Rheal Cormier remembered by brother on first anniversary of his death

Don Cormier (left) with his brother Rheal, at SkyDome on Canada Day 2006. Photo supplied.

March 7, 2022

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Don Cormier would catch, pretending he was Gary Carter, and his brother Rheal would pitch, pretending he was Steve Rogers.

Then they would reverse roles. Don would pitch and Rheal would squat behind the plate.

All their lives, the brothers from Cap-Pele, New Brunswick shared a love for baseball in a highly competitive rivalry to see who was the best.

"We lived baseball,'' Don was saying two days before the first anniversary of Rheal's death on March 8, 2021 from cancer. "We were good at it. We always took it to a big level. We took ownership of baseball. We didn't know we were good at it.

"It's like kids growing up and wanting to play in the NHL. We were thinking of the Expos. We watched a lot of the Expos games. The Expos started in 1969 so they were the team to watch along with the Red Sox. The Blue Jays didn't start until 1977.''

There were many people in and around Moncton and Cap-Pele who said Don, a shortstop, was a better player than Rheal but Don never made it to the big leagues like Rheal did for 16 seasons as a pitcher.

"I think it's true,'' Don said of the consensus he was better. "It's a tough question. My brother needed me to get him where he needed to get. I was the one who drove him to that point. We competed against each other all our lives.

"People would ask how we did it. We'd tell them we did it 360 days a year. We'd play catch every day outside. We had good genes. My father (Ron) was a bodybuilder. My mother (Jeanette) was a hockey goalie.''

The Cormier brothers were so elite they attended the Community College of Rhode Island and played on the team that went to the National Junior College Athletic Association Baseball World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1988. The team didn’t make it to the final but it was a memory of a lifetime. To top off that wonderful year, Rheal pitched for Team Canada at the Seoul Olympics.

As he got a little emotional talking about the loss of his younger brother, Don took solace in the fact Rheal lived his dream in the majors, playing for the Cardinals, Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Reds. The two-time Olympian was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012.

"It takes a different person to do what he did. It takes talent, a God-given gift and a brother,'' Don said. "He was one of the greatest athletes of our time.

"I remember Canada Day in Toronto in 2006 when he was with the Phillies. He invited me. I was a major-leaguer for one day. It was a Saturday. I took infield and batting practice. I wore the uniform. It was a special day.

"Before the game, Rheal did 27 laps inside the Rogers Centre. He'd jog for miles. Who does that? Crazy. The game was at 4, he got to the park at 10. I asked, ‘Where is everyone else?’ He said they were in the clubhouse.''

In late 2019, Rheal began to feel there was something wrong with him when he was out on the ski slopes. He had a dry cough so he went to see his doctor, who said he should have it checked out.

After the holiday season was over, he had a CT scan done Jan. 3, 2020 and it proved to be shocking. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. A tumour was found and he wasn't a smoker. It was a silent-developing cancer.

Fit as a whistle, always exercising, and nutrition-conscious and he gets Stage 4 right off the top?

"Rheal was blown away. He said, 'I was in top shape. I was skiing. I was getting checked (regular medicals). How do you go from not knowing to Stage 4? Is there not a Stage 1 with this and you can try and do something about it before it gets to Stage 4?' If it was just Stage 1, he could battle it,'' Don said.

Rheal passed away 14 months later, leaving Don, his mother, his wife Lucienne, his son Justin, daughter Morgan, sister Linda and two other brothers, Reg and Ola, and a host of friends and admirers in and out of baseball.

"The hardest part for me is that he's no longer going to be there,’’ Don said. “It's hard. I remember when he passed away. I saw him two days before he died. He wanted to go at his own pace. He was watching golf, he was in bed and he couldn't talk.

“It (his passing) changes the way you look at life and the whole picture. I deal with it in my own way.’’