February 20, 2020

By J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

Steve Wilson didn’t have time to be nervous.

Night had fallen on September 7, 1991. A few hours earlier, the left-handed reliever had cleared waivers, said a quick goodbye to his teammates in Chicago, and boarded a plane for Pittsburgh. He made it to Three Rivers Stadium halfway through a close game between the Pirates and his new team, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I got to the stadium in the third or fourth inning,” Wilson said. “We were up 2-1. I put on my uniform and came in in the seventh inning with the bases loaded to face Bonds.”

With the reigning National League MVP digging in, Wilson tugged at his new jersey and stared in for the sign.

“That’s not how you want to start off the at-bat, going 3-0 against Barry Bonds, but it did happen that way,” he said.

Three straight balls, a deep breath, and then three straight strikes that instantly endeared Wilson to his new teammates.

“I came back in the dugout and got big hugs from (Dodgers manager) Tommy Lasorda and everybody,” Wilson said. “Then Jim Gott came in, got a double play, and we won the game 2-1.”

Besides Bonds (4-for-19, .211) Wilson regularly went 1-on-1 with the best left-handed hitters of his day Lenny Dykstra (8-for-23, .348), Andy Van Slyke (8-for-19, .421), Tommy Herr (2-for-13, .154), Darryl Strawberry (2-for-11, .182), Paul O’Neill (3-for-10, .300), Dave Martinez (1-for-10, 1.00), Brett Butler (0-for-10, John Kruk (7-for-15, .467), Will Clark (6-for-15, .400), Tony Gwynn (4-for-14, .286),Dave Magadan (1-for-11, .091), .000), David Justice (4-for-7, .571) and Kal Daniels (2-for-7, .286).

It was an impressive display of tenacity under pressure, a trait Wilson cultivated on the ice rinks of British Columbia.

“I think most baseball players who grow up in Canada play some hockey, so there’s always a little hockey mentality in baseball players from Canada,” he said. “I think it serves you well. It gives you some toughness and grit you need to have some success in baseball.”

The Victoria native once described himself to an LA Times reporter as “a baseball player by accident,” and indeed, as a teenager the defence man dreamed of one day playing in the NHL. But his talent led him to baseball, helped by a scholarship from the University of Portland after coach Joe Etzel scouted him during a weekend game in Seattle.

The six-foot-four southpaw had the chance to go pro in 1982 after he finished high school in Vancouver and the Philadelphia Phillies offered him a free agent contract.

“We thought about it, but the signing bonuses were so low back then that we thought getting the education was worth it,” Wilson said. “I was offered I think $15,000 to sign, which was decent back then, but not life-changing that it would make you want to turn away from a chance to get your education.”

He studied teaching at Portland and excelled on the diamond with the Pilots, earning a First Team PAC 10 North selection and accolades as the school’s athlete of the year.

On June 3, 1985, the Texas Rangers took Wilson as the third pick of the fourth round (83rd overall), inking him to a $30,000 contract.

“I was pleased. I’d had a pretty good career at the University of Portland, so I thought I was going to get drafted,” said Wilson, who’d been away camping with some teammates during the draft and was told the good news when he got home.

A scant three years later, Wilson made the jump from double-A Tulsa to the majors as a September call-up with Texas.

He remembers being summoned to warm up a few times without getting into the game – a nerve-wracking process for the 23-year-old. But when the call finally came to take the mound at Anaheim Stadium on September 16, he managed to keep calm.

Good thing, too, because his major league debut came in the top of the first against the Angels with runners on the corners, four runs already across, and the game threatening to spiral out of control.

Fellow rookie Paul Kilgus hit the showers after retiring just two of his eight batters. The Rangers needed Wilson to stop the bleeding.

Facing Jack Howell, he coaxed a pop up to shallow centre, stranding the runners and making his first good impression as a big leaguer. Wilson pitched 5 1/3 solid innings as the long man that day, allowing four hits (including a two-run homer to Chili Davis) and twice ending innings via a double play.

