tryout day

"There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, you can lose, or it can rain."       Casey Stengel

I find Casey Stengel's quote funny. Funny because it's not that it can rain on the day of tryouts, it's that it will rain. Anyone who has ever been around little league baseball knows this. You might be soaking up the early spring sun in the days leading up to it, but come that fateful day soaking is all you will be doing. And this year was no different. Sun. Then rain. Lots of it.

I can remember many such tryouts as a kid. There I sat shivering in the cold, barely able to feel the ball, and begging for this hour to be over.  And now that I'm a little older I can assure this mindset does not change - for parents, kids, or coaches. The difference being I now have a coffee in hand to provide me brief moments of comfort.

Such is spring in Canada. Short, cold days of baseball tryouts and long nerve racking nights of watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

                                                                                     

my summer vacation

All of us can remember this essay at some point in our scholastic careers - How I Spent My Summer Vacation. And by now you've got a good handle on how I spent my summer vacation.

With kids begrudgingly back into the routine of school the thought occurred to me the other day why don't they ever ask you how you spent any other season? My default argument is that it's because baseball doesn't really happen during any other season. I will also argue that the Canadian summer is a unique experience. We see it coming with the first spring thaw and begin the countdown at March Break. Others hedge their hopes of a shortened winter on a chubby weather prognosticating rodent, Wiarton Willie.  Summer for us doesn't begin in June. It begins with the first 3 consecutive days above 10C. Regardless of when it happens. And if that happens to be in April? Giggity. It just became patio season. Spring does not exist in Canada. It is a fictional season brought to you by The GAP. Buy our clothes! Wear them for two weeks! Now pack them into the far reaches of your closet!

For two, maybe three months, or however long Mother Nature sees fit, we are afforded some time to ditch the toques and watch... ummm... baseball?? Then just as quickly as it comes, it goes. We then retreat to our igloos to sip double-doubles and watch Ron and Don wax political about the European invasion. On that note I give you this, one more time, because it is still oh so good...

 


Anyway, where was I? Oh yes - My summer solstice. Think for a second. Save for Christmas no one ever asked you how any other season went. Did you ever have to pen an essay entitled How I Spent My Fall Thinking Maybe This Would Be The Maple Leafs Year? Or its sister piece from the spring Well There's Always Next Year. Summer is different. And unfortunately, it is also now over.

O Canada

Make no mistake, we will always be known as a country that produces athletes that wield hockey sticks and not baseball bats. The (old) HNIC theme is our second national anthem, not Take Me Out To the Ballgame. That said, there is a baseball tradition in Canada that is almost as old as the game itself.

For the average Canadian, baseball extends back as far as the Toronto Blue Jays existence and for an older generation, the Montreal Expos. I can remember where I was when Joe Carter hit his homerun in the '93 World Series or George Bell caught that flyball in '85. There are however, many other significant moments in baseball history that either happened on Canadian soil or were a product of Canadians playing the game.

Some of the ones you may be aware of:

* 1914 - Babe Ruth hit his first professional homerun at Hanlan's point on Toronto Island

*1946 - Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier playing for the Montreal Royals (AAA affiliate of his future team, the Brooklyn Dodgers).

This pic is one of hate mail he received while playing in Cincinatti for Brooklyn. These letters can be found in the Cincinatti Reds Museum.

 

 * 1991 - Fergusun Jenkins becomes the first Canadian elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

He will be at the Canadian Little League Championships on August 7th to throw out the first pitch.






Some you might not be aware of:
* the Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox) were originally the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1895-1967
* the Vancouver Asahis, formed in 1914, were a professional baseball team comprised of Japanese Canadians that played in the Terminal City League. They toured Japan in 1921 in much the same way current MLB All-Stars do.
* prior to Toronto being awarded a Major League Baseball team in 1977, the San Francisco Giants were rumoured to be moving to Toronto if not for Bob Lurie, who purchased the team to keep it in SF.
* one of the earliest baseball games on record dates back to June 4, 1838 played in Beechville, Ontario

I realize this is a VERY simple list. If you have any other interesting facts, please share.