Artifacts from Canadian ball hall’s class of 2014

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As you will see from the photos I snapped below, I’m far from a professional photographer. For great photos of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s festivities from this past weekend, you should visit Lori and Wayne Brown’s Photos. They do a wonderful job every year.

You may or may not know that I’m working part-time at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame this summer and I put together the 2014 inductee displays. I wanted to share some photos of some of the cool stuff I handled while preparing the displays:

This is part of the Murray Cook display. The Sackville, N.B., native became the second Canadian to be a big league general manager (George Selkirk was the first) when he was named GM of the New York Yankees in June 1983. He would later serve as GM of the Montreal Expos and Cincinnati Reds. With the Expos, he hired Buck Rodgers to be their manager following the 1984 season. If you look closely at the photo you’ll also see that I recreated the Gary Carter trade (which Cook orchestrated in December 1984) with 1987 O-Pee-Chee baseball cards. Cook also earned World Series rings while serving in executive capacities with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1971 and 1979. A 1971 World Series ring is front and centre in this display.
Canadian scouting legend Jim Ridley could be spotted in ballparks around the country wearing his trademark Australian cowboy hat (pictured here). Toronto native Rob Butler, who was scouted by Ridley, once said, “Jim was like a dad away from home. He’d wear that Aussie cowboy hat and he’d look 6-foot-8 to us kids.”
One of the coolest things that the museum received from Expos broadcasting legend Dave Van Horne was his 1981 scorebook. When we received it, Van Horne had flagged two pages in it: the second-half division-clinching game and “Blue Monday.” I chose to display the division-clinching game. The great Steve Rogers already takes far too much grief in Canada for “Blue Monday.”
This beast of a glove was used in big league games by Tim Wallach. I can’t believe how ragged and small it is, especially for a Gold Glove third baseman.

5 thoughts on “Artifacts from Canadian ball hall’s class of 2014”

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  1. Hi Kevin; Very good and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum could not have done without you all through the Induction week events. Keep up the good work. God bless & guide you always.

    Reply
    1. cooperstownersincanada – Kevin Glew is a professional writer based in London, Ontario. His work has been featured on CBC Sports, Sportsnet.ca, MLB.com and Sympatico.ca. He has also written articles for Baseball Digest, Baseball America, The Hockey News, Sports Market Report and the Canadian Baseball Network. He has been involved with the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame for more than 16 years, including a two-year stint as the museum's acting curator.
      cooperstownersincanada says:

      Thanks for the kind words, Nelda. Thank you for all your help during the induction festivities. Sincerely, Kevin

      Reply

  2. Great stuff Kevin…as always thanks so much… Bill PS It was a pleasure seeing you again on the weekend even if for only a few minutes…Thanks also for the London contacts. Although none of them panned out I was happy we could make our presence known to them at least! Have a great rest of the summer. B

    Reply
    1. cooperstownersincanada – Kevin Glew is a professional writer based in London, Ontario. His work has been featured on CBC Sports, Sportsnet.ca, MLB.com and Sympatico.ca. He has also written articles for Baseball Digest, Baseball America, The Hockey News, Sports Market Report and the Canadian Baseball Network. He has been involved with the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame for more than 16 years, including a two-year stint as the museum's acting curator.
      cooperstownersincanada says:

      Thanks for the kind words, Bill. It was great to see you as well.

      Reply

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