BWDIK: Benn, Crawford, Freeman, O'Neill, Quantrill, Valenzuela

Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman, who played for Canada at the World Baseball Classic in 2017 and 2023, belted the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history on Friday night.

October 27, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Some Canadian baseball news and notes:

-By now, you’ve probably seen the moving video of Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman running over to his father after his walk-off grand slam gave the Dodgers a 6-3 win over the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium on Friday. It was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. Freeman’s father, also named Fred, was born in Windsor, Ont. The Dodgers first baseman, who has been hobbled by an ankle injury this post-season, dedicated his grand slam to his father after the game. “My swing is because of him,” Freeman told reporters. “My approach is because of him. I am who I am because of him. It was kind of spur of the moment. … I just wanted to share that with him because he’s been there. He’s been through a lot in his life too, and just to have a moment like that, I just wanted to be a part of that with him in that moment.”

-Former Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela passed away on Tuesday at the age of 63. The Dodgers paid tribute to their former superstar prior to Game 1 of the World Series. I grew up in the early 1980s and “Fernandomania” is one of my earliest baseball memories. Just how magical was the start to Valenzuela’s rookie season in 1981? In his first eight starts, he went 8-0 with 0.50 ERA and threw nine innings in each of those starts. Two of those were against the Montreal Expos. On May 3, 1981, 46,405 fans packed into Olympic Stadium (The crowd was 22,820 the game before) to watch Valenzuela face Expos right-hander Bill Gullickson. The Dodgers phenom limited the Expos to one run on six hits in nine innings, but the game remained tied 1-1 until the Dodgers rallied for five runs in the top of the 10th for a 6-1 win. That victory improved Valenzuela’s record to 6-0 in six starts.

“I don’t know if he’s unreal,” Expos manager Dick Williams told the Montreal Gazette about Valenzuela after the game. “I do know he’s one helluva pitcher. He was very impressive.”

Eleven days later, Valenzuela was victorious against the Expos again when he tossed a complete game and allowed just three hits in the Dodgers’ 3-2 win at Dodger Stadium. That improved Valenzuela’s record to 8-0.. The phenom lefty, of course, also faced the Expos twice in the 1981 National League Championship Series. He was saddled with the loss in Game 2 when he permitted three runs in six innings in the Expos’ 3-0 win at Dodger Stadium. But he was the winning pitcher in the fifth and deciding game, known in Expos’ lore as Blue Monday, when he gave up just one run in 8 2/3 innings in the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory that allowed them to advance to the World Series.

In total, in 32 regular season appearances (30 starts) against the Expos during his career, Valenzuela was 14-10 with a 3.37 ERA. He tossed nine complete games and struck out 144 batters in 224 1/3 innings.

-After an injury plagued campaign with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2023 in which he batted .231 with nine home runs in 72 games, Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C.) was dealt to the Boston Red Sox last December. In his first season with the Red Sox, a resurgent O’Neill topped the club with 31 home runs. That total also tied him with Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) for the most in the majors by a Canadian in 2024. O’Neill’s .511 slugging percentage, .847 OPS and 2.7 WAR all ranked second (to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.)) among Canadian big leaguers. For his efforts, O’Neill was named the American League’s Comeback Player of the Year by the Major League Baseball Players Association on Saturday.

-My good friend and the director of operations at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, Scott Crawford, was named the recipient of Baseball Ontario’s President’s Award at the 2024 OBA Evening of Excellence at the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Toronto last night. The award is handed out annually by the president to an individual who exemplifies exceptional work to the OBA in the past year (Another close friend and my Canadian Baseball Network boss, Bob Elliott, was a previous recipient). Scott has a deep passion for Canadian baseball and he works tirelessly to promote it Ontario and across the country. I’m proud of him and this honour is well-deserved.

The OBA also inducted former big leaguers Bill Atkinson (Chatham, Ont.), Rob Ducey (Cambridge, Ont.) and Paul Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.), as well as former Toronto Blue Jays director of amateur scouting Bob Prentice (Toronto, Ont.), into their Hall of Fame last night. Former OBA president Jack Carson (Belleville, Ont.) was also inducted posthumously. You can read more about the inductees here.

