canadian baseball

Man, I'd love to apply for this:

http://baseballhalloffame.ca/blog/2019/06/28/canadian-baseball-hall-of-fame-and-museum-job-posting-curator/

Having just retired, the timing's perfect. Of the nine duties and qualifications, though, I fulfill exactly one of them ("interest and enthusiasm for baseball"), leaving me at the back of the line with this guy. (Or behind--he's got the Yankees on his resumé.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LCggmsCXk4

fuck dude - no harm in trying. use me as a reference. i'll tell them how you can't shut up about baseball!

I think that's a better reference than my last principal would give me...

The HOF was pretty good. Not a lot to see--there are 5 or 6 rooms--but they've inducted 100+ people, a good mix of Canadians and relevant non-Canadians, and reading some of the bios was instructive. Merchandise is pricey; I did buy the card set of all the inductees for $50. Four baseball field surround the museum, and they were nice.

Best thing about the day was deciding that when I vacate the city--which I seriously plan to do within the next year or so--St. Mary's is at the top of my list now. The town is beautiful, the houses are 1/3-1/2 of what you pay in Toronto, and I think I'd be very happy there.

Happy retirement clem!

I have to admit that I didn't know where the Canadian Baseball HOF was ...

Canada.

always the last place you look

Q: Who is the only player to represent the Montreal Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays in the MLB All-Star Game?

A: Ron Fairly (Expos,1973; Blue Jays,1977)

He turns 81 today. Happy Birthday to him! pic.twitter.com/eNAB33DLJr

— Kevin Glew (@coopincanada) July 12, 2019

never in a million years would i have guessed.

Wow--my post just above is where I decided to move to St. Mary's...No HOF class this year, and the induction of Olerud/Morneau/Ward/Doucet still on hold.

http://baseballhalloffame.ca/blog/2021/02/05/statement-from-our-board-of-directors/

Now that I'm on the inside, out there pulling weeds, I'm going to lobby hard for Munenori.

St. Marys...St. Marys...I even have a T-shirt that says "St. Marys: Apostrophe-Free Since 1864."

They're still doing catch up from COVID, but this year's Canadian HOF inductees:

https://baseballhalloffame.ca/barfield-boucher-harden-wiwchar-to-be-inducted-into-canadian-baseball-hall-of-fame-museum/

Posting these days for me is often like the final scene of Seinfeld--I think I've told this story before, but I'm never quite sure. Anyway, I got a card autographed by Barfield once (right in the Skydome, I think), and I mentioned to him that I was there the night he became the first Blue Jay to hit 40 HR (1986). He remembered not just the pitcher (of course), but the pitch, the count, where he hit it, everything. It was probably 10 or 15 years later.

This is interesting from his little bio:

In 1985, the right-handed hitting slugger helped lead the Blue Jays to their first American League East title when he had 27 home runs, 22 stolen bases and 22 outfield assists. This made him just the second player (Willie Mays was the first in 1955) in big league history to have at least 20 home runs, 20 stolen bases and 20 outfield assists in the same campaign.

Wonder if that's still true.

Older sibling setting a good example and not doing his cradle thing...This is more of a Canadian story than a Cleveland story to me, but either way, a first.

https://www.mlb.com/news/bo-naylor-josh-naylor-homer-in-same-inning-for-guardians

Didn't realize that Josh is having a solid year.

Hall of Fame inductees for 2025:

https://baseballhalloffame.ca/welcome-hall-of-fame-class-of-2025/

I wish Encarnacion were going in with Bautista, but I think Bautista retired a year or two earlier (and better for them economically to induct separately anyway).

Had a perfect weather day and nothing to do, so I finally did something I've been planning to do since moving to St. Marys, a run into Chatham (two hours away). Partly to check record/book/thrift stores, partly to look for some Fergie Jenkins-related landmarks.

The record store, of course, was closed, but there was a good card shop next door. The guy there was very helpful in pointing me to key Fergie locations.

About two minutes away, Stirling Park, where his dad played for sure--see plaque--and, according to the card-shop guy, where Fergie would have played too. (It's now a slow-pitch park; three teenage girls were there for some practice.)

https://i.postimg.cc/CL6KMQ6L/IMG-5205.jpg

View from the mound:

https://i.postimg.cc/8cz1NRR6/IMG-5208.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/G3gRvsPX/IMG-5210.jpg

Where he went to high school (Chatham Vocational School--too depressing to contemplate), closed down in 1962 and now a Kiwanis Theatre:

https://i.postimg.cc/nrFvxPSG/IMG-5215.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/SNKWtHMy/IMG-5217.jpg

I thought I had his boyhood home at 213 Adelaide St., too, but I was misdirected--should have been looking for 217 Colborne St.

Found a set of Topps "micro" cards from 1991 with the shrink wrap still on (but opened) at one of the thrift shops. Unpriced, so the guy actually asked me if they were worth anything, like the internet hadn't arrived yet. "I'm not sure" I told him, because I wasn't sure (but suspected they might have some value). He gave it to me for $10; found on set on eBay for $60.

Like every medium-sized city or town I visit in this area, Chatham seemed like it still hadn't recovered from COVID/opiods/the economy.