June 9, 2019

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

"Hello, Tom, it's Hank Aaron calling. How are things going?''

Tom Valcke had to step back as he put an ear to the phone and think, ‘Is this really Hank Aaron, the home run king’ or is this the same kind of call I thought I was getting from Denny McLain a few years ago?''

Indeed, it wasn't a hoax. The other person on the other end of the line in suburban Atlanta was Hammerin' Hank, just like it was McLain, who called years earlier and wanted to pick up Valcke in Windsor, Ont. on the way to the same banquet they were attending in Hamilton, Ont.

Valcke was very much taken aback by Aaron's call in the fall of 1999. Without going on much further, Aaron said, "Look, Tom, we need you to go to Regina and run the World Children's Baseball Fair.''

Valcke had to take a look at the situation if it made sense because he was approaching his 10th year of a satisfying run as a supervisor with Major League Baseball's Scouting Bureau, stationed in talent-rich California, a gig sandwiched around a one-year stint as general manager of the Calgary Cannons Triple-A team in 1996.

"They gave me job security,'' Valcke was saying about the job with the scouting bureau. "I told Hank I was seeking to qualify for a pension and felt the need to remind him that it was October and he was asking me to leave California for Regina? I felt like I was moving upward within the scouting bureau.’’

Valcke had just been selected by his peers to represent the scouts as the third and final speaker at his boss’s retirement party, following commissioner Peter Ueberroth and general manager Sandy Alderson. He had also become heavily involved in the automation of the bureau’s antiquated system of hand-writing and faxing reports, and he was training his scouting colleagues on both the hardware and software aspects of the new, leading-edge technology.

While becoming more involved with the computer programming, Valcke’s scouting territory had also been recently expanded from the San Joaquin Valley to including Las Vegas.

Realizing that he was on the road too frequently, he had a chat with his wife Paula.

"I worked it out that I was on the road 200 days and nights a year. That's not what a father should be,'' Valcke said.

Valcke also had a chat with Cas Pielak of Regina, a former president of the Saskatchewan Baseball Association, a former president of Baseball Canada and a former vice-president of the International Amateur Baseball Federation. With Aaron and Pielak tugging at his sleeves, Valcke agreed to return to Regina. He was comfortable with Regina because he had worked there earlier in his baseball career as a provincial coach for Saskatchewan as a lead-up to the Canada Summer Games in 1989.

"Cas was a shaker in baseball. He tied a bow around the whole package. I got a nice, healthy contract from him,'' Valcke said.

Several years earlier, Pielak has been appointed president of the World Children's Baseball Fair for North America and in no time, he recommended to Aaron that Regina be picked for the 2000 event which ran from July 31-Aug. 8 after SaskSport wholeheartedly supported the idea.

"SaskSport agreed, if I would become chairman of the event,'' Pielak said. "I agreed and recommended Tom to be the executive director because of his experience with the fair. Tom believed in the program and wanted to do it. He made SaskSport, Regina and Canada proud.’’

So Valcke was officially hired to run the event under the umbrella of SaskSport, the governing body for amateur sports in Saskatchewan. It was a job that would last 14 months.

On a resume that is spotted with eye-catching accomplishments, the fair was a cat’s meow for Valcke. He has taught baseball in 23 countries, he was a Montreal Expos commentator in their last season in 2004, he has been an analyst for CBC-TV at the Little League World Series and he ran the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame for 10 years,.

Yet, for a man who is larger than life, the World Children’s Baseball Fair is something he holds in the highest regard among his many gigs.

So who showed up in Regina for the World Children's Fair? Aaron, along with Japanese legend Sadaharu Oh, both of whom co-founded the event many years ago.

“Bringing the event to Canada for the first and only time in its 30 years of existence, I felt very proud to host my friends from all over the world in Regina - the perfect place to do it,’’ Valcke said. “It was so personalized, so safe, the city was galvanized by it, the event oozed Canadiana. We took the kids to the rodeo, to a farm, to a reservation, and on one night, 250 local families each came and picked up a participant and brought them home to dinner. Talk about 'Made in Canada'.

“Seeing perceived cultural barriers such as race, religion, language, gender, and sexual orientation diminished using baseball as a medium, in front of my own eyes, on my native soil, will never be forgotten. Did we change the world? I don't know, but you can either curse the darkness, or light a candle, right?"

Each day, as Valcke explained, the boys and girls from 25 different countries and all 13 provinces and territories learned baseball fundamentals in stations at Optimist Park and Currie Field from 9 am-to-noon, taught by the best group of international instructors that have ever been brought together. And then, each afternoon and evening, the children engaged in recreational and educational activities from going to the beach, to visiting a school, to going to an amusement park and shopping at a mall.