-A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that Colorado Rockies right-hander Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) would be a free agent this off-season. I was wrong. Quantrill is not eligible for free agency until after the 2025 campaign. But Patrick Saunders, the Rockies’ beat writer for The Denver Post, recently wrote that he believes Quantrill will be shopped on the trade market by the Rockies. Dealt to the Rockies last November by the Cleveland Guardians, Quantrill went 8-11 with a 4.98 ERA in 29 starts spanning 148 1/3 innings in 2024. He topped all Canadian big-league pitchers in starts and innings and finished second in wins and strikeouts (110). A Junior National Team alum, the 29-year-old Quantrill has pitched in parts of six big league seasons.

-The best Canadian free agent on the market this off-season just might be Elizabeth Benn (Toronto, Ont.). Determination and resilience are two words that describe Benn, who was hired to be the New York Mets’ director of major league operations on February 28, 2022. Benn was often the only female on her High Park Little League teams in Toronto when she was growing up and more than once it was suggested to her that she didn’t belong. But she persevered and her passion for the sport and commitment to breaking barriers to ensure that women are able to obtain prominent positions in pro baseball have made her a leader and an inspiration.

After three seasons in her role with the Mets, Benn has left the organization to pursue other opportunities. The position with the Mets made her the highest-ranking female in baseball operations in the franchise’s history. In her role, she was responsible for (among other things) roster construction, management and transactions.

She landed her job with the Mets after working in the Major League Baseball head office in New York for five years, including as their senior coordinator of baseball operations. With MLB, she helped establish the “Take the Field” program, which is now an annual professional development event that gives women the opportunity to learn from current baseball employees and network with their peers. It includes sessions that focus on coaching, player development, scouting and baseball operations.

I know this: Whatever organization hires Benn this off-season will be very glad they did.

-The Los Angeles Angels outrighted infielder Charles Leblanc (Laval, Que.) off their 40-man roster on Thursday. He cleared waivers and has been assigned to the triple-A Salt Lake Bees. Leblanc can, however, elect to become a free agent and entertain offers from other teams this off-season. In 2024, Leblanc saw his first big league action since 2022 when he belted two home runs, had seven walks, six runs and posted an .869 OPS in 11 games for the Angels. The 28-year-old infielder spent the bulk of the campaign in triple-A, where he batted .254 with 12 home runs and a .379 OBP in 98 games.

Left-hander Ted Bowsfield (Penticton, B.C.) with the Boston Red Sox in 1958. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

-I’m happy to report that former big league pitcher Ted Bowsfield (Penticton, B.C.), who is the oldest living Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee to have played in the majors, is still doing well. I touched base with him this week by email. Bowsfield, who will turn 90 on January 10, is still living on his own in his home in Nipomo, Calif, and enjoying the fan mail he continues to receive. Bowsfield was a hard-throwing left-hander who pitched for parts of seven major league seasons with the Red Sox, Cleveland, Angels and Kansas City A’s between 1958 and 1964. When his playing days were over, Bowsfield worked in stadium operations with the Angels, before holding a similar position with the Kingdome, home of the Seattle Mariners.

-Happy 48th Birthday to former big leaguer Simon Pond! Born in North Vancouver, B.C., Pond was drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1994, but it wasn’t until 10 years later that he made his big-league debut with the Blue Jays. He cracked the Blue Jays’ big-league roster in 2004 after a sensational spring that saw him bat .338 and top the Blue Jays with 23 hits. Unfortunately, his hot streak didn’t carry over to the regular season and he went 8-for-49 in 16 games and was sent to the minors. That would be his only taste of big-league action. One of the best articles I’ve ever read about Pond was this one by John Lott. Lott caught up with Pond in 2016. At that time, Pond, who played 13 seasons of pro baseball, was running his own tile and stone business in North Vancouver.

-If you haven’t already checked out Saskatchewan Dugout Stories or Alberta Dugout Stories, you should. Joe McFarland and Ian Wilson, who run the sites, do a wonderful job of covering baseball in those provinces. Recently, McFarland tracked down and spoke with longtime Houston Astros outfielder and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Terry Puhl and talked to him about his Canadian baseball roots. You can listen to the interview here.

-If you’re a Canadian baseball history buff (like me), mark November 2nd and 3rd on your calendar. Longtime Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame volunteer and co-founder of the Centre for Canadian Baseball Research Andrew North has announced that the seventh annual Canadian Baseball History Conference will take place at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., on those dates. This year’s event, which will again be organized by Andrew, will include two days of fascinating presentations on Canadian baseball history. For more information and for a complete list of the presentations, you can click on this link. There is limited seating, so please email Andrew at mavrix247@gmail.com to check if there are still spots available. The registration fee is $50.