Kevin Brooked, right, congratulates Mike Krykewich as he is inducted to the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame. Photo: Murry Zuk Studios.

By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
MORDEN, Man. _ The 10 inductees to the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame stood on equal footing as the 20th annual induction banquet stood on equal footing at the Morden Event Access Centre.

All were Hall of Famers from Myles Bond who showed up at the nationals each August to Ross Tycoles, the long-time player and coach who enjoyed so much success at both levels that they named a ball field after him in Reston, Man.

And the teams inducted the 2000-2005 Elmwood Giants, the 2006-2011 Wawanesa Brewers and the 1984-89 Waskada Orioles also stood on the stage as one -- the Orioles winning the best-dressed award -- three teams honored.

Yet, the man who stood taller than the others was inductee Mike Krykewich. He was introduced as a “slick-fielding second baseman.”

“Slick-fielding second baseman? The only thing that was slick was the way the ball came out of my glove.”

Krykewich is credited for helping establish the University of Winnipeg Wesmen program and then getting the program accepted into NAIA status.

He spoke from emotion, he spoke with humor and he spoke from the heart.

His speech was the highlight on a night full of highlights, except for the guest speaker of course.

The event was chaired by former Team Canada forward Morris Mott, who later went on to play with the Queen’s University Golden Gaels and the California Golden Seals in the NHL.

The all-time Manitoba team was also honored at the banquet.

2016 Inductees to Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
(Bios provided by Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

Gladwyn Scott makes the HOF presentation to Myles Bond

Myles Bond (Born: 1964) Calgary Alta.

Myles Bond was an outstanding pitcher on provincial championship teams at every level from Bantam to Senior over his 16-year career from 1978-93. He starred for nine provincial winners and made 10 trips to Western or National tournaments while also winning a silver medal at the 1985 Canada Summer Games. Myles finished his Junior career with a 28-6 won loss record which included helping the St. Boniface Legionnaires win the 1982 National Junior title. After graduating to Senior League play Myles was an all-star pitcher for the Grosse Isle Blue Jays and the St. Boniface Native Sons. He pitched a no-hitter at Westerns for Grosse Isle in 1988 in Kamloops and was Red Boine League Pitcher of the Year and playoff MVP in 1992. He went 21-0 over his final two seasons (92-93)in the Red Boine and Winnipeg Intermediate Leagues. Myles is also a three time Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame team member inductee with the 1982 St. Boniface Junior Legionnaires, the 1989-93 St. Boniface Native sons, and the 1988-93 Grosse Isle Blue Jays.

Jamie Hodgson (1971) Brandon Man.
Jamie Hodgson had an outstanding career in the Manitoba Senior Baseball League playing over 20 years with the Brandon Cloverleafs between 1988-2010. He recorded a MSBL lifetime .375 batting average while winning three batting titles and two home run crowns. He also picked up 27 pitching wins on the mound and struck out 359 batters in 405 innings. Jamie was a 14 time MSBL all-star, played on seven MSBL champions and performed in eight National Senior tournaments. His all around talent got him selected in 2001 as a utility player for the MSBL’s 40th anniversary 1st all-time all-star team. After pitching U. S. College ball for two years Jamie was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 1992 and pitched in their minor league organization that summer. Jamie also played on the Manitoba Youth Team and Summer Games Team in 1989, had a tryout with Team Canada that same year, and played professionally with the Brandon Grey Owls in 1995.

Glen Johnson accepts his Manitoba Hall of Fame award from Ron Shewchuk.

Glen Johnson (1961) Etobicoke Ont.
Glen Johnson has had a Hall of Fame caliber career in three separate areas as a contributor to baseball in Manitoba and Canada. His on field umpiring accomplishments; his career in umpiring administration; and his involvement as a Baseball Manitoba administration volunteer all make him a very highly qualified Hall inductee. On the field he has umpired at all levels of national and international tournaments with the career highlight probably being umpiring the Bronze Medal Game at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta where at age 35 he was the youngest umpire to work in the Olympics. Glen also umpired professionally for four years in the Northern League and was the plate umpire for the Blue Jays vs. Team Canada 1992 exhibition game in Winnipeg. Off the field he developed, instructed, and supervised numerous umpire clinics and programs throughout the country leading him to being named the inaugural recipient of Baseball Canada’s Umpire of the Year in 1993 and also to being named Baseball Canada’s Umpire in Chief in 1995. Glen also served as Baseball Manitoba President from 1993-96 and served on their Board of Directors for seven years in several positions including Chairman of the first ever Toronto Blue Jays Festival in Manitoba in 1992.