The entire cost of the flights, accommodation, meals, activities and gifts for the children ranging from clothing to uniforms to a complete set of equipment, was all covered by event sponsors, and the only admission charged was for a celebrity baseball game involving Aaron, Oh and other legends such as Harmon Killebrew, Lou Brock, Fergie Jenkins of Chatham, Ont. and Saskatchewan natives Reggie Cleveland and Terry Puhl.

Not long after this event concluded, Valcke was honoured with a special recognition award at the World Children’s Fair gala in Los Angeles. Aaron and Oh were there along with fellow legends Bud Selig, Frank Robinson and Lou Brock.

During this second stint in Regina and with upper management positions looming for the Canada Summer Games in 2005, Valcke and his wife, with newborn Mia and siblings Jaxon and Alanna in tow, purchased a house in Regina, figuring they would stay there for a while following the completion of the World Fair.

That was the plan until he got a call from Randy Echlin, whom Valcke called a “power attorney in Ontario’’ and a “baseball junkie.’’

Echlin represented Blue Jays broadcasters Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth and had heard a lot about what Valcke had done with the World fair, his time with the scouting bureau and all those other notations on his packed resume.

Echlin, in no short order, was feeling Valcke out for the new position of executive director with the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont. Echlin saw passion in Valcke and he saw Valcke’s potential in raising money to boost the hall of fame’s profile.

“I think I had a check in all of their boxes,’’ Valcke said.

Valcke more or less consented to taking on the job but not before agreeing to a price tag. Initially, the contract discussion put the parties far apart. Echlin was aiming low, Valcke high with help from his lawyer Richard Smith.

“I figured Richard would be the perfect guy to have in my corner when trying to be sure a proper contract is written up and I lucked out. He was fantastic,’’ Valcke said. “He was the Calgary Flames employment lawyer that they used to get rid of people.

“It was so funny that, when I contacted him about the hall of fame opportunity and he asked who I was dealing with, I said, ‘Some guy named Randy Echlin.’ And Richard’s reply was, ‘Do you mean Randall Scott Echlin?’ Richard had two of Randy’s books right on his desk at the time. Randy was quite a legend in Canadian legal circles.

“We started out in a tough negotiation and Randy never let me forget that I called him a Bay St. Bully,’’ Valcke said. “His retort was, ‘Well, you sir, are a Kensington Market Fish Monger.’ ‘’

For those unfamiliar with Kensington Market, it’s an iconic, medium-calibre neighbourhood enclave in downtown Toronto with specialty shops and funky stores, bordering Chinatown. It has been designated a National Historic Site.

“I had leverage, which always helps,’’ Valcke said. “The compensation was very reasonable.’’

And whatever became of that somewhat negative vibration with Echlin?

“Our relationship turned to gold and we held hands as we brought the Hall of Fame to another level of status in Canada, and how ironic that this Kensington Market Fish Monger wound up giving the eulogy at Randy's far-too-early funeral,’’ Valcke said.

So for 10 years, Valcke attempted to make the St. Marys hall a first-class facility and make it more than just a Southwestern Ontario Baseball Hall of Fame. He created the Kids on Deck summer camp program, he was the public-relations voice for the hall, he looked after budgeting and financing, coordinated the inductee-selection process, and he ran the annual induction weekend with the help of sidekick Scott Crawford, who became his successor.

“I attempted to nationalize it, make it as Canadian as possible and turn St. Marys into a destination,’’ Valcke said. “I gave them 10 years with a bang for their buck. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

From selling 50/50 tickets at Blue Jays games to numerous other fundraising efforts, Valcke tried his best.

“We converted a 32-acre abandoned gravel pit into a premier baseball complex. I raised more than five million dollars as president, We transitioned a century-old farmhouse into a museum and upgraded the induction ceremony from a neighbourhood gathering to a nationally covered event on the Canadian calendar with everyone from RCMP uniformed officers and household names like Rod Black as emcee and the late, great Michael Burgess, unsurpassed at singing our national anthem on our stage in the hidden gem of St. Marys.’’

In the end, Valcke resigned to pursue other opportunities but is saying now for the first time publicly that he left the hall on “very unfortunate terms.’’

Valcke had attended a board of directors meeting with a master project that involved a dormitory.

