Former Toronto Blue Jays scout, Dave Yoakum now assistant to the general manager with the White Sox.

May 19, 2012

(Editor’s note: Kevin Glew contacted Dave Yoakum leading up to the ceremonies in Cooperstown. Yoakum’s response.)

My relationship with Bob goes all the way back the days when I worked as the advance scout for the Blue Jays starting in the early 1980’s. He told me that I was the first Toronto scout he had ever met.

What I remember most of that first meeting was how easy it was to talk with him. He showed me early on, his sense of humor, and interviewing with him, became as easy as talking with a buddy about the game of baseball. It quickly became apparent that, not only was he curious about the business of scouting, but that he could also relate to scouts on a level that most could not.

I knew right away he was someone who could be trusted and that anything he wrote would not be misconstrued in any way.

I felt great happiness for Bob upon hearing that he would be honored in Cooperstown this year with the prestigious J.D. Spink Award. It’s a terrific honor for him to be recognized as one of the uppermost writers of this generation. Through the years, he’s shown that he’s been able to adapt to the changes in both, his profession and that of baseball, while maintaining the same professionalism and desire to tell his stories to the readers.

The articles he’s written about baseball scouts over the years, not only tells of the work involved in the scouting profession, but insights into their hearts and minds. He’s taken the time to travel with them occasionally and knows first hand, what it’s like to walk in their shoes. Because of that, he’s been able to share many of the funny, highly interesting, and sometimes tragic things scouts encounter in their lives.

In 2002, during the regime change that occurred in the front office in Toronto (and across all of baseball); many scouts lost their jobs to a “new way” of doing business. While it’s certainly ownership and managements right to make these decisions, there wasn’t a lot of deep consideration as to how it would affect the families of scouts that had dedicated many years of their lives to their organizations.

During that time, I was getting as many as ten calls a day, from scouts from all organizations. Each, looking for work and asking me to keep them in mind, if I happened to hear of anything.

Again, Bob Elliott showed his compassion for scouts with his many articles telling of their plight from a humanistic point of view. As a direct result of what took place in baseball during that time, Dennis Gilbert, Roland Hemond and I, decided to do what we could to help. That fall, we formed what has now become a major financial aid to scouts who have fallen on hard times, The Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation.

On January 17, 2013, we’ll be celebrating our 10th anniversary with another fund raising dinner and auction at the Hyatt Century Plaza in Los Angeles, California. We’ve used the money to help benefit scouts and their families in many different ways.

And, again Bob Elliott has been a staunch supporter in helping raise awareness of our Foundation and has personally, through his efforts, helped raise thousands of dollars for our cause. The PBSF is forever grateful to him for his, unrelenting work in our effort.

As an example. He’s unselfishly donating money to the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation, from requests for public speaking and autographs, relating to him being inducted into the writers wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY in July.

Bob Elliott, baseball scouts from across the world salute and congratulate you.

You are a true friend to us all.

Dave Yoakum

Special Assistant to the VP and GM

Chicago White Sox