BWDIK: Canadian Baseball HOF edition - Bautista, Hamilton, Jenkins, Orr, Snyder, Walker
The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s class of 2025. From left to right: George Asay, Loris Asay, Greg Hamilton, Jose Bautista, Carl Lee Noga Scott, Gary Snyder. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
June 8, 2025
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
Some news and notes from yesterday’s Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony:
Jose! Jose! Jose!
As Toronto Blue Jays legend Jose Bautista walked to the stage to make his Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech on Saturday afternoon, the crowd (the largest I’ve seen in my 27 years of attending ceremonies in St. Marys, Ont.) serenaded him with the “Jose! Jose! Jose!” chant/song that he so often heard at Rogers Centre. An emotional Bautista delivered a moving speech. Among those he thanked were former Blue Jays managers Cito Gaston and John Gibbons, onetime hitting coach Dwayne Murphy and ex-general managers J.P. Ricciardi and Alex Anthopoulos. But Bautista saved the best thank you of his speech for last, “And finally my wife, Neisha, and four daughters. They are my world and they mean everything to me. My greatest accomplishment is to be their husband and their dad. And that is the most important home run.” You can watch Bautista’s speech here.
Resilient Jenkins recovers for complete game
Baseball legend Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) returned to his honorary role of presenting the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees with their blazers on stage this year. Jenkins was present at last year’s ceremony but Denis Boucher (Lachine, Que.) filled in for him as blazer presenter because Jenkins was recovering from shoulder surgery. However, Jenkins gave the audience a scare on Saturday when he fell coming off the stage after presenting a blazer to the son of 2025 inductee Gerry Snyder. But the resilient 82-year-old Jenkins bounced back, and like he did 267 times during his major league career, he threw a complete game and went the distance in his duties at the ceremony.
Most career MLB complete games by a pitcher born in Canada
267 – Fergie Jenkins
126 – Russ Ford (Brandon, Man.)
85 – Bob Emslie (Guelph, Ont.)
82 – Phil Marchildon (Penetanguishene, Ont.)
75 – Dick Fowler (Toronto, Ont.)
Walker back in St. Marys
Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) returned to St. Marys for the first time since his induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 and was greeted with an extended ovation when he was introduced at the beginning of the ceremony. The former slugger made the trek to be there for 2025 inductee Greg Hamilton, who he has worked with as a longtime coach on the Senior National Team. And it was only fitting that when Hamilton was introduced at the ceremony that Walker joined Jenkins on stage to present Hamilton with the blazer. After receiving the blazer, Hamilton told the audience, “You know if you got here as a coach, you’re usually a failed player. That’s certainly my case anyway . . . I just got a jacket from Larry and Fergie and that’s incredibly humbling.”
From left to right: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame board chair Jeremy Diamond, Gary Snyder, Arlene Snyder and Fergie Jenkins. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
Snyder gave son great 10th birthday present
Gerry Snyder, the Montreal politician who worked tirelessly to bring a Major League Baseball team to Canada in the 1960s, was inducted into the Canadian ball hall posthumously on Saturday. Sporting a Montreal Expos jersey and cap, his son Gary spoke on his family’s birthday. Gary revealed that it was announced that Montreal would be receiving a big league franchise on May 27, 1968 — his 10th birthday. Gary called it “the best birthday present ever.” Gary’s father first met with MLB commissioner Ford C. Frick in 1962 and after the National League announced in 1967 that it planned to expand by two teams, Snyder started travelling to National League meetings to ensure that Montreal was on the radar for their expansion plans. His hard work paid off the following year. Snyder died in 2007.
Hamilton thinking of Baba, Carter on induction day
On Saturday, the day he was being inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., Greg Hamilton, the longtime Junior National Team head coach and director of men’s national teams was thinking of two of his ex-bosses and closest friends, Jim Baba and Ray Carter. Both couldn’t attend Saturday’s ceremony because they are battling cancer.
Baba, Baseball Canada’s executive director from 2000 to 2021, has been fighting blood cancer while Carter, Baseball Canada’s president from 2000 to 2016, underwent surgery for jaw and cheek cancer on Wednesday.
