Kevin Glew’s Canadian Baseball History Blog
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: I won’t pretend that I really know Chris Colabello, but I do know this, in 29 years of going to spring training in Dunedin and attending Toronto Blue Jays games, I’ve never met a kinder, more generous player. I’ve told this story before, but in... Continue Reading →
Courtesy of http://www.baseballhalloffame.ca St. Marys, Ont. – Legendary Montreal Expos beat writer Serge Touchette will be presented with the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame's 2015 Jack Graney Award on Saturday, April 2 when the Toronto Blue Jays battle the Boston Red Sox in a preseason game at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Touchette will be presented with... Continue Reading →
Courtesy of Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame St. Marys, Ont. – Legendary Montreal Expos beat writer Serge Touchette has been named the winner of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2015 Jack Graney Award. The St. Marys, Ont.-based shrine presents this award annually to a member of the media who has made significant contributions to... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Without Rod Carew, Tony Fernandez probably wouldn’t have recorded more hits than any other player in Toronto Blue Jays history. Fernandez, who rapped out 1,583 hits with the Blue Jays, idolized the Panama-born Hall of Famer and modeled his batting stance after him. And if you were lucky enough... Continue Reading →
When Tony Gwynn slashed a single into centre field in the first inning on August 6, 1999 at Olympic Stadium, he became the first player to register their 3,000th big league hit outside of the United States. Numbering just 13,540, the small but boisterous Montreal crowd rewarded the eight-time batting champ with a lengthy standing... Continue Reading →
The next time you see J.P. Arencibia attempt to throw a runner out from the squat position, think of early 20th century Canadian Jimmy Archer. The five-foot-10, 168-pound catcher was reportedly the first to throw a runner out from the squat position. “The best throwing catcher of them all was Jimmy Archer,” Chief Meyers, one... Continue Reading →
During his 19-year big league career, Barry Larkin feasted on Canadian hurlers Rheal Cormier and Ryan Dempster, but fared poorly against Paul Quantrill and Mike Johnson. And though the 12-time all-star and most recent National Baseball Hall of Fame electee enjoyed a four-hit game against the Montreal Expos on May 29, 1992, he hit only... Continue Reading →
My weekly opinions, observations and rants about some Canadian baseball stories: I thought there was already a plaque outside of the lower-level duplex apartment that Jackie Robinson lived in while he played in Montreal in 1946. Regardless, it’s nice to see that a plaque has now been erected in front of his historic de... Continue Reading →
Like Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, the first African-American to play in the American League, also enjoyed a tenure in Montreal. His stint in Canada, however, came 23 years after he originally expected it. As Jackie Robinson was starring for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate Montreal Royals in 1946, Doby was tearing it up with the Newark... Continue Reading →
Derek Aucoin is the only Montreal-born player developed by the Expos to appear with the big league club. I recently caught up with the charismatic ex-pitcher and discovered that a chance meeting with Andre Dawson 30 years ago changed his life. Here's the link to the article I wrote about Aucoin for Bob Elliott's Canadian... Continue Reading →