Mantle World Owner Interview - iain

Welcome to our latest "Meet Your Fellow Owner" interviews of Mantle World owners.  Today, we chat with iain, the owner of the Baltimore Honey Nut Cheerios franchise.  Iain joined Mantle at the end of season 26 and is now starting his first full season of ownership.  He returns the franchise to Baltomore, where it resided for the first 21 seasons in Mantle, and where it experienced it's most success, culminated by a World Series championship in season 18.  Lets find out a little bit about him.

Tec: Tell us a little about yourself.

Iain: Born and raised in Toronto, I’m a 32-year old Mechanical Engineer, married for a little over 3 years with a 13 month old son.

Tec: Outside of Hardball Dynasty, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?

Iain: The big one is bagpipes. I have been playing since I was 13, and compete at the highest level, going to Glasgow for the World Pipe Band Championships each of the last 5 years, with plans to attend again in 2013.

Tec: Did you play any sports growing up?

Iain: Yeah, just about everything at one time or another. Football, basketball, and track & field (well, really just field) in high school, but nothing serious in university. I grew early, and everyone else caught up and passed me by then.

Tec: Who are your favorite all-time players?

Iain: I’ve always had a soft spot for Kelly Gruber. Can’t explain it, except I guess I started following baseball around when he had his best years in ’89 and ’90.

Tec: What has been your favorite real-life sports experience or memory?

Iain: Attending the Sweet Sixteen in Detroit in 2008 where Stephen Curry almost knocked off eventual champs Kansas at Ford Field. We happened to be sitting in the Davidson student section, and it was just crazy. I also attended the 2009 USA-Canada WBC game at the SkyDome (I mean, Rogers Centre), which was by far the best atmosphere for baseball that Toronto had seen in years, even if the good guys lost.

Tec: What's been your most memorable non-sports experience in your life?

Iain: Everything to do with our son is a distant #1, but qualifying for the Grade 1 Final at the last two World Pipe Band Championships has been awesome, and finishing 2nd in Grade 1 at the North American Pipe Band Championships with my (soon to be) wife was pretty cool, too.

Tec: If you were an HBD player, what position would you play and what would your ratings be?

Iain: Drawing on my recently defunct softball career, I’d be a rangy CF with good opposite field power. Or, going back to little league, I’d be a power hitting 1B/C.

Thank you iain for participating in our latest Mantle World Owner interview, and good luck to you going onward.