Kevin Glew’s Canadian Baseball History Blog
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Two former Toronto Blue Jays pitchers, a highly respected executive from the club's early years and a beloved coach died in 2021. As the end of the year approaches, let's take a moment to remember them. Elliott Wahle, the Toronto Blue Jays’ original administrator of player personnel, shown here... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Omar Malave, who spent more than three decades in the Toronto Blue Jays' organization as a player, coach and manager, passed away yesterday in Dunedin, Fla., at the age of 58. In a brave and heartbreaking post on Twitter, his daughter shared that her father ended his own life.... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada The first "Boomer" Wells to play for the Toronto Blue Jays wasn't given much of an opportunity to excel with the club. And in hindsight, it's hard to understand why. In August 1981, when the 6-foot-5 slugger, whose birth name is Greg, was summoned to the big leagues for... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Former Toronto Blue Jays first base coach Denis Menke passed away on December 1 at the age of 80. His death was reported on Monday on an Iowa radio station that's located close to Menke's hometown of Bancroft, Iowa. No cause of death was reported, but Menke passed away... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: · Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) had reached base at least twice in 20 consecutive games until his streak was snapped on Wednesday. He fell one game short of tying Ted Williams’ record for most consecutive games reaching base two or more times. Aside from Williams,... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: The Toronto Blue Jays signed first baseman Justin Smoak to a two-year contract extension on Saturday. The question many Blue Jays fans are asking is why? Though the payout is relatively modest by today’s standards ($4.125 million per season in 2017 and 2018 and a... Continue Reading →
[twitter-follow screen_name='coopincanada'] My weekly look at some Canadian baseball stories: - Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Dustin McGowan recorded his first big league win in almost six years on Friday, but surprisingly that's not the record for the longest span between major league wins. Interestingly enough, that record appears to belong to Blue Jays' pitching coach... Continue Reading →
My weekly opinions, observations and rants about some Canadian baseball stories (Please follow me on Twitter: @kevinglewsports): If Eric Thames is going to be one of the Jays outfielders of the future, why did he DH for 10 of the 13 games during his big league call-up? Surely it can’t be because Corey Patterson... Continue Reading →