Manager Eric MacKenzie (Mooretown, Ont.) with his LHP Rod Heisler (Moose Jaw, Sask.) who started Canada's opener of the 1984 Olympics at Dodgers Stadium. Heisler competed in more international competitions for Canada than anyone else.

By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
The stories have been told.

The Olympians have been in uniform -- red and white Team Canada jerseys provided by Jim Baba and Greg Hamilton.

They had been on the Rogers Centre field during batting practice before the Toronto Blue Jays hosted the New York Yankees at the Rogers Centre, thanks to Jason Zillo of the Yankees.

Now they have headed back to work or into retirement as a couple were about to work their final shifts.

What do to with a rundown of their 45 days together, now that it is finally finished.

As former coach Alfie Payne would have said “run it (out)!”

And so here we go ... tracking the 1984 Summer Olympic team for 45 days from Windsor to Holland to Los Angeles, one memorable summer.

Windsor, Ont.
Training camp was held in Windsor with a series of games across the border against the Detroit Adray League all-stars at Tiger Stadium. One program Jim Eliopoulos has shows an 18-year-old from Lansing named John Smoltz.

One game Rod Heisler scuffled starting out: double, single, double, single.

Out came Eric MacKenzie to give his lefty a breather and to check on him.

“Funny thing is,” Heisler told MacKenzie, “I always pitch well in this park.”

Catcher Larry Downes was able to pull his mask down to cover his smile and his laughter. MacKenzie had to bite his lip as he headed back to the safety of the Canuck dugout.

Bill MacKenzie (Sarnia, Ont.), a former catcher playing three seasons in the minors put Team Canada together as Baseball Canada technical director. He had caught at class-A Statesville and class-A Lakeland in the Detroit Tigers system, class-A Dubuque, a Kansas City Royals affiliate and class-A West Palm Beach in the Montreal Expos system.

The Canucks were considered one of the best five baseball-playing nations in the world in the early 1980s. Yet, after failing to qualify in 1983, they were asked to fill out the field when Cuba joined the Soviet boycott of the LA Games.

Eric MacKenzie (Glendon, Alta.), a former catcher, who moved east to Mooretown, Ont., had one at-bat with the 1955 Kansas City Athletics, which is one more than Moonlight Graham had with the 1905 New York Giants and one more than a million others who wanted one. He played at Class-D Corning, Class-D Tarboro, Class-C Rome, Class-C St. Hyacinthe, Class-C Drummondville, Class-B Lancaster, Class-A Savannah, Class-A Binghamton, Class-A Columbia and Class-A Amarillo.

The crossing
Somewhere over Greenland the turbulence caused the KLM Toronto-Amsterdam flight to drop 5,000 feet.

“Ah, flight attendant? Heinekin please.”

13th Honkbal Week, Haarlem, Amsterdam
Iowa 4, Canada 0
Ed Murphy pitched a four-hit shutout as the Iowa Hawkeyes blanked Canada in the opener before 3,500 fans.
The Canucks managed four singles: two each from John Ivan and Joe Henney.

Rod Heisler took the loss allowing three runs -- two earned -- on nine hits, while striking out five. Iowa scored an unearned run against Mark Wooden, who worked and inning, before Steve Wilson recorded the final out.

Washington State 5, Canada 4
The Cougars scored an unearned in the 11th for the win before 2,000 fans tagging Rod Heisler, the sixth Canuck pitcher to work, with the loss. Down 4-2, Washington State scored once in the eighth and again in the ninth to force extras.

Alain Patenaude pitched six innings allowing two runs on five hits and a walk, while Steve Wilson and Barry Kuzminski each had scoreless innings. Mark Wooden allowed the other run.

Reimer had three hits to lead the way, including a triple, as Rob Thomson, Scott Mann and Doug McPhail had a pair of hits each, with Mann, who doubled, McPhail and Tom Nelson plating runs.

The two teams combined to strand 31 runners on base.

Scott Maxwell remembered the game as one of his best memories on the ball diamond. Washington State’s legendary coach Bobo Brayton, who coached John Olerud and his son John, Jr. the Blue Jays only batting champion guided the Cougars for 33 years. Scott’s brother Marty Maxwell was named honourable mention to Bobo’s all-time team. Brayton looked across the diamond, shook his finger and said “oh, those Maxwell boys.”

Canada 6, Taiwan 3
Barry Kuzminski pitched 6 1/3 innings for the win, as Mark Wooden closed it out. Kuzminski gave up three runs -- two earned -- on eight hits and two walks. Wooden recorded the final eight outs allowing one hit.
Doug McPhail and had two hits apiece and an RBI, as Kevin Reimer, Scott Mann and Scott Maxwell all knocked in runs.

Tom Nelson had two hits with a double.