A SPOT START TO REMEMBER

That December Wilson was playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic when he and Kilgus, along with Curtis Wilkerson and future closer Mitch Williams, were traded to the Cubs for Rafael Palmeiro, Jamie Moyer and Drew Hall.

The Canadian hurler became known for an aggressive approach on the mound that reflected his upbringing on the ice.

“I had pretty good command, ability to move my fastball in and out, up and down,” he said. “Velocity-wise I threw 90-91, which was a little above average for a left-hander back then. It’s nothing now.”

Mixing in a change-up and a hard curveball, Wilson found success out of the bullpen.

“I had to adjust from being a starter all the way in the minor leagues to moving to the bullpen in the big leagues. So you change the way you pitch a little,” he said.

“If you’re coming in to face a lefty, you don’t use your third or fourth pitch. Lot of times it was fastball-curve ball. If you had the chance to come in for long relief or a spot start you could use more of your pitches.”

One of those spot starts was a September showdown against the Cardinals with the division on the line.

“It was a tight race in the NL East. The Expos, the Cardinals, the Mets and us – a four-team race. It was maybe two and a half, three weeks left in the season,” Wilson said.

“Wrigley Field, day game. I struck out 10 in five innings. I think we struck out 18 on the day. I got a no-decision but we won the game 4-1. We went from there and had a nice little push and ended up winning the division. It was a big start. A good day.”

Wilson made two appearances in the 1989 NLCS, his lone taste of postseason play.

“The playoffs were awesome,” he said. “Unfortunately we lost to the Giants, but the atmosphere was electric. It was a lot of fun.”

Unbeknowst to Wilson, his one career complete game – a spot start on July 15, 1990 – ended up being an audition for his next club. He had all his pitches working that day, blanking the Dodgers for the shutout and matching his career high with 10 strikeouts.

“That game was a big reason I was traded to the Dodgers, actually,” Wilson said, explaining that LA general manager Fred Claire recalled the lefty’s dominant turn against the Dodgers when he went looking to bolster his bullpen for the 1991 stretch run.

The Cubs had two established left-handed relievers in Chuck McElroy and Paul Assenmacher, so they parted with Wilson. He was a rock out of the Dodgers bullpen the rest of the way, allowing no runs and just a single hit over 8 1/3 innings, including two saves.

Atlanta won the division on the last day of the season, and Wilson remembers “huge crowds, playoff buzz all the way down the stretch. It was a fun finish to the year.”

He appeared in a career-high 60 games in 1992, recording the lowest ERA of his career (4.19) and punching out 54 in 66 2/3 innings.

“The longer you are in the league and you face hitters more, you kinda know how you want to attack guys and what you strengths are,” Wilson said.

“I was lucky. I had good catchers to throw to. I loved throwing to Joe Girardi. We were good friends, roommates in our rookie year in Chicago. And then when I got to the Dodgers I loved throwing to Mike Scioscia. Gary Carter made you feel like you could get anybody out. He was so positive.”

The following year, Wilson pitched in 25 games with LA. He toiled for two more seasons in the minors before winding down his playing days by pitching in the Taiwan Major League in 1997 and 1998.

He wasn’t a strikeout guy – notching 252 Ks against 130 walks – but he did strike out Bonds more than any other hitter, fanning him five times and holding him to a .211 average in 19 career at-bats.

Wilson also fared well against fellow Canadian Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.), allowing a lone single and striking out the future Hall of Famer four times in six at-bats.

PLAYING WITH PRIDE

Looking back on his career, which numbered 205 total games (23 starts), Wilson appreciates that he suited up for two iconic franchises during his six years in the majors.

“You’re aware of it. You’re aware of playing at Wrigley Field. I was very lucky, I got to play for the Cubs and the Dodgers – two great franchises with a lot of tradition, a lot of history,” he said.

