Gerry MacKay was born in Kenton, Manitoba and grew up with a passion for baseball that he inherited from his famous father, G.C. “Curly” MacKay. He enjoyed a remarkable career as a player.

At nineteen years of age, MacKay joined the Brandon Greys of the semi-professional ManDak League and after three years of solid play, he earned a contract with the Chicago Cubs organization. In 1952 and 1953, MacKay played class “C” baseball in the Northern League where he maintained a batting average of .349 and .337, respectively, with the club from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. After having spent a year between Visalia of the California League and the Brandon Greys, MacKay moved to the Class “B” El Paso Texans. As an outfielder and infielder, MacKay enjoyed yet another consistent season as he batted .371 with thirty-six doubles, ten triples, seventeen home runs, and eighty-six runs batted in. MacKay was named to the league’s all-star team. In 1956, MacKay joined the New York Yankees organization and had an impressive debut with three home runs and seven RBIs in the season opener. Upon his return to Manitoba in 1957, MacKay batted .394 for the Brandon Greys in their final ManDak season.

MacKay later played and coached with the Brandon Senior Cloverleafs when they won consecutive Manitoba Senior Baseball League championships. In the international sphere, MacKay was named the Field Manager of Canada’s first national baseball team during the Pan American Games held in Winnipeg in 1967 and Colombia in 1971, as well as the World Amateur Playoffs in Nicaragua and World Amateur Championship in Cuba in 1972. MacKay also served as a director of the Canadian Federation of Amateur Baseball from 1967 to 1974 and was instrumental in the establishment of “Old Timers’ Baseball” in Manitoba.