Kevin Glew’s Canadian Baseball History Blog
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: It was 40 years ago yesterday that the Toronto Blue Jays played their first-ever spring training game. They beat the New York Mets 3-1 in front of a capacity crowd of 1,988 in Dunedin, Fla. Veteran right-hander Bill Singer, who also started the regular season... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: One of my favourite spring training stories so far this year is that according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, Toronto Blue Jays players have taken to calling minor league instructor Tim Raines “HOF” – as in “Hall of Fame.” The Montreal Expos legend was elected to... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: On the Dan Patrick Show on Thursday, Wayne Gretzky shared that baseball was his favourite sport when he was growing up. The Brantford, Ont., native, who’s the NHL’s all-time leading scorer, said that if he had been given the choice of playing professional hockey or... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: The National Baseball Hall of Fame will announce its class of 2017 on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET and it’s looking as though Montreal Expos legend Tim Raines will finally be elected. Thanks to the hard-working Ryan Thibodaux, who documents baseball writers’ ballots that have... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations and notes about some Canadian baseball stories: Please send good vibes and strength to Mel Stottlemyre, the father of former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Todd Stottlemyre. In a Facebook post on Friday, the ex-Blue Jays hurler shared that his 75-year-old father is fighting for his life. “Calling all prayer warriors during this... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations about stories around the baseball world from a Canadian perspective (Please follow me on Twitter: @kevinglewsports): - I’m willing to bet that I’m not the first Toronto Blue Jays follower to utter the sentence “Who the hell is Lance Zawadzki?” this March. Interestingly enough, the 27-year-old second baseman, who has hit .389... Continue Reading →
Canada will play their first game of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) against Italy in Phoenix, Ariz. on Friday afternoon. The big story out of the Canadian camp this year has been Russell Martin's withdrawal from the tournament. The way Martin conducted himself left a bad taste in my mouth, but I won't rehash... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations about stories around the baseball world from a Canadian perspective (Please follow me on Twitter: @kevinglewsports): - I’ve met Canadian catcher Russell Martin three times and each time I found him to be warm, engaging and charismatic. So I was surprised and disappointed by his selfish – by his own admission –... Continue Reading →
My weekly observations about some Canadian baseball stories (Please follow me on Twitter: @kevinglewsports): - I can’t help but feel bad for longtime Toronto Blue Jays reliever Jason Frasor. Just when the club finally appears to be ready to make a post-season run, they can’t squeeze the right-hander, who has pitched in more games for... 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 →