Kevin Glew’s Canadian Baseball History Blog
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada It's been a tough year, a really tough year. Over 340,000 Americans and more than 15,000 Canadians have died from the coronavirus (COVID-19) and it hasn't spared former big leaguers. Sadly, Tom Seaver, Jay Johnstone, Rick Baldwin and Lindy McDaniel were among those who lost their battle with the... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Who's the first former Toronto Blue Jays player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame? That's a question that often stumps Canadian baseball fans. And you can be forgiven if you don't remember Phil Niekro - who's the answer to the question - making three starts... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada It was a quiet summer night about two years ago when I was perusing Twitter and stumbled upon a tweet from legendary left-hander Jim Kaat. Kaat had written that nobody could say they "owned" Tom Seaver except for former Montreal Expo and Toronto Blue Jay Tommy Hutton, who went... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: · Please take a moment today to remember Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer and legendary Canadian baseball scout and executive Wayne Norton who passed away one year ago today at the age of 75 after a valiant battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Born in... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: · Montreal Expos legend and Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Rusty Staub would’ve turned 74 today. He passed away on Thursday in a West Palm Beach, Fla., hospital. Bill Madden of the New York Daily News reported that Staub had been suffering from a number... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: Left-handers David Price and J.A. Happ have both made 21 starts since last season’s trade deadline, so let’s compare their statistics: Price: 136-2/3 innings pitched, 16-2 won/loss record, 3.69 ERA, 2.2 WAR. His salary for 2016 is $30 million. Happ: 128 innings pitched, 13-4 won/loss... Continue Reading →
On February 24, I wrote about the Toronto Blue Jays’ first spring training game that took place on March 11, 1977 in Dunedin, Fla. But what happened in the Montreal Expos’ first spring training contest eight years earlier? To find out, I trekked over to the D.B. Weldon Library at Western University to track down... Continue Reading →
Phil Niekro, Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor and Rickey Henderson are Hall of Famers that once suited up for the Toronto Blue Jays. And Roberto Alomar will, of course, have his day in Cooperstown this summer. But in the club’s 34-year history, a number of other legends were also rumoured to be coming to Toronto. Part... Continue Reading →
It’s safe to say that Phil Niekro was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in spite of his performance as a Toronto Blue Jay. Enshrined in 1997, the ageless knuckleballer won 318 big league games, was selected to five all-star teams and won five Gold Gloves during his 24-year career. “Trying to hit... Continue Reading →