July 16, 2019

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Bruce Wylie has led a charmed life.

Professionally, the native of tiny Norquay, Sask. has spent the last 48 years as an announcer at 104.9 JRFM in Brockville, Ont., heading toward an even 50 in 2021.

But also consider that he has many pastimes when he isn’t involved with the microphone and spending time with his wife Eileen and family.

Two of those hobbies are baseball-related.

This is the 32nd consecutive year that he will attend induction weekend at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. where he will add to the terrific memorabilia collection he has acquired over the years, a total that borders on more than 1,000 items, many of which he considers a “family’’ collection: baseballs and hats only, no jerseys.

“The first induction weekend was 1988,’’ Wylie recalled. “I’d read in a baseball magazine about Cooperstown. I had never been there before. Willie Stargell was the only one inducted that year.

“We wanted to go and get some autographs. We had heard that Ted Williams was signing at the Otesaga Resort Hotel. So we decided to leave the Shadow Brook campground where we were staying at 4 in the morning. When we got there at 4:30, there were already a lot of people lined up. We were 99th and 199th in line and they only took 200.’’

Over the years, Wylie and his sons Ben, Dan and Tom have complied a Who’s Who of autographs from Cooperstown and other venues. In 1992, they got a signature from Williams again along with Joe DiMaggio.

“When Gary Carter was inducted in 2003, that was a pretty special day. Being an Expos fan, that was special. The same when Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Vlad Guerrero were inducted,’’ Wylie said.

“My favourite part is when they introduce the returning Hall of Famers. I really get emotional about it, guys from my era. You see Willie McCovey on crutches, Whitey Ford was on his deathbed a couple of times. Johnny Bench, it’s always a thrill.’’

And Wylie’s favourite all-time player?

“Willie Mays,’’ he said without hesitation. “I remember my grandfather used to listen to the ball games on his radio in the living room before he had black & white TV - he told me about Mays and how he thought he would be a good one.

“From 1988-1999, we didn’t see Willie in Cooperstown. Then somebody said, ‘You won’t believe this. Willie Mays is signing in 1999.’ He was signing on the Saturday morning. I was so excited. I was like a kid. I was struggling to decide what to get Willie to sign. It was a baseball.’’

Wylie has a Mays card from 1963 from the days when he grew up in Sudbury, Ont., where he picked up cards of other players from a corner store. His mother would keep the cards in a scrapbook and when he moved out on his own, she gave him the cards to keep, instead of throwing them out.

Wylie chuckles when he relates the story of him and his sons meeting up with Let’s Play Two icon Ernie Banks.

The Wylie clan ran into Banks twice. One time, they got about 10 autographs when only one was permitted. Wylie got son Tom, a big Cubs fan, on his shoulders and Banks walks by and they immediately ask Mr. Cub if they could get autographs. Of course, he obliged. And they took photos or so they thought, only to find out later the film was ruined – in the days long before cell phones.

So the next time the Wylies met up with Banks, papa Wylie made sure to protect the camera.

This week, Wylie, Ben and grand-daughter Leah are making the trek to Cooperstown. Papa Wylie isn’t sure who he’s going to get for autographs but he sure is going to have a great time.