But What Do I Know? . . . Larry Walker, Matt Brash, Carson Vitale, Chris Mears, Tom Cheek

December 1, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Some Canadian baseball notes from the past week:

Larry Walker turns 58 today

Happy 58th Birthday to Canadian baseball legend Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.)! Here’s a refresher of how great he was and where he stands among Canadian major leaguers in all-time statistical categories:

– 2,160 hits (1st)

– 383 home runs (1st)

– 1,355 runs (1st)

– 471 doubles (1st)

– 1,311 RBIs (1st)

– .565 slugging percentage (1st)

– .965 OPS (1st)

– 230 SBs (1st)

– 72.7 WAR (1st among position players)

– 7 Gold Gloves (1st)

– .313 batting average (2nd to Tip O’Neill)

Brash ahead of schedule in recovery from Tommy John surgery

According to Adam Jude, of the Seattle Times, Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) is ahead of schedule in his recovery from Tommy John surgery. Jude writes that the Canuck right-hander could return to the Seattle Mariners’ bullpen by the end of April. Brash underwent the surgery in May and was originally forecast to return in June.

Less than two weeks ago, Brash told Above Replacement Radio that he hadn’t experienced any setbacks in his recovery from the surgery. “My elbow feels great,” he said. “I’ve been throwing for a couple of months now.”

In 2023, in his second big league campaign, the 6-foot-1 righty developed into a go-to late-inning reliever for the Mariners. He led major league pitchers with 78 appearances and had a 9-4 record and a 3.06 ERA. He fanned 107 batters in 70 2/3 innings, good for a 13.6 strikeout-per-nine-inning rate.

Marlins hire Vitale as bench coach, Mariners promote Boyd to replace him

The Miami Marlins have hired Carson Vitale (Victoria, B.C.) to be their bench coach under new manager Clayton McCullough. The 36-year-old Vitale served as the Mariners’ major league field coordinator for the past four seasons. Selected in the 38th round of the 2010 MLB draft by the Texas Rangers as a catcher, Vitale played two minor league seasons with the rookie-class Arizona League Rangers and class-A Spokane before joining the coaching ranks.

The Mariners have replaced Vitale as major league field coordinator with Louis Boyd (North Vancouver, B.C.). Boyd was chosen by the M’s in the 24th round of the 2017 MLB draft out of the University of Arizona. The 30-year-old former infielder batted .240 in 150 games at the Rookie-ball and class-A levels in the M’s system before hanging up his playing spikes. He has since served in the coaching ranks in the M’s system for six seasons.

Guardians promote Osterer, hire Mears

On Wednesday, the Cleveland Guardians announced that they had promoted Stephen Osterer (Ottawa, Ont.) to the position of vice-president player development/farm director. The 2025 season will be Osterer’s sixth in the organization. He spent the last three years as the director of pitching development. Prior to landing with the Guardians, Osterer founded and operated the Baseball Development Group, a high-performance training facility in Toronto.

The Guardians have also hired former big league right-hander Chris Mears (Ottawa, Ont.) as their pitching rehab lead. After toeing the rubber for 10 professional seasons – including making 29 appearances with the Detroit Tigers in 2003 – Mears joined the Boston Red Sox as an area scout in 2007. He worked in that capacity through the 2015 season when he was promoted to the position of Red Sox pitching crosschecker. Most recently, he spent five seasons as the Red Sox pitching coordinator.

Forty-eight years ago today, the Blue Jays hired Tom Cheek

It was 48 years ago today that the Toronto Blue Jays hired Tom Cheek to be their first radio play-by-play announcer. Cheek was one of around 50 applicants for the job. Cheek, a Burlington, Vt., native, had worked part-time for the Montreal Expos in 1976.

Cheek proceeded to broadcast 4,306 consecutive Blue Jays games from April 7, 1977 to June 2, 2004. He was also in the booth for the first 41 of the franchise’s post-season contests, including Game 6 of the 1993 World Series, which inspired his most famous call. After Blue Jays slugger Joe Carter clubbed his World Series-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth, Cheek quipped, “Touch’em all, Joe! You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!”

