Darryl Brinkley, the Calgary Vipers All-Star centrefielder and Baseball America Player of the Year has signed a new contract to play for the team in 2008. It will be Brinkley’s 15th season of professional baseball and first season in the Golden League after being named Northern League Player of the Year in 2007. He will enter the 2008 campaign just 60 hits shy of 2,000 for his career.

Brinkley became the first player in Northern League history to hit .400 in a season, shattering the league record of .376 set by Adam Olow of the Saint Paul Saints in 2004. Brinkley also eclipsed the Northern League record for hits, finishing the season with 150 – seven more than Lincoln’s Brian Warner had in 2005. The 38-year-old also led the league in runs scored with 88, on-base percentage (.456), and intentional walks (11). He was second in the league in slugging percentage (.603) and total bases (226). Brinkley was third in the league with 82 runs batted in and 32 doubles. He finished fourth in the league with 47 extra-base hits.

The Norwalk, Connecticut resident was the Player of the Month in June after receiving Player of the Week honours twice on June 11th and June 25th. Brinkley also finished the season with the longest hitting streak in the league at 23 games which he accomplished from May 18th to June 13th. He also chipped in with 18 stolen bases and three outfield assists.

“Darryl wants to eventually get into coaching and managing”, said Vipers field manager Mike Busch. “He’s just like having a coach on the field and works well with the younger players. He leads by example and is the most mentally prepared player I’ve ever worked with”.

“We came within one game of winning a league championship in 2007”, echoed Vipers president Peter Young. “Darryl, Carlos Duncan and Nelson Castro were league All-Stars and we look forward to having all three back in 2008. And with Mike Busch guaranteed for another 3 seasons we should have a strong nucleus for the future”.

The Vipers will play an 88 game schedule in the Golden League including 32 games in the southern markets of Orange County, Long Beach, and Chico, California; Yuma, Arizona; Reno, Nevada, and Saint George, Utah. Twelve games per half will be against their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Cracker-Cats.