November 24, 2022

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

GUELPH _ Somehow we thought, we have seen this movie before.

Walk into a banquet and the guest speaker is a football player ... a guy named Lumsden ... Let me get this straight: a football player at a ball banquet.

The first time was Jesse Lumsden, former McMaster Marauders standout where he won the Hec Crighton Trophy in 2004, at the Okotoks Dawgs January banquet in Okotoks, Alta. in 2011. Jesse had played for the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders. Now, he was turning to two-man bobsled.

Teaming with Lyndon Rush, they won their first World Cup gold medal in 2012 at Oenigssee, Germany. They won silver the same year at the world bobsleigh championships in Lake Placid, N.Y.

His speech.

It was five-star.

It was about perseverance -- a needed requirement on the diamond -- how he recovered from knee surgery, rehabbed and was injured on the first play as he took a pass in the flat. He told about his desire switching to a new sport -- this was before the medal.

Dawgs managing director John Ircandia had booked a winning speaker with a message.

The next night on the drive home from Pearson International I called Jesse’s father, Neil Lumsden, who was in his car. When will you be home? Ten minutes. I told him to have his wife on the speaker.

Phoning back I told Donna and Neil how disappointed I was to see a football player/bob sledder speaking as a guest speaker. And then I told them how wrong I was and what a tremendous speech their son had given.

* * *

And Saturday night at the Delta Inn in Guelph, Baseball Ontario had its annual general meetings capped by its awards ceremonies.

Up to the podium stepped Neil Lumsden, Jesse’s father. Neil should have won the Crighton Trophy at the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. He was stud hoss of a fullback running into the secondary at times before being tackled by three deep backs and handling place kicking duties. Under coach Don Gilbert, the Gee-Gees went undefeated and untied in winning the Vanier Cup.

Neil won three Grey Cup Championships with the Edmonton Eskimos (1980-82) and again being a Grey Cup winner in 1999 as general manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In 10 seasons, Lumsden played in 141 regular season games and rushed for 3,755 yards and had 180 receptions for 1,729 yards. In all, he scored 51 touchdowns.

So what is he doing at a this banquet? Guest speaker.

He admitted he didn’t play much ball.

“Think I was eight or nine and I was standing in the on-deck circle when our guy swung and he hit it hard -- but the bat went flying and hit me under the eye,” said Neil. “That was it for me. My father thought I should play a sport less dangerous ... thanks dad?”

There are a few opposing linemen, linebackers and members of the secondary who wish Lumsden had not strapped on the pads and helmet.

Neil ran for office in Hamilton East—Stoney Creek riding -- which includes Dean Dicenzo’s home-away-from-home: Mahoney Park -- he was elected to Queen’s Park in the 2022 provincial election and was named to Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet as a Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

He told the players who won awards in the crowd, “For the most part I had good coaches. You’re not always going to have the best coach, but you can always learn.”

Lumsden told of being an assistant coach at the University of Guelph for head coach Stu Lang, former Queen’s Golden Gael, who he had played with in Edmonton.

“Stu asked me to coach the running backs,” explained Neil, “and we had, oh, eight or nine running backs. We had a young man from Brampton who worked really hard. He wasn’t better than anyone esle. He had not said a single word all camp.

“We’re walking off the field and someone sticks their arm under mine. It’s him. He said ‘Thanks. I got you coach ... just like you got me.’”

Lumsden had enjoyed some great moments on the field. Vanier Cup. Grey Cup wins. This gesture -- player-to-coach, 1-on-1 -- was up there with the memorable ones.

He then ticked off some of the province’s successes in 2022: Gold at the Ontario Summer Games in Niagara, managed by David Quattrociocchi (Toronto, Ont.), 58,000 players, 14,000 coaches and 6,000 umpires, Ashley Stephenson (Mississauga, Ont.) winning the Lionel Ruhr coach of the year and 3B Myles Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) earning Junior National Team MVP honors.

“I’ve met the greatest friends through sports,” Lumsden said. “Sports can be a spring board. It works whether you are 20, or 30 or 40 years of age. And I can’t find a better group than the one in front of me.”

Now, if I can only find Jesse’s number to tell him how well the old man did ... at a baseball banquet.

Harv Baillie (Mitchell, Ont.) was an umpire an administrator and so dedicated a ball field in Byron was named after him.

* * *

Hall of Fame

Harv Baillie, Mitchell, Ont.

