Former Toronto Blue Jay Hosken Powell dies at 70

July 2, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Hosken Powell died on Friday at the age of 70.

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos, the Miami Marlins’ double-A affiliate, were the first to announce his passing.

Powell was raised in Pensacola, Fla., and lived there in retirement.

No cause of death was given.

“The Blue Wahoos mourn the loss of Pensacola native and former MLB outfielder Hosken Powell, who passed away today at the age of 70,” the Blue Wahoos said in a release on Friday. “Powell was the third overall pick in the June 1975 draft and played six seasons in the big leagues with the Twins & Blue Jays. He will be missed.”

A left-handed hitting outfielder, Powell suited up for four seasons with the Twins before finishing his major league career with the Blue Jays in 1982 and 1983, where he platooned with Jesse Barfield in right field and was one of the team’s best pinch-hitters.

Powell also played for the triple-A Vancouver Canadians in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization in 1983 and 1984.

Multisport star in high school

Born on May 14, 1955 in Selma, Ala., Powell fell in love with baseball while watching his father play on a local team his grandfather managed.

During his youth, Powell moved with his family to Pensacola, Fla., and starred for the football, basketball and baseball teams at Woodham High School.

After he graduated, he attended Chipola College in Marianna, Fla., where he blossomed into a five-tool outfielder and a much-coveted prospect.

Drafted twice

The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Powell had conversations with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox prior to the 1975 MLB January draft (regular phase), but he was surprised when the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the first round (19th overall).

Powell was excited to be chosen, but he wanted to continue to play at Chipola and declined to sign with the Pirates. That June, he was drafted again, this time third overall by the Minnesota Twins who convinced him to sign.

Starts pro career

Powell was assigned to the Twins’ Rookie ball club in Elizabethton, Tenn., that was managed by fellow Pensacola native Fred Waters. That proved to be a perfect fit for the young outfielder. He proceeded to bat .329 and record 82 hits and 58 RBIs in 64 games.

That helped earn him a promotion to class-A Reno in 1976, where he was even better. In 126 contests, he batted .345 and topped the California League with 118 runs. He also accumulated 167 hits, 90 walks and 26 stolen bases.

By the time he started the 1977 season with triple-A Tacoma, Powell was the top outfield prospect in the organization, and he didn’t do anything to diminish that standing when he hit .326 and collected 154 hits and 82 walks in 133 games.

MLB debut

After a strong spring, Powell was named the Twins’ starting right fielder and was batting leadoff on Opening Day in 1978.

He was trumpeted as someone that could replace the offence supplied by Lyman Bostock, a .336 hitter in 1977, who had signed with the California Angels in the off-season.

And while Powell couldn’t match Bostock as a hitter, he did bat .247 and record 94 hits, 45 walks and 11 stolen bases in 121 games in his rookie season. For his efforts, he was named to MLB’s All-Rookie team.

The young right fielder would enjoy his finest big-league campaign in 1979 when he hit .293 and posted a .360 on-base percentage in 104 games for the Twins.

Unfortunately, his numbers would drop off over the next two seasons.

Traded to Blue Jays

On December 28, 1981, Powell was traded to the Blue Jays for a player to be named later (Boomer Wells). He was joining a team that already boasted a glut of outfielders, including Jesse Barfield, George Bell, Lloyd Moseby, Dave Collins, Mitch Webster, Ron Shepherd and Barry Bonnell.

In 1982, Powell cracked the Blue Jays’ Opening Day roster as the left-handed hitter in a right-field platoon with Barfield. Powell responded with his best season since 1979, hitting .275 in 112 games, while also setting a then team record with 10 pinch-hits.

Powell told the Toronto Star that he learned a lot about pinch-hitting from his former Twins’ teammate Jose Morales.

“I just go up and look for a good pitch and try to make contact,” said Powell. “Sometimes if you are facing a new pitcher, he may have trouble finding his groove. You’ve got to make him throw strikes.”

Powell’s laid back and supportive attitude made him a much-loved teammate.

“He’s a good man on the club, popular with the rest of the team,” Blue Jays manager Bobby Cox told the Toronto Star about Powell in July 1982, “and he’s done a great job as a pinch-hitter.”

Supported Barfield

Despite their competition for playing time in right field, Powell supported and encouraged the 23-year-old Barfield – a fact that Toronto Sun baseball writer John Roberston documented in his 1983 book “OK Blue Jays!”

During spring training in 1983, Robertson called Powell aside and asked him for his feelings about platooning with the up-and-coming Barfield, whom the Blue Jays saw as the right fielder of the future.

“Hey, I’m rooting for Jesse,” Powell told Robertson. “He has a tremendous future. I’ll help him in any way I can.”

Robertson recalls in the book that on June 14 of that season Barfield was mired in a terrible slump. He writes that Powell would’ve been justified in going to Cox and demanding to play more, in place of the struggling Barfield.

“Instead, where did I find Hosken Powell that night, when I walked into the Blue Jay clubhouse 90 minutes before game time?” wrote Robertson. “In front of Jesse’s locker, reading the bible with him, praying with him and for him to snap out of his slump.”

Tough 1983 season

Unfortunately, being a great teammate didn’t count for much in 1983 when he was struggling at the plate. With his batting average having dipped to .169 and with prized outfield prospect George Bell ready for a promotion from triple-A, Powell was released on July 10.

Robertson writes that “a pall of gloom settled over the Blue Jays clubhouse” after it was announced that Powell had been let go.

Lands in Vancouver

But Powell wasn’t unemployed for long. He was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers and assigned to their triple-A affiliate in Vancouver. He batted .281 in 38 games for the Canadians in 1983 and then returned for 57 more games in 1984.

He played his final pro season in the Mexican League in 1985.

Becomes a scout

Powell rejoined the Twins as a scout after his playing career. He scouted for the club for six years.

In retirement, Powell returned to his hometown of Pensacola, where he was with involved in community efforts with the Blue Wahoos, including the Fred Waters Baseball Camp and Juneteenth Celebration.

“No day is the same day and all days are good days,” Powell said of his love of his hometown of Pensacola in a 2023 interview. “We get a storm here and there, too, but there’s no place I’d rather live than Pensacola.