This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2011) |
Baseball in Canada dates back to the 19th century, and is played at various levels of competition throughout the country. There is currently one major league team, the Toronto Blue Jays, founded in 1977; Canada's first major league team, the Montreal Expos, formed in 1969, relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2005.
| Baseball in Canada | |
|---|---|
.jpg) A game of baseball in progress during the 2017 Canada Games | |
| Country | Canada |
| Governing body | Baseball Canada |
| National team(s) | |
| First played | Beachville, Ontario, 1838 |
National competitions | |
Club competitions | |
Around seventy-five Canadian cities and towns have been home to minor league baseball teams.[1] There is currently one MLB-affiliated minor league team, the Vancouver Canadians of the Class A Northwest League, an affiliate of the Blue Jays.
There are also several independent league teams in Canada, playing in the Frontier League and the American Association.
Notable amateur leagues include the Intercounty Baseball League (Ontario), Ligue de Baseball Majeur du Québec (Quebec), and the collegiate Western Canadian Baseball League (Alberta and Saskatchewan.) There are additionally amateur-level baseball teams playing in each province in the summer months under the auspices of Baseball Canada. Several American-based collegiate leagues have teams in Canada.
History
19th century
Adapted from the British game of rounders — and by extension, cricket — the game of base ball or "townball" became popular in the early 19th century in Southwestern Ontario (then Canada West or Upper Canada), New York and New England.[2]
The first documented evidence of a base ball game in Canada comes from a letter published in Sporting Life magazine in 1886,[3] a letter by Dr. Adam E. Ford of Denver, Colorado, formerly of St. Marys, Ontario and Beachville, Ontario, about a game 48 years earlier in Beachville on June 4, 1838 — Militia Muster Day. Many Canadians, including the staff of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Marys, Ontario, claim that this was the first documented game of modern baseball, although there appears to be no evidence that the rules used in this game were codified and adopted in other regions.
Originally, the rules of the game were informal in nature and often modified to reflect regional preferences.
In Ontario, a variant of baseball known as "The Canadian Game" was most prevalent. It featured five bases, bats that resembled those used in cricket or rounders and eleven players per team. All eleven players went to bat each inning, which would not end until they were all retired.
The American variant of baseball had nine players a side instead of eleven, and four bases instead of five. Southwestern Ontario was the first region in Canada to adopt this version of the game, doing so in 1860.[1] The so-called "Canadian Game" soon fell out of favour.
The London Tecumsehs of London, Ontario were charter members of the International Association and won its first championship in 1877, beating the Pittsburgh Alleghenies.
Rather than competing nationally in an east-west fashion, local baseball clubs would instead compete with their American neighbours to the south. This meant that teams from the Maritimes played teams from New England, teams from Quebec played against teams from New York and teams from British Columbia competed with those from Washington.[1]
The first Canadian to appear in a Major League game was Bill Phillips, who played for Cleveland. In his first game on May 1, 1879, the Saint John, New Brunswick native went hitless, although managed to get three hits the next game. In his second season, in 1880, he became the first Canadian to hit a home run in the Majors.[1]
By the 1880s black Canadians were barred from playing in white professional leagues, but Emancipation Day black vs white matches provided an opportunity for black teams to shine, such as when the Northern Stars trounced a white team in Edmonton.[4]
Early 20th century
By 1913, there were 24 minor league baseball teams in Canada, a number which has been unequalled since.[1]
Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run on Canadian soil on September 5, 1914 at the former Hanlan's Point Stadium on Centre Island in Toronto. Ruth was playing for the Providence Grays against the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team of the International League.[5] In 1985, the City of Toronto erected a small plaque to denote the location, but it is difficult to locate, given the parklike setting and remote nature of the Toronto Islands.
In 1946, Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey assigned new-signing Jackie Robinson to the Montreal Royals of the International League, Brooklyn's Triple-A farm team. Robinson would famously go on to break Major League Baseball's colour barrier the following year in 1947, but during his season in Montreal Robinson led the Royals to the Governors' Cup, the IL championship, and became a beloved figure in the city. In Ken Burns' documentary film Baseball, the narrator quotes Sam Maltin, a stringer for the Pittsburgh Courier: "It was probably the only day in history that a black man ran from a white mob with love instead of lynching on its mind."
Following Robinson's breaching of the colour barrier, in the 1950s many other players from the declining Negro leagues travelled north to ply their trade in Canada, including Hall of Famers Leon Day, Satchel Paige and Willie Wells, who like many other African-American players competed in the Mandak League.[6][7]
In 1957, former Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Glen Gorbous, a native of Drumheller, Alberta set the current world record for longest throw of a baseball at 445 feet, 10 inches (135.89m) in Omaha, Nebraska.
Late 20th century and beyond
The first Canadian in the National Baseball Hall of Fame was Ferguson Jenkins, a right-handed pitcher who compiled a 284-226 record, 3.34 ERA and 3,192 strikeouts in 19 seasons from 1965 to 1983 with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, and Boston Red Sox. Jenkins is considered an anchor of the Black Aces, a group of African American pitchers with at least twenty wins in one season (although Jenkins is actually a Black Canadian, not African American). In 2020, Larry Walker became the second Canadian inducted into the Hall of Fame. Walker played right field for the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, and St. Louis Cardinals from 1989 to 2005, winning the National League MVP in 1997 with the Rockies.
