Pierre-Luc "Pete" Laforest (born January 27, 1978) is a Canadian former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

and was the first manager of the

Trois-Rivières Aigles The Aigles de Trois-Rivières (English: ''Three Rivers Eagles'') were a Canadian Minor League Baseball team of the Eastern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds from 1971 to 1977. They were located in Trois-Rivières, Quebec ...

Career

Laforest is a graduate of

Fort Scott Community College Fort Scott Community College is a community college in Fort Scott, Kansas, United States. It has satellite buildings in other cities in Crawford County, including Pittsburg and Frontenac, along with sites in Paola and at the Hillsdale Learning ...

. He was a draft pick of the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

, but has also played for the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

, the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

, and the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. In 2003, Laforest missed spring training and the first month of the season due to

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problems. Since 1997, he had improperly used a student visa to enter the United States, and in the wake of the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

he was denied entry to the country until an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

background check had been completed. Laforest did not speak English until moving to the United States to attend community college, as he was raised in Quebec where the main language is French.Rays: Rays tales
/ref> In winter 2007/08, Laforest played for the Mexicali Eagles in the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule run ...

. In February , he signed a minor league contract with the Florida Marlins, but was released during training camp. He then signed a contract with the Rojos del Águila de Veracruz a AAA-level team in the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

. In May of the same year, he joined the Capitales de Québec, an independent team in his home province of Quebec. In 2013, he was hired as the manager of the

in the

Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization of ...

. Laforest was fired on July 11, 2016, and replaced by batting coach Maxime Poulin.

International career

He was part of Team Canada at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

and

2006 World Baseball Classic The 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was the inaugural tournament between national baseball teams that included players from Major League Baseball. It was held from March 3 to 20 in stadiums that are in and around Tokyo, Japan; San Juan, Puerto ...

References

External links

1978 births Águilas de Mexicali players Arizona League Padres players Baseball managers Baseball people from Quebec Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Canadian expatriate baseball players in Mexico Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Caribes de Oriente players Canadian expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Charleston RiverDogs players Durham Bulls players Fort Scott Greyhounds baseball players Gulf Coast Expos players Gulf Coast Devil Rays players Lehigh Valley IronPigs players Living people Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from Canada Mesa Solar Sox players Mexican League baseball catchers Mexican League baseball first basemen Mexican League baseball third basemen Minor league baseball managers Olympic baseball players of Canada Orlando Rays players Portland Beavers players Philadelphia Phillies players Princeton Devil Rays players Québec Capitales players Rojos del Águila de Veracruz players San Diego Padres players Somerset Patriots players Sportspeople from Gatineau St. Petersburg Devil Rays players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Tomateros de Culiacán players Trois-Rivières Aigles players World Baseball Classic players of Canada 2006 World Baseball Classic players {{Canada-baseball-catcher-stub