February 5, 2022

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

At the race track there is a saying that “there is a story in every stable.”

The same goes for a clubhouse ... “there is a story in every locker.”

How did the player wind up in the system? How close was he to choosing another sport? Was he almost selected the pick before by another team? Or in the pre-draft, free-agent days -- where the best stories come from -- what went into getting the player’s John Hancock on the contract?

There was a story about Clark Gillies, who first signed a minor-league deal with the Houston Astros, before giving up baseball to become a rugged horse for the vaunted New York Islanders dynasty. Gillies passed away from cancer on Jan 26, 2022 at age 67.

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Before the Blue Jays were born, the Houston Astros were very active scouring Western Canada for talent. Pat Gillick, future Blue Jays general manager, had a network of contacts in the west since he pitched three summers in Alberta for the Vulcan Elks, Granum White Sox and Edmonton Eskimos (1956 to 1958).

Helping the Astros were the likes of Russ Parker (Calgary, Alta.), Ned Andreoni (Moose Jaw, Sask.) who played at Fresno State and Spero Leakos (Saskatoon, Sask.), who helped him set up tryout camps in Edmonton, Peace River, Grand Prairie and other cities.

Astros scout Wayne Morgan liked a two-way player he saw in a tournament at Barrhead, Alta. Gillick asked Morgan to follow the player home and watch him again. After a few days, Morgan signed centre fielder/pitcher Terry Puhl (Melville, Sask.), who was elected to the Astros Hall of Fame last week ... as an outfielder. Former centre fielder Bill Virdon, who played a mean centre field himself for the Pittsburgh Pirates, once said in 1983 when he was managing the Montreal Expos: “I managed Terry Puhl all those games (758 games) and I never saw him make a mistake. You can’t say that about many major leaguers today.”

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Astros scout Gordon Lakey was at home in Houston one day when Gillick called one day asking him to meet him in Minneapolis that night. Both worked for the Astros at the time.

“We get on our flight out of Minneapolis and are about to land in Grand Forks, N.D. on the way to Winnipeg and the pilot isn’t sure whether the landing gear is frozen -- it won’t go down,” Lakey said. “The pilot came back and lifts up a mat to look underneath.

“Finally, it goes down, we land, but we can’t take the plane to Winnipeg.”

So they drive, fly to Saskatoon and drive to Kindersley, Sask. to sign Bobby Bourne.

“Pat’s driving and Pat drives fast,” Lakey said.

Many a Jays scout has said if Gillick did not have a career in baseball, he would have either been a Formula 1 driver or a New York cabbie.

“An RCMP officer stops us, looks in the car and says, ‘I just wanted to see all your faces because five miles ahead is sheer ice,’” Lakey said. “If you guys keep driving this fast, you’ll all wind up dead.

“Pat and I are in the front. We’re got Clark Gillies, who we signed the year before, and Bourne are in the back.”

Gillies (Moose Jaw, Sask.) first met Bourne (Netherhill, Sask.) when they played ball against each other at age 15. Both signed with the Astros.

Gillies played three seasons (1970-72) appearing in 86 games with the rookie-class Covington Astros in three seasons, spending most of his time at first base and behind the plate. Gillies played three seasons with the Regina Pats and was selected fourth overall in the 1974 draft by the Islanders.

Bourne played 37 games at first base for Covington in 1972. With Gillies being a right-handed hitter and Bourne batting from the left side, they made up Covington’s platoon at first base under manager Billy Smith, who later coached on Cito Gaston’s staff with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Bourne played three seasons with the Saskatoon Blades. He was the a third-round choice (38th overall) by the Kansas City Scouts in 1974. The Scouts dealt Bourne to the Island that September for Bart Crashley and the rights to Larry Hornung.

Gillies and Bourne were part of the Islanders’ dynasty which won four consecutive Stanley Cups (1979-80 to 1983-84). He and Bourne were two of 17 players who won the Cup four straight times with the Islanders and helped set the NHL record of 19 straight playoff series wins.

Gillies skated in 958 games for the Islanders and the Buffalo Sabres, while Bourne played 964 games with the Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings.

Gillick’s scouting report on Gillies as a ball player: “We thought he was going to be a big-league catcher. He had a strong good arm and had good size (6-foot-3). We signed him as a 16-year. Gordon and I flew to Saskatchewan to see him play for the Pats. I said he’d be a hell of player and I was right. He’s in Hockey Hall of Famer.”

Gillick’s scouting report on Bourne as a ball player: “He was fast. Man, he could run. we thought he was going be a speedy left-handed hitting centre fielder.”

The two Saskatchewan studs lived next door to each other on the Island for a decade, according to the NHL.com obit.

About 20 years later after Gillies and Bourne had retired, Gillies’ daughter, Brianna, and Bourne’s son, Justin, saw each other for the first time in years at Bourne’s induction into the Islanders Hall of Fame.

They began to date, fell in love, wed and have two children.