Kevin Glew’s Canadian Baseball History Blog
Legendary baseball scribe Peter Gammons voted for him. So, too, (I imagine) did Bob Elliott, the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s first Canadian J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner. Unfortunately, when the votes are tallied for the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s class of 2013 (which will be announced on January 9), we’ll likely discover that... Continue Reading →
During the summers of 1983 and 1984, one of the favourite ways for my brother Paul and I to pass our time was to write fan letters to big league baseball players and ask for their autographs. The Montreal Expos players proved to be particularly obliging. I think the first player we heard back from... Continue Reading →
These photos are from the behind-the-scenes tour that I (along with six other Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame representatives) experienced at the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Friday.
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada It seemed fitting that the most prominent jersey from my vantage point in the press box to watch Toronto Sun columnist Bob Elliott deliver his J.G. Taylor Spink Award acceptance speech was a Joey Votto Cincinnati Reds jersey worn by a young fan in the front row. After all,... Continue Reading →
Rheal Cormier almost made it through his Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech without tears. But when it came time to talk about his father, Ronald, who passed away last September, the Cap-Pele, N.B., native couldn’t contain his emotions. At a pre-ceremony press conference on Saturday, Cormier recounted how his father, a truck driver... Continue Reading →
If you happen to see Wallace Johnson at the Montreal Jazz Festival this summer, stop and buy the man a drink.After all, the former pinch-hitter extraordinaire, who frequently returns to the city for this landmark event, was the author of arguably the most important hit in Montreal Expos history.His two-run triple off of New York... Continue Reading →
Jim Fanning is Canadian baseball royalty. The ebullient former Montreal Expos manager, who turned 84 in September, remains active in Canadian baseball circles. With over 60 years in professional baseball as a player, manager, executive, ambassador and most recently a fill-in analyst on Blue Jays’ radio broadcasts, the amiable Fanning, who resides in London, Ont.,... Continue Reading →
One trivia question that I like to ask my fellow Canadian baseball junkies is, how many players, managers or executives are members of both the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (CBHFM) and the National Baseball Hall of Fame? With Pat Gillick and Roberto Alomar set to be honoured in Cooperstown this summer, the answer to... Continue Reading →
For those requiring further evidence that Pat Gillick is a Hall of Fame general manager, I present the following transaction. On December 9, 1982, Gillick, while acting as the Jays GM, shipped pitcher Dale Murray and infielder Tom Dodd to the Yankees for Dave Collins (who would hit .308 and steal 60 bases for Toronto... Continue Reading →
With Pat Gillick being elected by the Veterans Committee, Roberto Alomar likely to be voted in by the writers and longtime Expos broadcaster Dave Van Horne to receive the Ford C. Frick Award, the 2011 National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will have a distinctly Canadian flavor. In his first year on the ballot,... Continue Reading →