Votto with runners in scoring position

So how good was Cincinnati Reds slugger Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) with runners in scoring position during his major league career?

This good:

Phillies have had most Canadian MLBers

Canadian baseball historian Tyler Partridge has done some excellent research to uncover that the Philadelphia Phillies have had more Canadian-born players over the years than any other major league franchise. Partridge recently shared on X that the first Canadian to play for the Phillies (who were known as the Quakers at the time) was a shortstop named James Pirie (Dundas, Ont.) who played five games for the Phillies in 1883. So, who was the last Canadian to play for the Phillies? That was right-hander Nick Pivetta (Victoria, B.C.) in 2020.

Here’s the complete list of Canadian Phillies.

Canadian ball hall to announce Jack Graney and Tip O’Neill Award winners this week

The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame will announce the winner of its Jack Graney Award on Tuesday. This award is presented annually to a member of the media who has made significant contributions to baseball in Canada through their life’s work. It is named after Graney, a St. Thomas, Ont., native who was a scrappy leadoff hitter for Cleveland before he became the first ex-player to make the transition to the broadcast booth, performing radio play-by-play for Cleveland from 1932 to 1953. For a complete list of previous winners, click here.

Two days after they announce the Graney recipient, the Canadian ball hall will unveil their 2024 Tip O’Neill Award winner. This award is handed out annually to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals. Guardians slugger Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) was the winner in 2023. The award is named after Woodstock, Ont., native James “Tip” O’Neill, who was one of Major League Baseball’s first legitimate stars. With the American Association’s St. Louis Browns in 1887, he set big league records in hits, doubles, slugging percentage and total bases, while compiling a .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.

For a complete list of previous winners, you can click on this link.

Raymond selected by White Sox in Rule 5 draft 66 years ago

On this date in 1958, right-hander Claude Raymond (St. Jean, Que.) was selected by the Chicago White Sox from the Milwaukee Braves in that era’s equivalent of the Rule 5 draft. The 22-year-old Raymond would make his MLB debut with the White Sox on April 15, 1959 and make a total of three relief appearances with the Sox before being returned to the Braves. From 1961 to 1971, while pitching with the Braves, Houston Astros and Montreal Expos, he evolved into one of the National League’s premier relief pitchers, finishing in the top 10 in saves four times and earning an All-Star selection in 1966. When his contract was sold to the Expos on August 19, 1969, he became the first Canadian to play for a Canadian major league team.

Alston managed Montreal Royals before Dodgers

Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston was born on this date in 1911. Prior to guiding the Dodgers to four World Series titles and seven National League pennants, he honed his managerial skills with the International League’s Montreal Royals from 1950 to 1953. In those four seasons with the Royals, Alston’s teams won two pennants, two Governor’s Cups, one Junior World Series and never finished a season worse than 19 games over .500. In 1953, Alston’s final season with the Royals, he managed a team that consisted of future big-league managers – Tommy Lasorda, Dick Williams and Roy Hartsfield – to a Junior World Series title. Alston passed away on October 1, 1984.

Please support my nephew in the Easter Seals Ontario Holiday Auction

I’ve written about my nephew Kalin before. He is an inspiration, an absolute joy and a wonderful young man. Kalin and I are very close. He has cerebral palsy and is an ambassador for Easter Seals Ontario, an organization that has supported him greatly over the years. Easter Seals Ontario is holding their annual Holiday Online Auction to raise money for their organization and it ends one week from today. One of the items up for bid is a personal tour of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Marys, Ontario with the Hall’s director of operations Scott Crawford and myself. So, if you want to listen to my baseball nerd-dom in person and also support Easter Seals, you can bid through this link.

Here’s a link to the full auction.

Trivia question

This week’s trivia question: For the first Toronto Blue Jays regular season game (April 7, 1977), the Blue Jays had two Hall of Fame pitchers working as analysts – one on their radio broadcast and the other on their TV broadcast. Can you name one of them? Please provide your answer in the “Comments” section below.

Last week’s trivia answer

The answer to last week’s trivia question (Doug Melvin was born in Chatham, Ont., so was Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins. There are two other former big-league players that were born in Chatham. Can you name one of them?) was either Doc Miller or Bill Atkinson.