Worthy candidates piling up for Canadian Hall of Fame

By: Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

There is no shortage of candidates to be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

This year’s deadline for submissions is coming soon and it will be interesting to see who gets in for 2017 election next March once the 20-person selection committee hands in its votes.

The hall committee headed by director of operations Scott Crawford always has its hands full as to who should be elected. In some instances like this year, two noteworthy pitchers in Dennis Martinez and Pat Hentgen headed the induction class just like Steve Rogers and Dave Stieb did years ago.

In this latest voting, it’s conceivable that former Jays ace Roy Halladay and Expos’ great Pedro Martinez will lead the 2017 class. What a crowd would show up for those two guys.

On the other hand, you might see former Expos slugger Vladdy Guerrero join Halladay in the induction class. I don’t pretend to have an insider’s view on this matter because I am not a voting member, but I tend to take some guesses.

After the main inductees, there is always uncertainty about who will emerge. Remember that the hall doesn’t reveal in advance, who might be up for consideration.

For the first time, I personally nominated a number of people this year, including former Expos pitcher Bryn Smith, former Blue Jays scout Wayne Morgan, former Expos scout/Team Canada manager Bill MacKenzie and Cas Pielak, a Baseball Canada and International Amateur Baseball Federation heavyweight for decades.

Although I plan to recommend more in future, there are people I can mention here in this story. They may already be nominated by other people.

How about retired umpire Paul Runge, who was born in St. Catharines, Ont. and grew up in San Diego? He umped close to 25 years in the big leagues. His father Ed umpired in the major leagues and so did Paul’s son Brian.

How about Jack Dominico, who has been president and general manager of the Intercounty senior league’s Toronto Maple Leafs since 1969? 

Former Expos’ closer Jeff Reardon is a viable candidate for St. Marys, as is Bill Stone who was a pitcher and an executive for the team. Jimmy Key, the former Jays pitching great, who threw close to nine seasons for Toronto and was 116-81 with the club is also a worthy candidate. He needs to go in there soon.

How about Lloyd Moseby, Key’s teammate for many years? Even Jesse Barfield.

A case could be made down the road for another double-induction of two, not-so-shabby relievers in Tim Burke and Duane Ward, both of whom pitched about six and a half seasons for their Canadian teams. Burke posted 101 saves for the Expos and Ward collected 121 for the Jays.

Very similar careers, very similar results.

So yes, there are umpteen people who are most noteworthy of induction. Many too numerous to mention here. 

The voters also have a hand in who wins the Jack Graney Lifetime Media Achievement Award to be announced Nov. 29 and the Tip O’Neill Award to be given to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution. The winner of the latter award will be revealed Dec. 2.

So the voters make their presence felt in three categories. All I know is that I am proud of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Thumbs-up to Scott Crawford, all of the other employees there, David Morneau, the board of directors and the voting members.