Canada 2, Holland 0
Manager Eric MacKenzie gave Mike Gardiner the ball to take to the bullpen and the right-hander did not give it up until one man was out in the top of the ninth before 5,000 fans. Gardiner, 18 at the time, was the last to pitch.

“(Coach) Alfie Payne, God rest his soul, has me off in a corner telling me not to worry about starting, Robbie Thomson walks by and says ‘ah, Alf, he’ll pitch a complete game.’,” said Gardiner from Charlotte, N.C. Thomson caught Gardiner with Stratford for Dennis Schooley in the Inter County.

Mark Wooden came on to retire the final two hitters as the pair combined on a three hitter. Gardiner fanned eight men and walked a pair.

Rob Thomson had two of the Canucks seven hits, while Reimer and Joe Henney drove in the runs.

The other hits went to Doug McPhail, Larry Downes, Scott Mann and Reimer.

Canada 13, Washington State 1
The Canucks scored a lopsided win thanks in the semi-final thanks to three hits from Kevin Reimer as Rod Heisler worked a complete game allowing one run on six hits and four walks in seven innings before 3,000.

John Ivan had a pair of hits with a triple knocking in two runs, while Scott Maxwell tripled in a pair as well.

Joe Heeney contributed two hits and drove in three while Doug McPhail had a pair of two hits which plated a pair. Scott Mann also had a pair of hits and knocked in a run while Tommy Nelson had a pair including a double and an RBI.

Canada 17, Holland 4
The red and white pounded out 19 hits -- seven extra-base hits -- in a lopsided win in the tourney final before 8,000.

The score was not indicative of the play as Holland’s Foster Hewitt would have said from high up above in the gondola.

Canada allowed two in the first and two more in the third to fall behind 4-0 before scoring four in the fourth for the lead and then 13 in the seventh.

Scott Maxwell had three hits including a homer, a double and five RBIs while Scott Mann had three hits, including a double, with a pair of RBIs. Larry Downes doubled, homered and knocked in a pair.

Two hits and an RBI apiece went to Doug McPhail, John Ivan, Joe Heeney, Henry Andrulis and Tommy Nelson. Andrulis and Nelson each doubled.

Alain Patenaude worked five scoreless for the win as Barry Kuzminski allowed four runs in two plus innings.

Maxwell let the Canucks and the tourney with eight RBIs followed by Scott Mann, Doug McPhail and Joe Heeney with five apiece.

Mann hit .429 (9-for-21), second high in the tourney, followed by Kevin Reimer who batted .381 (8-for-21), Scott Maxwell .375 (6-for-16) and John Ivan .364 (8-for-20).

Flag Presentation
1. Flag of Canada
2. Flag of Netherlands Netherlands
3. Flag of United States Washington State University
4. Flag of Republic of China Republic of China
5. Flag of Unted States University of Iowa

Awards
Most Valuable Player: John Ivan, Flag of Canada
Best Hitter: Don Lovell, Flag of United States, Washington State University
Best Pitcher: Alain Patenaude, Flag of Canada
Best Coach: Eric MacKenzie, Flag of Canada
Double Play Trophy: Flag of United States, University of Iowa

Aftermath
Since the night was young and since the team was Canadian they left the park and reconvened at Klaus’ Party Haus, one part bowling alley one part saloon. Kevin Reimer could not find his Team Canada jacket at the bar and figured the swag had been scooped by a souvenir hunter or a thief. Upset he punched a door and Dutch doors, like major league benches minor league clubhouse remain undefeated and untied against fists.

His hand was injured. On the flight home Eric MacKenzie gave Larry Downes a first baseman’s mitt. “What’s this?” asked Downes in mock shock as he looked at the first baseman’s glove. Downes would play first base when Canada made its initial foray into Olympics at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Who was Downes sitting with when it happened?

“I can’t remember, but I do recall Rod Heisler sitting with Eric -- he was lobbying to get the Game 1 start,” said Downes.

Olympics
Los Angeles
The theme of that fortnight in LA was Neil Diamond belting out “Coming to America.”

Lefty Rod Heisler from Moose Jaw, Sask., often pitched to catcher from Niagara On-the-Lake, would start the opener against Nicaragua.

“We’re trying to get to sleep before our first game in the Olympics at Dodgers Stadium and my roomie calmly asks ‘you know the pick play with men on first and second, right?” Downes recalls.

Downes did not. Heisler explained how if he tugged on his jersey with men on first and second, that meant Downes would sneak in behind the runner at first for a back-door pick.

“Here we are standing in our Fruit of the Looms going over signs,” Downes said.

Dodgers Stadium
Nicaragua 4, Canada 3
Canada was a strike away from winning its opening game at Dodger Stadium, where baseball was a demonstration sport.

