February 11, 2020

By Scott Langdon

Canadian Baseball Network

Canada’s men’s national baseball team is facing a tough task to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, but one Canadian is sure to be on the field for the six-team tournament that begins July 29.

Toronto’s Trevor Grieve, 42, will be the lone Canadian umpire during the tournament having been selected by the World Baseball Softball Confederation . He umpired The Europe-Africa Olympic qualifying tournament and is headed to Arizona to officiate the America’s Olympic qualifying competition in March. Ontario’s Keith McConkey will also umpire in the Americas event.

Canada’s men’s national team will have to win the Americas tournament to take one of the final two spots in the six-team Olympics tournament or finish second or third to have an opportunity to clinch the sixth spot at the final qualifying competition in Taiwan in early April.

Canada will compete against teams from the USA, Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Nicaragua in Arizona. In Taiwan, should Canada go that far, the competition includes China, Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands and Australia. Japan, Israel, Mexico and Korea have already qualified for the Olympics tournament which will be played in Yokohama and Fukushima, near Tokyo.

Selection to the 12-umpire Olympic games crew left Grieve speechless.

“I was excited when I was told the news,” he said. “I told my wife, but nobody else for about 24 hours. I just had to sit and process it for a while…the Olympic games!”

The Olympics is one of many international umpiring assignments for Grieve, who stopped umpiring minor league professional baseball in 2004. He re-entered Canada’s national umpiring program in 2005 and worked national championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008, making him eligible for international baseball assignments. He umpired the 2010 World Youth championships followed by Premier 12 and the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics. He worked the gold medal games in both 2013 and 2017.

Grieve, a detective with the Toronto Police Service, also supervises and instructs in the Baseball Ontario and Baseball Canada umpiring programs. He has umpired Intercountry Baseball League, some Can-Am League games and others to stay sharp before international assignments.

“Senior-level international competitions are high quality baseball. There are some rules different than major league baseball such as the tiebreaker rule. We will be using instant replay at the Olympics, like major league baseball, but it is handled differently.

“Plays are reviewed in the stadium, not in another city, and by an umpire, one of six that officiate each game. This is when the language issue becomes important. The crew chief for each game and the replay umpire always speak the same language to ensure nothing is lost in translation.”

He expects to work eight games during the Olympic tournament. Umpires for the gold medal game are decided on merit, but also with language in mind. Umpires receive a per diem and travel and accommodation costs are covered.

Two other Canadians will be involved in the Olympics baseball tournament. Jim Baba, Executive Director, Baseball Canada and Edmonton’s Shari Reiniger will serve as Technical Commissioners. Reiniger, who has been involved with the WBSC for 16 years as Technical Commissioner, will serve in the same role for the Americas qualifying tournament in March in Arizona.

Grieve is the ninth Canadian to umpire Olympic baseball games. Others are: Dave McManus, New Brunswick, 1984; Jim Cressman, Ontario, 1988; Ozzie Havaris, British Columbia, 1992; Glen Johnson, Manitoba, 1996; Robert Bellerose, Quebec, 2000; Don Gilbert, Ontario, 2004; Ron Shewchuk and Brian Hodgson, Manitoba, 2008.

The 2020 Olympic Games will mark Grieve’s third trip to Tokyo. He isn’t a fan of sushi, but enjoys Japanese karaoke and says the country’s train system is the world’s best. He hopes he and his wife and sister-in-law, who will be in Japan with him, will have the opportunity to see some sights other than a baseball field during the two-week trip to the land of the rising sun.