By Adam Morissette

Baseball Canada

OTTAWA- A year after taking the helm of the Memphis Redbirds triple-A club and leading them to a Pacific Coast League championship, Stubby Clapp has been named Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America.

The 44-year-old native of Windsor, Ont., has already been named PCL Manager of the Year and becomes the first member of the St. Louis Cardinals organization and the first Canadian to ever win the prestigious award.

After a 400-game plus playing career (1999-2002) that included his jersey being retired by the club, Clapp took the Redbirds managerial position prior to the 2017 season and led the squad to a 91-51 record.

Regular season supremacy wasn’t enough for Clapp and the Redbirds as they won six playoff contests, strengthened by performances by Maple Ridge, B.C., native Tyler O’Neill (four home runs in 11 games), to win the PCL championship.

Clapp joins a list of minor league managers to win the award that includes the likes of current big league managers Buck Showalter (Baltimore) and Terry Francona (Cleveland).

Clapp had a storied international baseball playing career as a member of Team Canada winning a 1991 World Youth Championships (U-18) gold medal before representing Canada at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic games and the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics. He joined the Team Canada coaching ranks in 2011 helping Canada to a bronze medal at the 2011 IBAF Baseball World Cup and a gold at the Pan Am Games. In 2013, he was a member of the coaching staff at the World Baseball Classic and in 2015 was coaching third base when Canada won gold at the Pan Am games in Ajax, Ont.