Former Houston Astros manager Hal Lanier will be the first manager of the Ottawa Champions, the city's baseball team that will debut this spring in the independent Can-Am League.

Lanier, 72, compiled a 254-232 record with the Astros between 1986 and 1988.

He won the National League Manager of the Year award in 1986.

Before becoming a manager, Lanier played ten seasons as an infielder with the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees, hitting .228 in 3,703 big-league at bats.

He later won the 1982 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals as the team's third base coach.

Club also signs Gatineau native

The Champions also announced on Tuesday they had signed Gatineau native Sebastien Boucher, the reigning Can-Am League batting champion.

The team has a 10-year deal with the city to lease the Ottawa Stadium, where they will take to the field for the first time in May 2015.

A previous Can-Am franchise, the Ottawa Rapidz, lasted only one season in 2008 before folding.