Here were these college kids from NCAA Division I schools like Miami, Cal State Fullerton, Kansas State, Indiana State, Stetson, Nevada-Reno, Portland and Miami-Ohio, as well as NAIA and JUCO schools like Lewis-Clark State, Anderson, Bemidji State, Cochise, Seminole, Iowa Western, Orange Coast and Palomar walking around Dodger Stadium like they belonged.

They where in the same clubhouse, using the same batting cage, standing on the same bullpen mound and fielding ground balls in the same infield as the likes Pedro Guerrero, Fernando Valenzuela, Tommy Lasorda, Bob Welch, Tom Niedenfuer, Mike Scioscia and Steve Sax had been the week before. The Dodgers led the National League in attendance averaging 38,702 fans per game.

It was two baseball fantasies rolled into one: competing in the Olympics and playing at Dodger Stadium.

Downes singled in his first at-bat of the Olympics while his picture showed on the Jumbotron at Dodger Stadium. He told a teammate not playing to get his Kodak and take a picture in his next at-bat. Why?

“Because it’s going to read ‘Larry Downes. Average: 1.000’” Downes explained.

“Next time up it will say .500. Time after that it will be .250, then .200.”

Canuck pitching coach Dick Groch told lefty Heisler and Downes, catcher turned green first baseman “nothing fancy, don’t do anything stupid,” out there.

Sure enough back to back runners reached, the light went off for Downes as Heisler looked like he was picking lint from his jersey and picked the runner at first as quick as you could say Moose Jaw Saturday night.

“We’re running off the field after the third out,” Heisler said, “there were 40,000 people at Dodger Stadium who didn’t know that was coming -- 40,004 if you count our coaches.”

Downes knew to listen to Heilser. Everyone knew. The lefty competed at more international competitions for Canada than anyone else with 14, one more than Windsor second baseman Stubby Clapp and Dorchester catcher Chris Robinson.

Heisler pitched on into extras as did Nicaragua’s Julio Moya, the Canuck veteran working 10 1/3 innings.

Pitching coach Dick Groch called the bullpen phone and catcher Jim Eliopoulos told Groch Mark Wooden’s slider was snapping. On came Wooden.

Shortstop Arnoldo Munoz had a bad clank in the 12th giving Canada a 3-2 lead.

With the lead Wooden hit the first batter, Richard Taylor, the next batter bunted the runner over and then Wooden got ahead 1-2 on Munoz. The pitch on the black was right there. Ball or a strike? Both the hitter and the pitcher had their own opinions.

After two foul balls, Wooden peered in, saw catcher Rob Thomson flash the sign he had received from Groch. Munoz drove the ball into the left field bullpen.

Canada was playing its first game in 11 days and manager Eric MacKenzie said “timing” was a problem with the Canucks hitting. They had 17 hits but the timing was not good.

Larry Downes had four hits while Scott Maxwell and Tom Nelson each had two hits. Doug MacPhail, Henry Andrulis, and Scott Mann had one apiece. Andrulis knocked in two runs and Nelson one. Andrulis, one should remember was the best hitter Bobby Smyth ever coached with the Etobicoke Rangers -- better than eventual MVP winner Joey Votto.

Korea 3, Canada 1
Starter Barry Kuzminski pitched 1 1/3 innings allowing four singles and three walks. The Canucks scored in the fourth.

Korea managed eight hits bunching them together in the first.

Rob Thomson singled home Scott Mann in the fourth. Besides Mann and Thomson, Doug MacPhail and Larry Downes had hits.

Hak-Kil Yoon set the final 15 batters down in order. Yoon went on to went on to become a respected pitching god in both Korea and Japan.

Canada 6, Japan 4
The Canucks were 0-2 and Japan was 2-0. Nothing game? Nothing of the sort. Japan on the ball diamond was like Russia in international hockey: all ahead full.

Two days before Japan’s Atsunori Tto had worked seven scoreless in a 19-1 win against Nicaragua and now he would face the Canucks. Eric MacKenzie started right-hander Mike Gardiner, 18, in front of 48,656 fans.

MacKenzie asked Gardiner, his western Ontario neighbor, for “three innings” in the LA smog and heat, Gardiner pitched into the ninth (“longest three innings I ever pitched”) before Wooden closed it out.

Canada went up 5-1 with a four-run fourth, Gardiner allowed three runs in seven innings before Steve Wilson allowed one run in 2/3 of an inning. Mark Wooden worked 1 1/3 scoreless allowing one hit for the save.

Hank Andrulis had three hits and drove in a pair of runs

Scott Maxwell, Scott Mann and Tim Nelson each singled to knock in a pair of runs, while John Ivan, Larry Downes, Rob Thomson and Doug McPhail had singles.

