Kevin Glew’s Canadian Baseball History Blog
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Thirty-eight years ago yesterday, Luis Leal tossed a two-hit shutout for the Toronto Blue Jays in their 8-0 win over the eventual American League West champion Chicago White Sox on a steamy night at Comiskey Park. It was the 26-year-old right-hander’s first major league shutout. “It was warm like... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada When you examine a list of the Toronto Blue Jays' Opening Day starting pitchers, all the names you'd expect to see are on it. There's Roy Halladay (seven Opening Day starts), Dave Stieb (four), Jimmy Key (three), Pat Hentgen (two) and Jim Clancy (two). Other prominent names on the... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Question: Who was the first Toronto Blue Jays pitcher to record 100 wins with the team? Answer: It's not who you think it is. It's not Dave Stieb. Thirty-four years ago today, right-hander Jim Clancy tossed a four-hit shutout over the Kansas City Royals at Royals Stadium to notch... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: So far so good for Montreal Expos legend Tim Raines in the National Baseball Hall of Fame voting. Thanks to the hard-working Ryan Thibodaux, who documents baseball writers’ ballots that have been made public, we know that Raines has been named on 50 of 56... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: • After the Toronto Blue Jays traded third baseman Brett Lawrie (Langley, B.C.) to the Oakland A’s as part of the package for Josh Donaldson on November 28, almost every Jays fan I encountered said that they wished the club hadn’t traded Lawrie. My standard... Continue Reading →
The headline in the Toronto Star the next day read, “When the rain came, Earl went home.” And as the baseball community mourns the passing of Earl Weaver, who died Saturday of a heart attack at the age of 82, many of those in attendance at Exhibition Stadium on September 15, 1977 still reminisce about... Continue Reading →
My weekly opinions, observations and rants about some Canadian baseball stories: Ryan Dempster, the pride of Gibsons, B.C., has been named the Chicago Cubs Opening Day starter in 2011. This will be his third Opening Day assignment. He started two previous openers with the Florida Marlins in 2001 and 2002. With 102 career victories... Continue Reading →
The snow blanketing the field for the Toronto Blue Jays' inaugural game on April 7, 1977, must have been a shock for Roy Hartsfield, the team’s first skipper who had managed the Padres’ Triple-A club in Hawaii for the previous four seasons. But a little snow wasn’t about to cool Hartsfield’s excitement. After 15 seasons... Continue Reading →
It was the first time that baseball’s elite had assembled outside of the U.S. for the mid-summer classic. Five Montreal Expos populated the National League roster, including three – Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Tim Raines – voted to the squad by the fans. When you add in that Expos ace, Steve Rogers, was the... Continue Reading →