However, his best baseball memories took place when he was a young man playing for his country.

“Playing in the Olympics and on the Canadian Olympic team in ‘83 and ‘84 is one of my top memories in baseball, for sure. Right up there with getting called up to the major leagues and being in the playoffs in ‘89 with the Cubs,” he said.

As an 18-year-old in 1983, Wilson pitched for Canada at the Intercontinental Cup in Brussels, Belgium, and the Pan Am Games in Caracas. Outfielder Kevin Reimer (Enderby, B.C.) also played on those teams and later suited up for the Rangers with Wilson after the two were drafted together by the Rangers and made their major league debuts in the same month.

Wilson was on the Canadian team that took part in the inaugural Olympic baseball tournament at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. After winning the five-team 13th Honkbal Week tournament in Haarlem, Holland, the Canadians went 1-2 in the Olympic preliminaries, playing in the charged atmosphere of Dodger Stadium.

Team Canada dropped a heart breaker 4-3 in the bottom of the 12th against Nicaragua and narrowly lost to the South Koreans before beating Japan 6-4 in their third and final contest of the Games. Japan would go on to win the gold medal.

“Oh, it was awesome. Both years, ‘83 and ‘84, were incredible summers to be involved in the Canadian Olympic team,” said Wilson, whose Olympic teammates included Reimer, catcher Rob Thomson (now the Phillies bench coach), future big league pitcher Mark Gardiner, minor league pitcher Mark Wooden, and infielders Joe Heeney and the late John Ivan.

“Great friendships that we’ve had for many years. We had a nice reunion a few years ago in Toronto, which was awesome,” Wilson said of the weekend gathering at Rogers Centre in 2016.

“(The Olympics) was a lot of fun. At that time it was totally amateur – no pro players. There were just a handful of guys playing Division I ball in the States. And then we had guys from the men’s beer leagues.”

Now an international cross-checker with the Yankees, Wilson reminisced with Thomson whenever they crossed paths while Thomson was a coach with New York.

“(Baseball Canada director of national teams) Greg Hamilton and I run into each other almost every year at an international event. I’ve tried to help him out in the past with scouting reports on the Asian kids,” Wilson chuckled.

“What I remember about Steve was what a great teammate he was and that he had a very high baseball intellect,” said Heeney.

“Steve was a sponge for baseball and he really learned a lot from Rod Heisler (Moose Jaw, Sask.), our veteran left-hander who took Steve under his wing and taught him the value of always studying the hitters and how hard work would pay off for him – which it did since he made the majors.

“While hitting against Steve in intrasquad games I noticed he made adjustments against me all the time – and I loved to hit lefties, so I really noticed he had high pitching IQ. Always being solid and consistent made Steve a teammate for life and led to a great friendship.”

Playing for Canada meant the world to Wilson and his teammates.

“Big-time pride. Huge,” Wilson said.

“We had a little Canadian flag on our uniform, and when we played in the Olympics, we had a Blue Jays logo on our uniform as well. (Toronto general manager) Pat Gillick was a supporter of the program and the Blue Jays actually helped fund us. Baseball Canada didn’t have enough money for us to get there, so if it wasn’t for the Blue Jays we wouldn’t have been able to play in LA.”

Looking back at those international experiences and the professional career that followed, Wilson appreciates his role as a trailblazer.

“I’m very proud of what I was able to do as a player growing up in Canada. I think when I first got to the big leagues there were three Canadians there, and now in a given year there’s up to 30 Canadians playing in the major leagues, with hundreds in the minor leagues,” he said.

“The game in Canada has improved. There weren’t the same opportunities to go to the States and play college ball when I was growing up. I think the kids in Canada have way more opportunities. The youth level, grassroots level baseball in Canada has improved significantly from when I played.

“The ‘84 Olympic team was a great group of guys, and I’m proud to have been a part of that group of players that kind of laid the groundwork for a lot of the reasons while baseball in Canada was able to improve the way it has.”