The same Japan team edged Chinese Taipei 2-1 in the semi-final while Team USA thumped Korea 8-2 and then the same Japan team Canada beat knocked off USA 6-3.

Yankee bench coach Rob Thomson, a Stratford resident, does a quick change putting on the top of his 1984 Team Canada uniform over his Yankees top before a game at the Rogers Centre.

Aftermath
Gardiner thought he had pitched well, but he didn’t comprehend his outing until he returned to his summer team, the Stratford Hillers.

“I’m on my couch in Stratford watching the gold medal game thinking ‘oh my gosh Japan is beating the Americans,” Gardiner said. Team USA had the players like Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, Ken Caminiti, Mark McGwire, Will Clark, Shane Mack, Oddibe McDowell, Chris Gwynn and Cory Snyder.

The Reunion
Canada’s first Olympic team saw eight go pro, three made the majors. Victoria BC’s Steve Wilson, Sarnia’s Mike Gardiner and Reimer from Enderby, BC each played six seasons,

Windsor’s Mark Wooden pitched five seasons in the Seattle Mariners system, while Alain Patenaude, of Laval (two, Detroit Tigers), Oshawa’s Scott Mann (four, Montreal Expos), Lethbridge’s Scott Maxwell (one, Blue Jays) and Rob Thomson, who now lives in Statford (four, Tigers) played in the minors. Thomson flew in from Tampa on the New York Yankees charter. He serves as manager Joe Girardi’s bench coach and right hand man.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi stops by to talk with former Chicago Cubs teammate Steve Wilson (Victoria, BC), a member of the 1984 Olympic team.

Outfielder Doug McPhail flew in from Calgary, Cambridge second baseman Bobby McCullough from Atlanta, Wilson now Yankees Pacific Rim scouting coordinator arrived from Phoenix. Behind home plate Giradi stopped by for a visit and hugged Wilson since they had been teammates with the Chicago Cubs.

INF Bobby McCullough (Cambridge, Ont.) who played at Seminole Junior College.

Zillo, the Yankees P.R. whiz, gave the Olympians field passes at the Rogers Centre. Requests to throw out the ceremonial first pitch fell on deaf ears from the Jays, although the Canuck Olympians were given a box.

Larry Downes, event organizer, and Bobby McCullough.

Canada had an experienced coaching staff with Eric MacKenzie at age 52, while Groch was 44, McRobie, 40 and Payne 39. Three ex-pros plus Groch, a former college coach, who scouted for the Yankees and had discovered Derek Jeter.

“We had a veteran staff, and Robbie was catching,” said Gardiner, who didn’t make the reunion as he was running his Charlotte Stealth, an elite youth program for players age 9-thru-17. “Not having Kevin really hurt. Òur team could hit, we were not known for pitching ... hey if I was pitching at my age?"

MANAGER ERIC MACKENZIE (MOORETOWN, ONT.) WITH HIS COACHES BRIAN (LEGS) MCROBIE (BROCKVILLE, ONT.) AND DICK (THE LEGEND) GROCH (ST. CLARI, MICH.)

Gardiner said that the Olympic level of competition was steeper

“Japan was a very disciplined group of hitters, we only threw a handful of curve balls sticking with the fastball and change. I was listening to my mentor, Eric was always a mentor to me,” said Gardiner. “Eric is probably the only reason I made the team.

“I also could catch. I was the super secret back up and happy to be along for the ride.

Where does handing the Olympic gold medalist a defeat a Dodger Stadium rank? After all, he ...

_ He was 1990 double-A Eastern League pitcher of the year for the Willamsport Bills.

_ He helped the Indiana State Sycamores to the 1986 College World Series, holding the career wins record (30) for the Sycamores, as well as being second in strikeouts (296) and fifth in complete games (16). The team was inducted into the Indiana State Hall of Fame.

_ Pitching for the Seattle Mariners on Sept. 8, 1990 he made his major-league debut in the eighth inning at Fenway Park facing Boston Red Sox outfielder Tom Brunansky, who singled to right and them struck out Randy Kutcher looking.

_ Pitching for the Red Sox he beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-2 to gain the win May 31, 1991, at Fenway. He pitched seven innings allowing two runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out five.

“It ranks right up there,” Gardiner said, “the experience of playing international didn’t mean a lot when it happened -- we were eliminated, they were in -- later on it took on greater significance. Like the College World Series, facing Oklahoma State and Robin Ventura ... if it was nowadays and we had stats ... I might have crapped my pants.”

Canada was 1-2 in Los Angeles, tying Nicaragua and Italy for fifth in the 1984 Olympics, ahead of the Dominican Republic.

It was a 45-day journey from Windsor to Holland to Los Angeles.

One summer which still remains memorable 32 years later.

Elliott: Our 1984 LA Olympians opened doors