A Caribbean ‘Gypsy’

[Borealis]

A Caribbean ‘Gypsy’
by Francis Ferry, NLN baseball beat writer

January 21, 2033: Little Bay, Montserrat – It’s a long history, that of ‘Gypsy’ John Foster along the path that is The Front Range, and true to all gypsies, that path has been a long and winding road – and now it’s a path that has come full circle, as today, the Aurora Borealis named the ‘Gypsy’ as their new hitting coach at Montserrat.

Born in Longmont, Colorado – just west of the Denver Metro Area, and a tad north-west of Aurora. Born just days after the start of the 1993 season – the inaugural season for the Colorado Rockies, who on April 22nd would drop a game in St. Louis, the Cardinals winning 5-2. As the story goes, ‘Gypsy’s conception coincided with his parents confirming their season tickets to the fledgling Rockies (one could say baseball was in his DNA) – a team in a league that in 13-short years would be keput! But during those 13-years, John Foster learned to love baseball. “The Big Cat…” would be his answer when asked who his favorite player was – even if the erstwhile Expo was gone long after John would really know the game.

After a stunning freshmen year at Longmont High, he would transfer to the South Caldwell High in North Carolona – with an eye on making it big; and making it big he would as he hit .380 with 25 HR for the Spartans – despite missing most of his junior season with nagging injuries. But those injuries were not too much for a young, brash, fresh-on-the-job GM to go all in and take John Foster, of Longmont, Colorado, as the 5th overall selection in 2011 draft. That young, brash GM? None other than Will Topham, whose family had just taken over the reins of his hometown team, that which had replaced his old hometown team – the Aurora Borealis.

That the New Borealis management took a local kid with their first pick was poignant – The Rodriguez family was well loved in the community, despite having been there for three short years, but the move worked and the rest is history. Foster would play for 8-years and 907 games for Aurora and would be a member of three Rodriguez Cup winners – hitting .259 with a .788 OPS while in Aurora.

After the 2022 title, Aurora needed a change – needed to shift gears to stay competitive and on top, and as part of a deal that included Anastasio Lopez and draft picks, the Borealis acquired Gunner MacGruder from Yuma– but as fate – ka – would have it, the trade was all bad ju-ju. Mediocre performance and finances saw Gunner shipped off to West Virginia for a first round pick in 2025. ‘Gypsy’ was set out onto the road, and as all gypsies do, he traveled said roads. He spent two years in Yuma, then it was off to Crystal Lake for 28 games in 2025 before being waived and claimed by Canton for 32 games, then signing a free agent contract with Kalamazoo in the spring of ’26. He was out of baseball for a year, before Amsterdam signed him to a deal in ’28, Manchester in ’29, Hartford in ’30 and Shin Seiki in ’31 – the last two stops he never saw the major league field. He was once more out of baseball in ’32, retiring at the end of the season.

All that, and it doesn’t include minor league stops in Henderson (YUM, AAA), Lincoln (HAR, AAA) and Kyoto (SS, AAA).

“I believe in patience at the plate,” the ‘Gypsy’ said before a group of reporters at the newly renovated Soufriere Hills Park. “I want my hitters to learn the strike zone first – it does you no good to go up to the plate and start swinging if you are swinging at bad pitches.” Said the man who is 95th all-time in walks. “The talent is here, we need to do a better job teaching them.” A subtle knock on former-Mystique and now Oceanic hitting coach, Chris Weaver? We’ll let you decide.

In any event, the Borealis have slowly been re-inventing their coaching staff to reflect the ‘glory days’ of the franchises history. Whether that will translate back to success on The Front Range is to be determined.