CANADIAN BASEBALL

                                          Canadian Baseball

    My first year of professional scouting was 1992 and I spent most of my summers in Canada covering free agent youngsters and Canada's two MLB teams, Montreal and Toronto. There was not a lot of high school baseball (with the exception of Ontario) played in the provinces. Many of the young players played youth league baseball and there were two organizations, the NBI and the ABC who were similar to travel teams of this era. These teams had a majority of the better 16-18 year-olds in the country

    The first Canadian player I ever signed who played in the big leagues was David Jason Green. Jason was from Port Hope, Ontario (about 65 miles north of Toronto). I was working for Houston and Jason worked out for me about two weeks before the 1993 draft. His catcher did not show up for the workout so Jason threw to a friend who was not a baseball player. There was a steady rainstorm, but I saw that Jason was a husky kid with a good fastball (89-90) and the Astros drafted him in the 30th round. 

    We maintained the rights to Jason as he attended a junior college and then signed him as soon as his season ended. That one year at a community college helped him immensely and put him on track to make his ML debut on July 23, 2000.

    It was an excellent time to cover the two big league clubs in Canada with Toronto winning the World Series in '92 and '93. It was a baseball thrill every time I covered the Blue Jays. I enjoyed the city and they played at the SkyDome (now called the Rogers Centre). I parked underneath the Dome, took an elevator up to the lobby, up to my room and down again when it was time to go to work.

    My hotel room was tucked around a corner with only one other room close by. Every day when I returned from an early lunch I heard LOUD Latin music coming from my neighbor's room. I knew a few of the Toronto players lived in the Dome and finally I asked one of the cleaning staff if she could tell me who lived next to me.

    She was very hesitant, but when she found out that I worked in baseball, she volunteered the information that Robbie Alomar lived there. I never saw Robbie on our hotel floor, but I saw him enough on the field to believe he was the best player in baseball during a span of four to five years. He was a tremendous, all-around player who could make any defensive play and some that weren't even invented yet. Tremendous range, soft hands and with the ability to bunt, steal a base or homer to all fields- just a great player. 

    I only saw Ken Griffey Jr. in spring training games and maybe for an extended period of time he was a better player, but no one in the early 90's was better than Robbie Alomar.

    The '92 and '93 Toronto clubs were outstanding with Alomar, Joe Carter, Paul Molitor, Devon White, John Olerud and a strong pitching staff with Juan Guzman and Al Leiter.

    I was sitting in the SkyDome scouts' seats one night when I recognized the gentleman sitting beside me. He had a stopwatch and was taking notes, but even though I recognized him I was quite certain it hadn't been at a baseball game. 

    He introduced himself and then I knew. I had seen him as a character actor on television, the last time in "Tommy Boy." His name was Sean McCann and he played a co-worker and a friend of "Big Tom," the owner of the business before he passed away. I didn't know McCann's exact role with the Jays, but he seemed to be more involved than a typical fan.

     He told me that at least half of "Tommy Boy" had been filmed in Canada. He seemed like a good guy with a solid understanding of the game and it was enjoyable sitting next to him.

    1994 was the Expos' finest year for the first 114 games of the 162 game season. Many baseball experts believed Montreal had a better than average chance to play in the World Series.

    The Expos had excellent pitching with Pedro Martinez, Mel Rojas, John Wetteland, Gil Heredia and Ken Hill. Combined with a young and talented outfield: Larry Walker, Rondell White, Marquis Grissom and Moises Alou, the Expos battled the Braves for the top spot in the NL.

    Then on August 12, 1994 it was over. Baseball went on strike, the '94 postseason including the World Series was canceled.

    Several of us were running tryout camps in New England when we received a call with orders to go to our respective homes as soon as possible. When we got home we were not allowed to use any expenses: lodging, gasoline, postage, telephone charges, etc. Basically, we were ordered to sit until the strike was over which it was- 232 days later. 

    My significant other and I were living in Champaign, Illinois and after two weeks at home and no immediate end in sight we decided to do what was best for us. We were married on August 26, 1994. Our wedding date has always been quite easy for me to remember.

    Netflix is running a documentary about the beginning and the end of the Montreal franchise. They had put together a powerhouse team in 1994 and it was gone in 1995. 1995 was their 27th season in franchise history and they finished 66-78. They finished last in their division and 24 games behind the Braves. 

    The strike lasted 232 days.

    Ken Hill, John Wetteland, Marquis Grissom, Joey Eischen and Roberto Kelly were all traded by the end of May.

    During my time in Canada I traveled to every province-from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island. I discovered the thrill of "Tim Hortons" Sandwich shops. I discovered that Newfoundland has its own time zone (NT) which is a half hour offset from all others in America. I know that it is different, but I can't clearly explain why. It does make looking at the clocks behind the hotel check-in counter a topic of conversation.

    Thank you for reading about some of my memories about Canada. There are others as there are still numerous anecdotes about my decades scouting in the U.S. A. that were not included in my last book, "Baseball's Test of Spirit"- A Man's Odyssey into the Scouting World."

    I can't claim that I am the only one who holds the following mark, but I think I must be in a very small group.

    I was the head coach at a university, having winning records two of the three years I spent there. My career mark at that school is still 16 games under .500. A 6-40 season can do that to you.

    I blogged about that losing season with a title "Abandoned."

    Twenty-five years of scouting and I never worked a game (only at their spring training sites) at their historic stadiums: Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers. Maybe I need to give it another try.