Kevin Glew’s Canadian Baseball History Blog
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: · I was sorry to learn that Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Jack Graney’s daughter Margot (Graney) Mudd passed away in Plantation, Fla., on Friday at the age of 98 after a battle with influenza. I had the privilege of speaking to Margot about... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: · I think I jinxed Ladner, B.C., native James Paxton with all of my Cy Young talk about him last week. The Seattle Mariners lefty exited his start in the seventh inning on Thursday with a left pectoral muscle strain. He was placed on the... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: • As excited as I was when Jose Bautista hit his three-run, bat flip home run in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the American League Division Series, I was almost equally disappointed to watch Bautista’s performance in the media scrum after yesterday’s loss... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: • When Edwin Encarnacion drove in nine runs (with his three home runs) in the Blue Jays’ 15-1 win over the Detroit Tigers at the Rogers Centre yesterday, he tied Roy Howell’s team record for most RBI in a game. Howell’s record-setting performance came in... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: • On a New York Mets broadcast in 1988, Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner said, “On this Father’s Day, we’d like to wish all you fathers out here a Happy Birthday.” So to paraphrase Kiner, Happy Birthday and Happy Father’s Day to my wonderful dad,... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations about stories around the baseball world from a Canadian perspective (Please follow me on Twitter: @kevinglewsports): - Former Montreal Expos great Vladimir Guerrero, who played in the Blue Jays' minor league system for a short stretch last season, has signed with the independent Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks, where he’ll suit up... Continue Reading →
Some Canadian baseball stories from the past week (Please follow me on Twitter: @kevinglewsports): Guelph, Ont., native Scott Diamond has jumped out to a commanding lead in the online voting for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Tip O’Neill Award. The Minnesota Twins lefty, who won 12 games and posted a 3.54 ERA this... Continue Reading →
For the first time in his 24-year major league career, Omar Vizquel is suiting up for a Canadian team. The likely Hall of Famer, who will turn 45 on April 24, won the Toronto Blue Jays’ utility infielder’s job over Mike McCoy. But though the 11-time Gold Glove Award winner hasn’t called Canada his big... Continue Reading →
They may have released Victoria, B.C. native Rich Harden earlier this month, but several players in the Texas Rangers’ starting lineups on Friday and Saturday have honed their skills in Canada. Here’s a list of the players and their Canadian connections: 1. Michael Young, 3B As I’ve written before, Young was selected by the Toronto... Continue Reading →
When the Seattle Mariners shipped Alex Rodriguez to the Calgary Cannons on August 2, 1994, the Triple-A club’s general manager Gary Arthur trumpeted the young shortstop as the “Mario Lemieux” of the 1993 Major League Baseball amateur draft. But even this lofty hockey comparison couldn’t convince Calgarians to flock to the 6,000-seat Foothills Stadium to... Continue Reading →