The London Tecumsehs were refused admission to the National League in 1877 because they refused to stop playing exhibition games against local teams. While baseball is widely played in Canada, the American major leagues did not include a Canadian team until 1969, when the Montreal Expos joined the National League. The team enjoyed a widespread following until about 1994, when the Expos were in first place in the NL East; after the strike shortened year, a series of poor management decisions, disputes with the city, and neglect by the ownership caused the Expos to be routinely last in MLB attendance.
In 1977, the Toronto Blue Jays joined the American League. They later became the first Canadian-based team to win the World Series, winning back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993.[8]
In 1993, besides the two Canadian major league clubs, Canada hosted four Triple-A teams (the Calgary Cannons, Edmonton Trappers, Ottawa Lynx and Vancouver Canadians), one Double-A team (the London Tigers), two Class A Short Season teams (the St. Catharines Blue Jays and Welland Pirates) and two rookie-level teams (the Lethbridge Mounties and Medicine Hat Blue Jays).
In 2003 an attempt to create the Canadian Baseball League was launched, but the league folded halfway through its first season.
In 2004, the Expos, then owned by MLB itself, moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals, leaving the Toronto Blue Jays as the only remaining Canadian MLB team.
In the 2010s the sport is experiencing a surge of popularity.[9][10][11][12]
Governance
The governing body of baseball in Canada is Baseball Canada, which is based in Ottawa and was founded in 1964. Baseball Canada is a member of the Canadian Olympic Committee and the International Baseball Federation.
National team
The Canadian national baseball team represents Canada in international competitions. Since 1970, the team has participated in 17 Baseball World Cups. Canada earned the bronze medal in the 2009 Baseball World Cup, their highest finish in the history of the competition. In the 2004 Summer Olympics they placed fourth, losing the game for 3rd place to Japan and, in 2008, they finished fifth. In four appearances so far at the World Baseball Classic, the team has not finished higher than 9th place. The national team also won gold medals at the 2011 and 2015 Pan American Games.
Club competition
After the Montreal Expos were relocated to Washington, D.C., only one Canadian team plays in Major League Baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays. Among the Minor League Baseball system, a collection of minor leagues that hold a formal relationship with Major League Baseball, only one is based in Canada, the Vancouver Canadians. The Vancouver Canadians are presently affiliate of the Blue Jays, and play in the Northwest League at the High-A level.
Several other Canada-based teams play in low-tier American independent circuits, including the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, and the Frontier League.[13]
Notable players
Canada has produced some successful players in Major League Baseball. Ferguson Jenkins and Larry Walker are currently the only Canadians in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The following table lists other achievements earned by Canadian baseball players.
| Award | Player | Year |
|---|---|---|
| MLB Most Valuable Player Award | Larry Walker | 1997 |
| MLB Most Valuable Player Award | Justin Morneau | 2006 |
| MLB Most Valuable Player Award | Joey Votto | 2010 |
| MLB Most Valuable Player Award | Freddie Freeman | 2020 |
| Cy Young Award | Ferguson Jenkins | 1971 |
| Cy Young Award | Éric Gagné | 2003 |
| MLB Rookie of the Year Award | Jason Bay | 2004 |
| Silver Slugger Award | Justin Morneau | 2006, 2008 |
| Silver Slugger Award | Russell Martin | 2006 |
| Silver Slugger Award | Larry Walker | 1992, 1997, 1999 |
| Silver Slugger Award | Jason Bay | 2009 |
| Gold Glove | Russell Martin | 2007 |
| Gold Glove | Larry Walker | 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 |
| Rolaids Relief Man Award | John Axford | 2011 |
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "2010–2014 Strategic Planning Document" (PDF). Baseball Canada. 2010. pp. 2, 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ^ Samuel R. Hill. (2000). Baseball in Canada. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 8(1), 37–72.
- ^ "Baseball History: 19th Century Baseball: The Game". www.19cbaseball.com. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ Natasha L. Henry Talking About Freedom: Celebrating Emancipation Day in Canada 1459700503 2012 -"Blacks played against Whites, but there were no teams mixed with players of both races: "In the afternoon a baseball match in which the local colored nine, the Northern Stars, swamped a picked team of white players caused many a dusky son to show his ivory..."6 It provided a venue where Blacks could laugh at Whites and shout out comments without any fear of racial reprisal."
- ^ Samuel R. Hill. (2000). Baseball in Canada. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 8(1), 37–72.
- ^ Stahl, Michael (30 April 2017). "The secret history of black baseball players in Canada's great white north". Salon. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
- ^ Morgan, T Kent (8 April 2015). "The first time Satchel Paige pitched in Winnipeg". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
- ^ Samuel R. Hill. (2000). Baseball in Canada. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 8(1), 37–72.
- ^ Riper, Tom Van. "The Toronto Blue Jays Push to Reignite Baseball In Canada".
- ^ Brait, Ellen (7 September 2015). "Soaring Blue Jays have got Toronto – and Canada – back in love with baseball" – via The Guardian.
- ^ "Turning Canada blue: Hockey nation embraces baseball's bat-flipping Blue Jays".
- ^ "Canada: Baseball participation, popularity rising across the nation". WBSC.org. 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
- ^ https://www.14news.com/2019/10/16/frontier-baseball-league-merges-with-can-am-league/