After getting his start coaching minor ball in Byron, a London neighbourhood, he went on to win four OBA championships and 11 league championships. As a founding member of the Byron Optimist Sports Complex committee, he was given the greatest honour having Diamond 2 renamed the Harv Bailie Diamond in 2005.

Bailie served as president of Byron Optimist and the London District Association for more than 20 years, as well as being OBA president (1981-82) and a vice-president of Baseball Canada. He represented Canada at the World Congress international meetings and at tournaments in Amsterdam, Milan, Kobe, Seoul and Havana, in addition to being the administrator for the Canadian National Team and the chef de mission for the 1988 Canadian Olympic team in Seoul Korea. He was inducted into the London Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

Hall of Fame umpire Don Gilbert (left) with Jim Cressman (middle) and Andy Callaghan.

* * *

Umpire Don Gilbert, Windsor

Beginning to work as an umpire in Baseball Canada’s national program in 1978, he was given his first national assignment two years later. From 1980 until 2009, he served as either an umpire or supervisor at the national or international level. He has worked or supervised every level of Baseball Canada national championships from 15U to senior, including the Canada Summer Games and Blue Jay Cup.

Internationally, Gilbert called him as he saw them at World Youth, World Cup, World University Games and Pan Am games. In 2004, he officiated at the World University Games in Chinese Taipei as well as the XXVII Olympic Games in Athens, working the gold medal game in both tournaments. He earned Baseball Ontario Umpire of the Year (1992), Baseball Canada Umpire of the Year (1997) and International Umpire of the Year (2004). Gilbert was so accurate and respected in his calls that the Baseball Ontario Program of Excellence Umpire of the Year for Level 4/5 is presented annually in his honour. He was supervisor of umpires for Baseball Ontario (1995-2000) and for Baseball Canada (1996-2008). Gilbert was elected Vice President of Baseball Ontario from 1998-2000. He was elected to the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

* * *

Coach Marc Picard, Windsor/Pickering

Picard has been a player, scout and coach for over 45 years. He grew up and played in Windsor, before becoming an amateur scout for the New York Yankees under Dick (The Legend) Groch, who signed Hall of Famer Derek Jeter. As a coach, he was in charge of teams -- or helped run -- teams in Windsor, Team Ontario, the Ontario Youth Team and Durham College while based in Pickering. Returning to Windsor again, he is in charge of skills at Central Park Athletics for the F. J. Brennan Academy in Windsor. No less than 13 times did Picard manage or coach a team to a Canadian national championship. He won six times at juvenile level (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990), the Canada Cup four times (1990, 1991, 2011 and 2012), Canada Summer Games (1997), the junior level once as an assistant coach (1991) and national 15U as an assistant (2015).

He coached future major leaguers Joe Siddall, Stubby Clapp, Chris Leroux, David Davidson and others. Picard also coached Jason Wuerch, the first Canadian ever selected in the MLB draft in 1991 once Canadian high schoolers were eligible to be chosen. Prior to 1991, Canadian high schoolers were free agents.

Builder, Gwen Turner, Flesherton

The first full-time employee of Baseball Ontario (1976 to 1994), Turner worked as OBA office manager when “going to work” meant going to “Ron and Cathy Pegg’s basement,” in Flesherton. Every evening, Ron would organize Gwen’s day and she worked on her own while Pegg taught high school. Turner was responsible for every decision the OBA did -- from player cards to informing membership of rule changes. This one-woman show did it all without computers or fax machines until 1989. As well, Turner edited and prepared the constitutions each year, prepared and ran off all materials for the annual general meetings, which she attended as the secretary.

In her spare time, Turner edited, printed and mailed out the popular “Baseball Bits.” Turner prepared the paperwork for the first Best Ever Clinic and those that followed, in addition to coordinating information for all the umpire and coaching clinics. Turner was responsible for approving player rosters and returning them to various registrars. Those were a few of the everyday responsibilities Turner performed as a most valuable member of the OBA administrative team.

