Enjoy these Canadian baseball-themed Christmas trees

December 22, 2023

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

With Christmas just three sleeps away, I thought I’d help get you in the spirit of the season by sharing photos of some Canadian baseball-themed Christmas trees.

Here they are, along with the stories behind them:

Kelly Sage’s Canadian baseball card tree

Most know Kelly Sage as the “Canadian baseball card guy.”

I wrote a profile about him that was published one year ago today. The Saskatoon-based collector owns what’s likely the largest collection of cards of Canadian baseball players in the world. Traditionally, Sage has not been a big Christmas fan, but this year, for the first time in half a decade, he decided to decorate a tree. As you can see (in the photos above), his tree is mostly adorned by autographed baseball cards that Canadian players have personalized to him.

“In case you were wondering….highest card on the tree? Jason Dickson — the CEO of Baseball Canada,” wrote Sage in a Facebook post about the tree.

Sage is also a bird dog scout for the St. Louis Cardinals, which explains the Cardinals batting helmet atop the tree.

Brent and Alicia Wales’ baseball ornament tradition

Brent Wales, who is the pitching coach of the Intercounty Baseball League’s London Majors, has established a Christmas tradition with his wife, Alicia. Each year, they pick up a baseball ornament to add to their tree.

“We’ve been doing it since 2007,” shared Wales. “It’s been challenging to find a new one some years. There’s a couple homemade ones on there that friends have made for us, including a London Majors one for when I started coaching with them in 2019.”

Wales also counts a Labatt Park ornament from the local rotary club as another of his favourites.

Kelly Griffin’s 2015 Blue Jays tree

Baseball historian Kelly Griffin created this Blue Jays themed tree (above) in 2015 for a work fundraiser.

“The preservation staff at Library and Archives Canada would do a tree decorating contest every year,” explained Griffin. “People would bid on the trees to raise money for charity. 2015 was a fun year for Jays fans as you know, and it was fun to have colleagues, knowing I love baseball, come up enthralled and wanting to talk about their run. That gave me the idea to do a Jays themed tree. It was one of the most popular trees with lots of bids! It was a fun year!”

Paul Bychko’s Blue Jays tree

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Paul Bychko has a Toronto Blue Jays museum in his house. This video is eight years old, but it gives you an idea of the vastness of Bychko’s collection, which mainly focuses on items from the Blue Jays’ Exhibition Stadium years (1977 to 1989).

“I bought it [the Christmas tree] I’d say in about 2015,” Bychko shared. “I saw that it was blue and it was a perfect size for the space. I have many Jays bulbs and baseball related decorations for it and I love to put it up every year.”