2002 Scout of the Year Ken Lenihan

* Ken Lenihan (Beford, N.S.) was voted Canadians Baseball Network scout of the year in 2002. ....  

By Bob Elliott

In July of 2000, Steve Nelson’s world came crashing down.

The right-hander was the final cut from the Canadian national junior team at training camp in Guelph.

Did Nelson hang his head? Did he quit?

No, he returned to Cole Harbour, N.S., and began working with pitching coaches Ken Lenihan and Bob Gillis, the former Toronto Maple Leafs pitcher. The hard work paid off and, in June of 2001, Nelson was the first Canadian high schooler selected in the annual free agent draft.

Nelson went in the fifth round to the Los Angeles Dodgers and, after accepting a signing bonus of $165,000 US, was 1-2 with a 2.17 earned run average in 10 games for the Dodgers’ rookie-class affiliate.

On Tuesday, the Seattle Mariners selected right-hander Terry Forbes, also of Cole Harbour, in the ninth round.

Forbes is also a Lenihan protegee.

Lenihan, of Beford, N.S., doubles as the Maritime-area scout for the Major League Baseball Bureau. So, for not only his ability to recognize talent, but also to work with young pitchers, Lenihan, is the winner of the Canadian Baseball Network’s ninth annual scout-of-the-year honour.

Former winners are Bill Scherrer of Buffalo, (Marlins); Bill McKenzie of Ottawa (Rockies); Tim Harkness of Oshawa (Padres); Cambridge’s Ed Heather (Jays); Wayne Norton of Port Moody, BC (Orioles), Walt Jefferies of Paris, Ont. (Blue Jays); Claude Pelletier (Mets) of Ste-Lezare, Que., the late Jim Kane (Braves) of Brampton.