* * *

Awards

14U and Above

Player of the Year:

Rep _ Darian Barnes, Hamilton Cardinals

(Batted .462, two homers, 23 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, 1.921 OPS)

Select _ Luca Prevedel, Vaughan Vikings

(Had a .538 average, one homer, 32 RBIs, .675 on-base)

Pitcher of the Year:

Rep _ Joseph Baka, Oakville A’s

(10-1, 3.68 ERA)

Select 13U and below

Player of the Year

Rep _ Clive O’Brien, North York

(Six homers, 47 RBIs, 27 stolen bases)

Select _ Carson Delaney, West Mountain

(Three homers, 38 RBIs and 15 steals in 24 games)

Pitcher of the year

Rep _ Nicholas Zeleny, London Badgers

(5-0, 2.11, three no hitters)

Select _ Evan Wells, Creemore

(7-0, 1.10, 51 innings)

Teams of the Year

Rep _ 11U Oakvilla A’s

Select _ 11U Toronto Playgrounds Select Blue

President’s Award

David Quattrociocchi, head coach, Toronto

Scott Robinson, coach, Whitby

Perry Scott, coach, Hamilton

Geoff Whent, coach, Whitby

Frank Fascia, GM, Brampton

(The group guided the Ontario Youth Team to gold at the Summer Games)

Coaches of the Year

14U and above

Ron Burke, Mississauga Majors

13 and below

Rep _ Marco Bianchi, Toronto Playgrounds

Select _ Scott Weldon, Creemore

Barrie Salt Director of the Year award

Rebecca Sauder, Barrie.

Volunteers of the Year

Jack Middlemass award

Neil Alderton, Niagara

Peter Budziak, York-Simcoe

Jesse Harrison, Toronto

Bryan Howcroft, Oshaw

Don McKnight Affiliate

Carrie Jo Long, Southern Counties

Cathy Lapar, Intercounty

Andrew Warwick, Western Ontario

Association of the Year

Central Ontario (COBA)

Don Gilbert Umpire of the Year

Level IV-V _ James Liles, Mississauga

Dick Willis Umpire of the Year

Level III _ Mike Grove, Mississauga

Levl 1-II _ Quinn Szilock

Provincial award

Lisa Turbitt

(Supervised 18U-22 and senior nationals, as well as the WBC qualifier in Panama)

Special recognition award

Trevor Grieve

(Worked five nationals, two World Baseball Clasics, the Olympics and a leader in developming umpires

45 Years of Service

Howie Birnie, Leaside

35 years

Linda Lewis, Sombra, Ont.

30 years

Dayle Legros

Randy Pickle

25 years

Chris Norton

Ted Williams

15 years

Stephen Gomes

Kelsey McIntosh

10 years

Derek Brown

George Brown

Edward (Ted) Chapman

Rafique Choudhury

Corey Dalton

Terry Doyle

Eldon Dunseith

Michael Gouthro

Jamie Graham

Annette Hoggarth

Peter Kritz

James Liles

Pat Mastrogiacomo

Patrick McConnell

Alen Mijic

Dean Oberle

David Quattrociocchi

Scott Robinson

Peter Seto

Tony Simone

Howard Brain

Five years

David Fuller

Barb Henry

Chris Kowalewski

Bryan Leeman

Don Norman

Chris Savaglio

Former OBA players of the year:

Year Junior and Senior Players of the Year

1994 Chris Green, Mike Kusiewicz

1995 Paul Brown, Shawn Pearson

1996 Dan Hansen, Doug Vandecaveye

1997 Scott Thorman, Jason Mandryk

1998 Bradley Gould, Patrick Nailer

1999 Chris Emanuele, Tanner Watson

2000 Derek Lowe, BJ Richardson

2001 Dan Zehr, Chris Robinson

2002 Kate Psota, Jamie Romak

2003 Ian Choy, Cherie Piper

2004 Trevor Barton, Davey Wallace

2005 Cain Monaghan, Kevin Long

2006 Tanner Nivins, Greg Densem

2007 McCalla Sturgeon, Robert Cooper

2008 Geoffrey Seto, Larry Balkwill

2009 Nicholas Dimpfel, Ryan Zimmer

2010 Josh Naylor, Jake Lumley

2011 Connor May, Byron Reichstein

2012 Jason Stott, Matt Smith

2013 Noah Naylor, Justin Gideon

2014 Noah Roberts, Zachary Fascia

2015 Colin Mandarich, Jake Brennan

2016 Joe Kuin, Tyrell Schofield-Sam

2017 Carson Lumley, Josh Arce

2018 Brett Talbot, Carter Arbuthnot

2019 Jorja Sandilands, Scott Austin

2020 COVID

2021 Markus Woodley, Ryan McGivney

2022 Clive O’Brien, Darian Barnes