“I had a work-in-progress business plan that, as it developed, I admittedly fell in love with, that I brought in Rob Staffen, a Western University Ivey School of Business scholar and six MBA grads from Wilfred Laurier University, who I specified had to be people with no partiality to baseball, to review, improve and hopefully endorse the plan. They tweaked many aspects positively and turned a good plan into a great plan but our board just couldn’t see the big picture.’’

The board rejected his idea and he admitted that at the time, “I was in tears. Like the Titanic, I was fully willing to go down with this plan. I 100% put everything into that brief.’’

When the board said no, he had no recourse but to resign.

“To put this in baseball terms, instead of taking a swing at strike three, I felt we were just watching it go by. I refused to be painted with the failure that I felt the board’s alternate plan was doomed, so I had to get out of there,’’ Valcke said.

Since then, Valcke has kept busy in a variety of projects, earning a reputation as a wandering hobo in baseball, whilst keeping his home in St. Marys. With all three children now attending university, including Jaxon and Mia on baseball/softball scholarships at the University of British Columbia, and Alanna pursuing her Ph.D at the University of Waterloo, the empty-nesters recently down-sized to a smaller home up the road in Stratford.

Valcke formed the International Canadian Academy of Sports Excellence, allowing full-time student-athletes to hone their baseball skills toward an Ontario secondary-school Diploma. And he was the head baseball coach at Toronto’s George Brown College before his career took him to southeast Asia.

First, it was Hong Kong where he taught baseball one year and most recently, he has been in China.

Hong Kong had never posted a victory in the history of the Asian Games but under Valcke’s guidance, that country made it to the fifth-place game at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, pulling off an upset win over host Indonesia and then coming back from a 4-0 deficit to walk-off Thailand.

“But ironically, we played our best baseball in a loss to the eventual gold medalists, Korea,’’ Valcke said. “Like the NHL has done with Olympic hockey, Korea shut down its pro league season and sent the 24 best pros to Jakarta.

“As optimistic and competitive as I am, there was no doubt that the result of our game against the Koreans would be a 15-0 mercy rule loss after three innings, and there was no shame in that. We didn't stand a chance.

“But we played above our heads more than even I could imagine. The score was 5-2 for Korea in the sixth inning, then 8-3 heading into the ninth.’’

Of course, Korea won but Valcke was impressed by the fact that his players were relaxed and having fun before the game, even to the point of staging a mock funeral for their starting pitcher, knowing that he was about to get lit up by the Korean hitters. Amazing Grace was played in the background as part of the mock event..

“It was hilarious,’’ Valcke said. “But the reason this was my highlight was not only scoring more runs against Korea than even Japan or Taiwan did, but it was because of the pre-game stunt that our players pulled, all on their own.’’

Valcke had acquired a work visa with the Hong Kong Baseball Federation based on a special grant from the Hong Kong Olympic and Sport Federation but he realized similar funding might not bring him back so he opted to accept an opportunity in China.

In early January of this year, Valcke boarded a ferry to mainland China en route to Zhongshan, a city officially designated as "China's Baseball City," where Valcke visited last December to sign his next contract as executive director of the Zhongshan Panda Baseball and Softball Corporation.

With the world's largest population base of 1.4-billion people, China may not take long to catch up to Asia's big three: Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, ranked 1, 3 and 4 in the world, respectively.

"China's mission is to contend for a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games," Valcke noted. "Major League Baseball International has taken a strong interest in seeing China join the global baseball family, and there is a deep competitiveness in all sports between those four countries in particular, whose passion for baseball resembles Canada's passion for hockey.

“Hong Kong was wonderful in many ways, but there is one regulation field in the whole country, and the government and corporate support for baseball simply doesn't compare to the big four countries. Other than the amazing players I had the privilege of coaching, the passion just doesn't exist.

“This is why Hong Kong was so pleased that we managed to make it to the fifth-place game at the 2018 Asian Games, as the only realistic goal given our limited resources was to try to be the best of the rest."

Valcke's initial responsibilities with the Chinese body include the overall assessment and improvement of the coaches throughout the organization, roving from youth to adult divisions to help their understanding of proper mechanics, optimizing time and space in practices, in-game performance, and putting in place sensible and realistic year-round training programs.

In the bigger picture, Valcke will be developing plans and implementing the building of a new stadium, a 1,000-bed dormitory, a double-clover-leaf-eight-diamond training facility, a collegiate baseball academy and a national baseball hall of fame.

“Ultimately, the goal is to land a pro team there to make Zhongshan a true destination and to round out their goal of remaining the hub of baseball in China,’’ Valcke said.

One difference between the Hong Kong contract is that the Zhongshan organization has built in return trips for both Valcke and his family to see each other regularly throughout the year.