Mike Krykewich (1965) Winnipeg Man.
Although once known as a slick fielding second baseman Mike Krykewich has made his name as one of Manitoba’s most respected coaches over the last 25 years. He has coached provincially at virtually every level from Rally Cap all the way to Manitoba’s Selects Team for the Canada Cup. Nationally he was a guest coach with the Women’s National Team in 2009 and was awarded Baseball Canada’s 2011 Coach of the Year award. Internationally he has taken his coaching skills to Cuba, Japan, and England to help promote baseball. His relationship with Baseball Manitoba extends beyond just coaching a he has held the Vice-President’s title in both Coaching and Marketing and served on the Management Committee. Mike’s most recent and his greatest achievement has been to begin a baseball program at the University of Winnipeg on a volunteer basis with minimum funding and develop it into official status within the NAIA program competing against U.S. college teams.

Manitoba`s Mr. Baseball Gladwyn Scott presents to Rod Leduchowski

Rod Leduchowski (1967) Teulon Man.
Rod Leduchowski excelled very early in his career on the baseball diamond as a hitter, fielder, and pitcher. While still of midget age and performing on the Manitoba Midget champions from Warren he also was recruited to play at the Junior and Senior levels. Rod’s talent earned him tryouts with Team Canada’s Youth Team in 1984-85. Rod played on the Western Canada Champion Elmwood Giants Juniors in 1987 and finished off a four year College baseball career in North Dakota in 1989. Rod then enjoyed a distinguished career in Senior ball for over 20 years with the Teulon Cardinals that included many trips to Western and Canadian championships. In 1996 he took over as playing coach of the Cardinals and in 1999 was named Manitoba’s Senior AA Player of the Year. Rod has also successfully coached a number of Minor ball teams in the Interlake region and on a provincial level coached the Under 16 Manitoba Girls team at the 2013 and 2014 Nationals. Rod has been in charge of Teulon Minor Ball since 2001 and recently served for over a decade on the Interlake Minor Ball Executive.

Hank Lemoine presents to Larry Nicholls.

Larry Nicholls (1944) Killarney Man.
Larry Nicholls achieved baseball success at a very young age as his Little League team from Portage la Prairie won the Manitoba Championship in 1955. In his college years he began coaching the school team as well as playing first base. As a young school teacher in 1968 he started playing for Holland where he also helped coach the hometown A’s team and sometimes umpired. He was instrumental in organizing the Santa Clara League and having it affiliated with the MBA. Moving to Killarney in 1976 Larry soon retired from playing and took up umpiring in Senior ball and eventually became Umpire-in-Chief of the MSBL. Larry also began coaching minor ball and became President of Killarney Minor Ball in 1983. He was awarded the Volunteer of the Year Award from the MBA in 1986. He ended his coaching career in 1987 to become a full-time umpire as he continued his development behind the plate to become an international ranked umpire.

Gerald Palidwor (1957) Dugald Man.
Gerry “Boomer” Palidwor has been playing, coaching, and organizing baseball at high competitive levels for over 40 years. As a young slugger he always batted cleanup for the Springfield Juniors. In 1979 his Springfield team joined the Red Boine Senior League and later the Interlake and Winnipeg senior Leagues. Where ever he played “Boomer” was involved in not only playing but also coaching and league administration. He reorganized and helped develop the Winnipeg Jr. B League where teams he coached have won numerous titles. He organizes minor ball in Oakbank which includes fixing backstops, cutting grass, and many other tasks. He also has served several terms as President of the Winnipeg Senior League. For the past several years he has also promoted and developed baseball for the 40 year plus age group. As a computer professional he has developed league web sites for league stats that are in use today.

Terry Murray, right, makes presentation to Karen Toderian (Dauphin, Man.) the daughter of the late Mel Stoughton.

