Glew: Baseball lifer McKay heads into 55th season in pro baseball

Dave McKay (Vancouver, B.C.) will coach first base for the Arizona Diamondbacks again this season. It's his 55th season in pro baseball. Photo: Arizona Diamondbacks/Facebook

March 10, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Arizona Diamondbacks first base coach Dave McKay is the definition of a baseball lifer.

The 2025 season will represent his 55th consecutive campaign in pro baseball and his 41st as a big-league coach. That’s the longest streak among active major league coaches.

McKay’s longevity in the sport inspired longtime Canadian Baseball Network contributor George Farelli to create a document paying tribute to the veteran coach that he recently shared with me.

“It took a while for the idea to sink in, but I finally reached the point where it became very obvious it was time to produce some kind of relevant document, which would pay tribute to the remarkable career Dave McKay has enjoyed in professional baseball,” wrote Farelli.

McKay, who will turn 75 on Friday, made Canadian baseball history in 2023 when the Diamondbacks defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series. With that D-Backs’ win, McKay (Vancouver, B.C.) became the first Canadian on-the-field coach to be part of three different teams that have advanced to the World Series. He was the first base coach for the Oakland A’s when they competed in the Fall Classic for three straight years from 1988 to 1990. He had the same role with the Cardinals’ pennant-winning squads in 2004, 2006 and 2011. In total, McKay owns three World Series rings (Oakland, 1989, St. Louis 2006, 2011).

McKay was the Blue Jays’ starting third baseman in their first regular season game.

Prior to his coaching career, McKay played parts of eight big league seasons with the Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays and A’s. He was the starting third baseman for the Blue Jays in their first game, on April 7, 1977 at Exhibition Stadium. This made him the first Canadian ever to suit up for the Blue Jays.

Farelli was at that first Blue Jays game and McKay was the first Canadian big leaguer he ever saw play live.

As Farelli points out in his excellent tribute document, McKay’s pro career started in 1971 with the class-A Wisconsin Rapids after he was signed as an amateur free agent by the Twins.

Here are some of the other nuggets I learned about McKay from reading Farelli’s document:

-McKay played for the Canadian National Team in the World Amateur Championships in Cartagena, Columbia in 1970.

-As mentioned, McKay began his career in pro baseball as a player with the class-A Wisconsin Rapids in 1971. Since that time, Farelli estimates that McKay has participated in over 7,900 professional games as a player and coach. Here’s the breakdown:

-Farelli also compared the number of pro games McKay has participated in to other Canadian “baseball lifers.” See the following chart:

-Farelli also managed to uncover the only photo from McKay’s playing career that I’ve seen of the Canadian infielder without a moustache. This is McKay with the 1975 Tacoma Twins:

-Farelli notes that McKay had the opportunity to coach his son, Cody, on the Cardinals in 2004. Cody, who was a catcher, played 35 games with the Cardinals that season. That’s the only time in MLB history that an on-field Canadian coach had coached his Canadian-born son in the big leagues. The McKays also represented the first Canadian father-son combo to have played in the majors. They were later joined by Paul and Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.)

-McKay has coached in the major leagues for 41 consecutive seasons. That’s the longest active streak among coaches. Farelli notes that this streak was in jeopardy in 2021 when McKay broke a rib and lacerated his spleen in a fall in the D-Backs’ dugout during spring training. Fortunately, McKay recovered and returned to coach first base in the D-Backs’ final two regular season games that year.

-I knew, of course, that McKay was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, but I didn’t know that McKay was inducted into the Columbia Basin College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012. McKay was a right-handed pitcher/shortstop for the college in 1969 and 1970. He learned many of the basics of baseball there. Coming out of high school, McKay was more highly regarded for his skills as a soccer and basketball player.