“Everybody knows Babs and Ray . . . both are in the fight of their lives right now . . . My heart is with them. They are here with me today and are going to go into the Hall of Fame with me. Ray is already in and Babs is going to join me today,” said Hamilton during his induction speech on Saturday afternoon.
Hamilton has served in prominent leadership roles with Baseball Canada for more than three decades. His affiliation with the national teams began in 1992 when he was named pitching coach of Canada’s Senior National Team. He held that post through 1995 until he became the head coach of the Junior National Team the following year. Hamilton continues to head the junior team today, while doubling as director of men’s national teams.
Under his guidance, the Junior National Team has won three medals: a silver at the U-18 Baseball World Cup in 2012 and bronze medals at the same event in 1997 and 2006. As Senior National Team GM, Hamilton assembled the Canadian squads that captured gold at the 2011 and 2015 Pan Am Games – the first two golds ever won by the Canadian senior team.
Thank you to Scott Crawford, Lindsay Earle, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame staff and volunteers
A big thank you to Scott Crawford, the Hall’s director of operations, who devotes countless hours to organizing induction weekend each year. It was an outstanding event. Most don’t think about the long hours, anxiety, sleepless nights and time away from the family that goes into planning an event this magnitude, but Scott has done an excellent job for many years — and with the support of his wonderful wife, Sam, and sons, Noah and Toby.
Thank you also to Lindsay Earle who put in countless hours preparing for induction weekend. Lindsay does a remarkable job in the museum.
Thank you also to all of the Hall of Fame staff and their volunteers.
Congratulations to Elena North!
Congratulations to longtime Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame volunteer Elena North on being named the 2025 winner of the Randall Echlin Lifetime Volunteer Award, which is given out each year by the Hall. Elena has selflessly supported the Hall of Fame in numerous ways over the years – including in the museum, in the community, with research and by helping with communications. She also manages the VIP tent on induction day. Elena is kind and encouraging and has a heart of gold. It’s impossible to overstate how much her and husband Andrew North, a Canadian baseball historian and organizer of the Canadian Baseball History Conference, have meant to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame over the years.
Legendary Toronto Star sports writer Dave Perkins receives the Jack Graney Award from Hall board chair Jeremy Diamond on Saturday. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
Graney winner Perkins definitely “a baseball guy”
Early in Saturday’s ceremony, longtime Toronto Star sportswriter Dave Perkins was presented with the Jack Graney Award, which is handed out annually to a media member who has made significant contributions to baseball in their life’s work. Perkins has had a long and wide-ranging career as a sportswriter that includes being a Blue Jays beat writer, a baseball columnist and a general sports columnist. Over the years, Perkins has covered 14 World Series, 10 Olympics, more than 50 golf majors and a dozen Super Bowls. But in his humorous speech on Saturday, he illustrated why he is truly “a baseball guy.” He shared a story about when he went to an exhibition game at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Stadium to watch the International League’s Leafs take on the Boston Red Sox in the mid-60s. “At that game, I caught a foul ball hit by Carl Yastrzemski and I still have the damn thing. So how can I not be a baseball guy?”
Pomay reunited with Moseby
Saturday was a memorable day for Chris Pomay, who operates the independent media platform CDP Sports. Pomay brought a photo that was taken of him with Lloyd Moseby at Blue Jays photo day at Exhibition Stadium in 1980. Forty-five years later, he got the opportunity to show that photo to Moseby in St. Marys on Saturday (See below).
Happy Birthday to Pete Orr!
Happy 46th Birthday to Pete Orr! The versatile Newmarket, Ont., native was signed as an amateur free agent by the Atlanta Braves in 1999. After five seasons in the Braves’ minor league system, Orr made his big league debut on April 5, 2005. He proceeded to serve in a utility role for parts of eight major league seasons with the Braves, Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies. He also played for Canada in four World Baseball Classics, but to Canadian international baseball fans he is best known for his mad dash in scoring the winning run in Canada’s gold medal victory over the U.S. at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Ajax, Ont. Here’s the video:
Orr, who is now a scout with the Milwaukee Brewers and helps coach the national team, was in St. Marys on Saturday for Hamilton’s induction.
Fun Fact of the Week
By my count, I have been to 27 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in St. Marys, Ont. I’m not saying this to brag, I’m just wondering if anyone out there has been to more?