November 19, 2023

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Baseball Ontario inducted five new members into its Hall of Fame as part of its annual Evening of Excellence on Saturday night in Guelph, Ont.

This year's induction class included coaches, players, and executives.

The following are bios of each of the inductees:

Greg Hamilton

Hamilton was an outstanding athlete playing baseball from Tyke to Midget in the Triple AAA and All-Star system. His involvement with Baseball Canada’s National Teams program spans over two decades. From 1992-1995, he was the pitching coach with the Senior National Team before taking over the Junior National Team program in 1996. Hamilton joined Baseball Canada full-time in 1998 and, to this day, serves in his role as coach & director of National Teams. In addition to his coaching duties, he is responsible for evaluating and selecting players, coaches and staff for Canada’s Senior and Junior National Teams.

Rob Thomson

Born in 1963 in Sarnia, Ont., Rob Thomson grew up in nearby Corunna. He was a standout player for the Intercounty League’s Stratford Hillers in the early ’80s. In 1984, Thomson was part of the Canadian squad that competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The following year, he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 32nd round of the MLB draft. The Canuck catcher/third baseman would advance as high as the class-A level before shifting his focus to coaching in 1988, where he remains today as the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Troy May (2023 nominee)

Troy started his coaching career in Oshawa with the Junior Legionnaires in 1994, coaching the team for eight seasons, winning the Junior elimination tournament in 1999, and becoming the first junior team in Oshawa’s history to attend the Canadian National Championship. Troy’s dream eventually grew to include being owner and field manager of an Intercounty team when he was awarded the Oshawa Dodgers in 2001 and started playing the following year. Troy served as president of OLMBA and EOBA. He coached his sons’ mosquito and rookie ball teams and started the first rookie ball program with OLMBA. He found time to umpire as a level 4 umpire in his spare time. Troy passed away on July 19, 2006, from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident, ironically traveling from one baseball game to another.

Len Andrews (1973-74)

Managed by Len Andrews and known as the Merchants, the men’s Campbellville baseball team won 11 consecutive Halton County league titles and 12 Ontario Championship titles between 1952-1967, an amazing feat for a hamlet of 300 at the time. Past President of OBA and an honorary life member. Passed away in 2006.

Frank Colman

A star pitcher with a potent bat, Colman won the Intercounty League’s batting crown and MVP award while leading his hometown London Majors to a championship in 1936. His efforts would attract the interest of several pro clubs, including the International League’s Toronto Maple Leafs who would convert him into an outfielder in 1941. He played for Pittsburgh and the New York Yankees until 1947. Colman returned to the minors the following season and re-signed with the Maple Leafs, where he would serve as a player-coach from 1951 to 1953, a similar role he filled with the London Majors in 1954. In 1955, he co-founded London’s Eager Beaver Baseball Association (EBBA), a minor ball organization that’s now one of the most respected in the country.

Many other awards were handed out at Baseball Ontario’s Evening of Excellence on Saturday.

To see a complete list of the Baseball Ontario award winners, please check out Baseball Ontario’s Twitter feed, which has a photo of each winner.