, she walked on to the UBC Thunderbirds as a freshman.
UBC coach Gord Collings said, “I don’t sign players I haven’t seen play.” So I had no idea who she was.
Siddall sent an email to Collings to ask about tryouts.
“By the way, you should know I only have one hand,” she wrote at the end, Collings said.
He didn’t think she was good enough to play at that level. The Thunderbirds play against American college teams from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana in a tough conference of independent schools.
“I told them to come to tryouts, and then we’d see what happened,” he said. “When I saw her, I thought, “Well, we’re not going to cut her.” She could do things. Her basic skills are quite impressive, and it’s easy for her to switch from catching to throwing. She also has a very good arm from the outfield.
As the season went on, Collings saw that Siddall had the same kind of determination that helped him learn how to tie his shoes.
Collings said, “Her heart and her way of thinking.” “She is just a wonderful, wonderful person. She is now an important part of the team.”
Siddall was just recently named the team’s junior captain.
“It blows my mind what she’s done,” said Brett, her older brother, who played baseball for three years at Canisius College and was picked in the 13th round of the MLB draft.
round by the Oakland A’s of the MLB last year. “I’m used to seeing her play sports now, but I’m still trying to figure out how she does it. So quickly, she makes the trade. She just isn’t going to give up. She’s pretty hard to beat.”
Joe and Tamara didn’t try to teach their daughter how to play with only one hand.
Joe remembered that his wife had said she would figure it out. “Once she put on the glove, we never told her to do it this way, and the same goes for hitting.”
Mackenzie says that the way she holds the bat and moves the glove “just happened.” I really don’t remember having taught myself.”
She does wear a face mask when she pitches to protect herself from getting hit in the face by a ball hit back up the middle.
She is always motivated, but thinking about her younger brother Kevin, who died at 14 from non-Hodgkins lymphoma two years ago, gives her a little extra push.
“I take him with me everywhere,” she said. “For him, I go a little further, swing a little harder, and run a little further to get to the ball.”
When her teammates complain about another workout in the cold or rain, she thinks about how much Kevin loved to play the game.
“It rains a lot here, so I try to remind my team how lucky we are to play a game we love.”
The UBC Thunderbirds softball team is made up of Mackenzie Siddall. She wasn’t born with a steady hand, which made her a good softball player.
Siddall didn’t come back to UBC to play softball. Instead, she chose it because she liked the city and the teachers there.
Siddall’s decision to play softball shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Her father, Joe Siddall, was a catcher for the Detroit Tigers, the Florida Marlins, and the Montréal Expos. He participated in 73 principal league video video video games over 4 seasons. He also helped with the radio and TV coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays games.
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