10 interesting facts I learned at the 2025 Canadian Baseball History Conference – Part 1

November 4, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

The eighth annual Canadian Baseball History Conference took place at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., on the weekend.

Organized by Andrew North – the Willie Mays of baseball conference convenors in our country – and Riley Nowokowski the event was a rousing success.

Thank you to Andrew, Riley and Scott Crawford, at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, for all of the work they put into organizing the two-day event, which featured 17 presentations on topics ranging from the 1899 Canadian Baseball League to O-Pee-Chee baseball cards to a tour of Intercounty Baseball League parks.

I took more than 20 pages of notes, so it would be impossible for me to share everything I learned. Instead, I have picked out 10 interesting facts that I scribbled down during the event.

Here are the first five:

1. In his presentation, “Diamond Park: The Maple Leafs’ Forgotten Park,” Bill Park highlighted that of the four stadiums the International League’s Toronto Maple Leafs called home during their 72-year history (1895 to 1967), Diamond Park is the only one that has not been recognized with a historic plaque. Located on the southeast corner of Liberty Street and Fraser Avenue, Diamond Park was home to the Leafs from 1901 to 1907. Managed by future New York Yankees Hall of Fame executive Ed Barrow, the Leafs won a league pennant at Diamond Park in 1902. The park was demolished in 1911. Heritage Toronto is attempting to raise money to have a plaque erected at the site. You can donate to the cause here.

2. David Siegel made a strong case for the induction of former Toronto Maple Leafs owner J.J. McCaffery into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame during his presentation entitled, “J.J. McCaffery and the Toronto Maple Leafs: Canada’s First Baseball Entrepreneur.” Siegel emphasized that after taking a leadership role on the ownership team of the International League’s Maple Leafs in 1905, McCaffery brought stability to the franchise on and off the field. In McCaffery’s tenure with the Leafs from 1905 to 1922, the Leafs won four pennants and he convinced baseball legends like Hugh Duffy, Joe Kelley and Nap Lajoie to manage the club. Much has been written about Jack Kent Cooke’s efforts as owner of the Leafs from 1951 to 1963. Some have credited Cooke for putting professional baseball on the map in Toronto. But a solid argument could be made that it was McCaffery who created the foundation for pro baseball in Toronto. Cooke was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985, McCaffery, Siegel suggested, is worthy of similar recognition.

3. In Mackenzie Longpre’s presentation, “From Leafs to Jays: Rico Carty, Phil Roof, and a Trip Through Toronto’s Baseball History,” I learned that Phil Roof served as a bullpen catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays for most of the 1977 season. I was aware that Roof, who was the first player ever acquired by the Blue Jays, played just three games (and had five at bats) with the team, but I had assumed he had been injured or had been released. But the 36-year-old backstop was with the club for the entire campaign. He served not only as the club’s bullpen catcher but as the team’s player rep and as the organizer of the team’s chapel program.

4. Thanks to an interesting presentation by Benno Rosinke called, “The 1899 Canadian Baseball League: A league that could have, would have and should have, but didn’t,” I learned that Major League Baseball’s all-time triples leader Sam Crawford played in Chatham, Ont., in 1899 Crawford, a speedy, left-handed hitting outfielder, batted .370 with 64 hits – including 18 doubles and 12 triples – in 43 games for the Chatham Reds of the short-lived Class D Canadian League in 1899 prior to making his MLB debut with the Cincinnati Reds. Crawford proceeded to have a 19-season big league career in which he batted .309 and accumulated a major league record 309 triples. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1957.

5. And thanks to Justin Mckinney’s stellar presentation, “Digging for ‘Spud’: Tracking Missing Canadians in Major League Record Books,” I learned about another big leaguer that was born in London, Ont. (the same city I was born in) named Jon Morrison.

Morrison, who was born in 1859, was an outfielder for parts of two seasons in the American Association (AA). With the AA’s Indianapolis Hoosiers in 1884, Morrison batted .264 in 44 games. He returned to the AA in 1887 to play nine games for the New York Metropolitans.

In his research, Mckinney discovered some rather sordid details about Morrison. In 1887, Morrison relocated to Port Huron, Mich., and at one point was charged with murder, although the charges were later dropped. Mckinney also shared that Morrison married a well-known Toronto prostitute.

Despite his exhaustive efforts, Mckinney has not been able to find a conclusive record of Morrison’s death.

Stay tuned for Part 2.