
Don’t forget to vote for who you think was Canada’s top baseball player in 2012 at http://baseballhalloffame.ca (the voting section is in the bottom right corner of the home page).
Here’s a little history about the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Tip O’Neill Award:
The Hall’s Tip O’Neill award is named after Woodstock, Ont., native James ‘Tip’ O’Neill, who was one of major league baseball’s first legitimate stars. With the St. Louis Browns in 1887, O’Neill set big league records in hits, doubles, slugging percentage and total bases, while compiling a major league record .492 batting average. Walks were counted as hits in 1887, but if O’Neill’s average was calculated by today’s standards, it would be .435, the second highest in big league history to Hugh Duffy (.438).
Past winners of the James “Tip” O’Neill Award:
1984 – Terry Puhl
1985 – Dave Shipanoff
1986 – Rob Ducey
1987 – Larry Walker
1988 – Kevin Reimer
1989 – Steve Wilson
1990 – Larry Walker
1991 – Daniel Brabant
1992 – Larry Walker
1993 – Rob Butler
1994 – Larry Walker
1995 – Larry Walker
1996 – Jason Dickson
1997 – Larry Walker
1998 – Larry Walker
1999 – Jeff Zimmerman
2000 – Ryan Dempster
2001 – Corey Koskie
2001 – Larry Walker
2002 – Eric Gagné
2002 – Larry Walker
2003 – Eric Gagné
2004 – Jason Bay
2005 – Jason Bay
2006 – Justin Morneau
2007 – Russell Martin
2008 – Justin Morneau
2009- Jason Bay
2010 – Joey Votto
2011 – Joey Votto
2011 – John Axford
What a great list of players. Someone should go back to 1871 and pick the best Canadian each year! What a fantastic historic project!
Thanks for the comment, Scott. Whenever I look at this list, I always wonder how many “Tips” Fergie Jenkins would’ve won if the trophy was around during the 70s.