Mel Stoughton (1922-85)
Mel Stoughton devoted his entire adult life to working with youth through sports and especially baseball. He spent over 20 years organizing teams and tournaments, preparing ball diamonds, and coaching minor baseball in Gilbert Plains. Mel’s hard work and ability to coach youth cumulated in Gilbert Plains Bantam teams winning five Manitoba Championships and three Western Canada Championships at two different levels in the four years from 1965-68. But there was more to Mel Stoughton than just winning. It was his passion that every kid should be given the chance to play baseball and the finances usually came out of his own pocket. Mel also found the time to serve as a Director of the Manitoba Baseball Association in the 1960’s and spent nine years as the scorekeeper and statistician for the Grandview Lakers senior ball team in the MSBL during the 70’s.

Jeff Trager (1969) Winnipeg Man.
Jeff Trager was a local star on Winnipeg diamonds for 25 years in Junior and senior competition from 1987-2011. His four year Junior career with Elmwood included provincial championships in 1987 and 1990. In 1991 Jeff and some friends formed the Kildonan Mudcats and joined the Winnipeg Senior Baseball League. In their first year the team won the League title and Jeff was named MVP. He continued to be a dominant player by winning three more MVP awards in the next four years. During his career Jeff would also win awards as the League’s outstanding pitcher; all-star shortstop; all-star utility player; and all-star third baseman. He was often in demand to be picked up by other teams for Senior Provincials and Senior Western Canadians as he was on five provincial winners and played in two Western tournaments.

Ross Tycoles accepts his award from Bill Kirkup.

Ross Tycoles (1954) Reston Man.
Each of Ross Tycoles three separate careers as player, coach, and builder in Southwest Manitoba fully qualify him for induction into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1973 He was a .400 hitter in Junior ball on a provincial champion team and became a perennial SWBL all-star in the 1980’s as a slugging first baseman and pitcher. Playing in the 1980 Provincial championships for Deloraine he hit five home runs including three grand slams to lead the hometown Royals to the title. He also went 3 for 4 in a game against the Canadian National Junior team playing for the SWBL all-stars in 1988. Ross’s coaching career is even more impressive as his teams have made 17 provincial playoff appearances since 1991. He was named the MBA High Performance Coach of the year (2003) and was a three time MSBL Coach of the year while leading the Reston Rockets to 2011 and 2013 championships. However, most impressive is Ross’s involvement in promoting baseball in Reston and throughout the southwest part of the province. He was instrumental in reviving baseball in Reston and building a baseball complex now named after him. He also served as SWBL president for 10 years and president of Reston Minor Baseball for 12 years. Provincially he was a MBA director and VP of High performance for three years and inducted into the MBA Honour Society in 2012.

Teams Inducted

Major Team-Elmwood Giants (2000-2005)
The Elmwood Giants excelled in the Winnipeg Senior Baseball League, Manitoba playoffs, and Western Canada Senior championships from 2000-2005. The Giants were Winnipeg Senior League champions in 2000 and 2005, and Manitoba Senior AA champions in 2000, 2001, 2003. The Giants represented Manitoba in Western Canada tournaments in Saskatoon 2001 winning a Silver medal, and captured Gold medals in 2002 at Winkler and 2004 at home.

Small Community-Wawanesa Brewers (2006-2011)
After winning three straight Pembina Valley Baseball AA League championships from 2003-05 the Wawanesa Brewers switched to the Southwest Senior AA Baseball League for the 2006 season. They continued their dominance in their new surroundings by winning pennants in four of six seasons, from 2006-11 and finishing second the other two years. They went on to win the Manitoba Senior AA provincial crown two years, 2007 and 2011, while also twice being Senior AA finalists and semi-finalists once. The Brewers were managed and coached by two Manitoba Baseball Hall of Famers, Ron Seafoot and Wayne Gullett. The team also featured two Manitoba Senior AA Players of the Year, Curtis Seafoot (2007) and Mark McGregor (2011).

Small Community-Waskada Orioles (1984-1989)
The Waskada Orioles dominated the Southwest Baseball League in the six years from 1984-89. They captured the league championships five of those years and were finalists in the sixth. In Manitoba playoffs the Orioles were almost as good as they won three Provincial “B” Championships and were finalists twice. Over the six years the team was comprised of 27 local players as well as five extra players from the SWBL that were added for provincial playoffs.

Krykewich highlight of Manitoba HOF inductions