"Being there without any family to come home to, 12-hour days will become commonplace, so vacation time plus time in lieu will add up quickly," Valcke said. “They understand how close Paula, Alanna, Jaxon and Mia are to me, and that I'll actually be more productive to China baseball if I have more regular contact with my family, so we literally built visits into the contract."

Back in 1968, at age 8, Valcke’s father Andy, who worked all day and night at two jobs, one of them with Chrysler, in Windsor, Ont. to support nine kids, took him to a World Series game involving the Detroit Tigers and saw Denny McLain pitch. Yes, the same McLain, who years later called him to guide him to that banquet in Hamilton.

“I don’t know where I’m going. How about if I pick you up?’’ McLain asked Valcke. “My eyes were popping out of my head.’’

As he got into his teens, Valcke wanted to be get into sports journalism but ended up talking to his guidance counsellor, an aunt, a nun, Sister Maureen Hussey, for advice.

“What about these computers?’’ the aunt asked, referencing the emerging craze of computers. “How about the computer program at the University of Waterloo?’’

So off Valcke went to Waterloo. Upon graduation, he wrote a letter of thanks to his aunt. He became a computer programmer at General Motors in Windsor and then City Hall in Windsor. On the side, though, his baseball passion kicked in with his stint as a playing manager with the iconic Windsor Chiefs, whose notoriety is legendary across Canada with its perennial runs and titles at the Ontario and national senior men’s championship tournaments.

“I was a mediocre player at best,’’ Valcke said.

While in Windsor, his wife saw an ad in a newspaper advertising a position with the Saskatchewan Baseball Association, which was seeking a provincial coach, whose main job would be to groom that province’s teenagers at the Canada Summer Games in Saskatoon in 1989.

Saskatchewan had never finished higher than fifth at this national event. This dearth prompted a 1986 grant to hire Valcke for three years and see if he could put together the nucleus for a more impressive performance as Saskatoon was hosting the national event in ‘89.

“Here’s a great story. I get to Regina. It’s an office on main street,’’ Valcke said. “Four walls, not a window. The phone rang. The guy said, ‘Congratulations. Good luck. I’d like to be a part of your program.’ ’’

Ends up the caller was Jim Baba, currently the executive director of Baseball Canada.

“He was a finalist for my job, a runner-up,’’ Valcke said. “He wasn’t resentful. He was not wishing me ill will. I won’t forget the Canada Summer Games. We lost 8-7 in the final game.

“I was most proud that our final roster consisted of 10 players from urban Saskatchewan, meaning Regina and Saskatoon, and that the other 10 were from rural Saskatchewan,’’ Valcke said. “It was truly a case of beating the bushes in every corner of the province, taking 20 guys with raw talent and trying to make ballplayers out of them.

“Having been a part of Ontario's perceived Big Red Machine, I warned our players that if we could hang with Ontario for five innings or so (the games were seven innings long) that they might unravel, and maybe even try to intimidate us, by throwing inside at a hitter for example, or pulling a bat flip or something. I told them not to take anything, to stand up for themselves.

“Well, an Ontario player took out our shortstop in trying to break up a double play, and next thing you know, the dugouts cleared but it wasn't a typical baseball brawl. Our guys didn't even know what a baseball brawl was. This turned out to be bloody and jerseys being pulled over heads like you'd see in hockey. We won the fight, and we won the game. We met Ontario in the gold medal final, where they exacted revenge in an 8-7 thriller, but the 5,000 in attendance at Cairns Field were pretty proud of their boys. Jim Baba, who wound up taking over the program when Baseball Canada offered me a job, had a great deal to do with our success.’’

As he looks back at the impressive resume he’s compiling, Valcke said the one facet that has brought him a lot of joy has been his freelance work as a baseball commentator on radio and television.

“You know, the one area that remains close to my heart is my pinballing around in the broadcasting sector, obviously highlighted with being the analyst for the latter half of the Montreal Expos final season,’’ Valcke said. “I am most proud of my long affiliation of more than 10 years as CBC's baseball analyst on CBC Radio Canada as well as CBC-TV Canada's baseball analyst on their broadcasts of the Canadian Little League Championship, determining who wins the right to represent us in Williamsport, Pa.

“I take great pride in working there, I was the Commissioner for baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and I really hope CBC keeps me in their plans for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, for both baseball and softball.

“Lastly, I've helped globalize the game by having taught baseball in 23 different countries, and I am a Master Course Conductor with Canada's National Coaching Certification Program.’’

And talking of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, who’s to say Valcke can’t be inducted one day, based on his resume? You better believe it.