By Bob Elliott and Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

The most influential Canadian in 2019 calendar year?

Well, outside of the Okotoks Angels, it has to be Larry Walker, who received an impressive 232 votes from Baseball Writers of Association of America voters with 10 years service. That total computed to 54.6% of the actual vote -- by far the highest ever for a Canadian position player, but still shy of the required 75%.

Walker finished eighth on the ballot behind RP Mariano Rivera, DH Edgar Martinez, the late RHP Roy Halladay and RHP Mike Mussina, who were all inducted in July of 2019 at Cooperstown, NY.

RHP Curt Schilling was the high man on the ballot to miss with 259 votes at 60.9%. Next were one of the best strikeout artists and the home run king, both at one time no doubters who have had their reputations blemished by steroid allegations.

Roger Clemens had 253 votes for 59.5% of the electorate, while Barry Bonds had 251 votes for 59.1%. Walker enjoyed a bump of 88 votes climbing from 34.1% (when he was named on 144 ballots.).

So for that jump, Walker repeats as the 13th annual Canadian Baseball Network’s Most Influential Canadian from last year. Walker’s total last year is the highest for a Canadian position player has received since Jimmy Archer (six votes, 3% in 1937), again the next year (seven, 2.6%) and again in 1939 (three, 1.1%) ... 16 total votes.

Archer (Toronto, Ont.) played 847 games in 12 seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Robins and Cincinnati Reds.

George “Twinkle Toes” Selkirk (Huntsville, Ont.) garnered seven votes in 1948-1953 and Terry Puhl (Melville, Sask.) received one vote in 1997.

Of course RHP Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) -- the only Canadian player elected to Cooperstown -- had 234 votes (52.3%) in 1989, 296 (66.7%) the next year and he had 334 (75.4%) to be elected in 1991.

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TangoTiger wrote in the fall of 2019:

“Walker, in his 9th year, flipped 31% of the no’s. If he can flip 45% of the no’s in 2020, he will get 75.0% and be inducted.”

Bill Deane wrote on Dizzy Deane: Baseball history & analysis on Dec. 9, 2019:

Twenty-one of the 35 players who were listed on the 2019 ballot are not on the 2020 version: Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, and Mike Mussina, who were elected; Fred McGriff, who was unsuccessful in his 10th and final attempt; and 16 others (Michael Young, Lance Berkman, Miguel Tejada, Roy Oswalt, Placido Polanco, Rick Ankiel, Jason Bay, Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland, Travis Hafner, Ted Lilly, Derek Lowe, Darren Oliver, Juan Pierre, Vernon Wells, and Kevin Youkilis) who were dropped for failing to reach the 5% threshold. These men collected a whopping 1,671 votes in 2019, which conceivably could be redistributed to the new and returning candidates this year.

Members of the 2020 rookie class figure to get only a fraction of those, meaning that most of the 14 returnees are likely to move up in the voting – in my estimation, two of them enough to earn enshrinement, along with one newcomer.

Most first-time eligibles – even some solid candidates – seem destined for just one try on the writers’ ballot, the consequence of receiving less than 5% of the vote.

The way I foresee the rest of the election to shape up, with predicted percentages in parentheses:

Derek Jeter (100%) – Now that the unanimous-selection bottle has been uncapped, Jeter may follow teammate Rivera as the second to receive that distinction. Jeter batted .310 with 1923 runs and 3465 hits, helping the Yankees to five world championships.

Larry Walker (78%) – Hit 383 homers and batted .313, winning three batting titles and the 1997 NL MVP award, though most of his damage was done a mile above sea level. Walker jumped from 34% to 55% on 2019, and will make a similar leap in his final try on the BBWAA ballot, edging over the 75% threshold.

Curt Schilling (77%) – His résumé is almost a dead ringer for John Smoltz’s: Schilling was 216-146 with 3,116 strikeouts, a 3.46 ERA, and an 11-2 post-season record; Smoltz was 213-155 with 3,084 K’s, a 3.26 ERA, and a 15-4 post-season log. Yet Smoltz made it to Cooperstown with 83% of the vote in his first attempt in 2015, while Schilling has not come close in six tries. Schilling had three second-place Cy Young Award finishes and a brilliant 4.38 SO:BB ratio, and starred for three different World Series teams. He’ll squeak in this year.

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Some Walker numbers

There have been 19,790 players play in the majors. Those who hit at least .300 AVG, with 300 homers, and 200 stolen in their careers. Walker is in elite company by since he was able to hitting for average and power, while having the ability to steal bases:

Hank Aaron

Willie Mays

Larry Walker

George Brett

WINS ABOVE REPLACEMENT

Players on 2020 Ballot

1. Barry Bonds ........................................... 162.8

2. Roger Clemens...................................... 139.2

3. Curt Schilling ............................................79.5

4. Larry Walker .............................. 72.7

5. Derek Jeter ...............................................72.4

Positions Players on 2020 Ballot

1. Barry Bonds ........................................... 162.8

2. Larry Walker .............................. 72.7

3. Derek Jeter ...............................................72.4

4. Scott Rolen ...............................................70.2

5. Manny Ramirez .........................................69.4

Last Four Outfielders Elected to HOF

1. Ken Griffey Jr. ..........................................83.8

2. Larry Walker .............................. 72.7

3. Tim Raines .................................................69.4

4. Andre Dawson .........................................64.8

5. Vladimir Guerrero ...................................59.4

NL Players, 1990-2004 (15 years)

1. Barry Bonds ........................................... 131.3

2. Jeff Bagwell ................................................79.6

3. Larry Walker .............................. 70.5

4. Craig Biggio ...............................................62.1

5. Sammy Sosa ..............................................58.8

• According to Baseball Reference, Walker;s WAR is ahead of Hall of Fame outfielders Tim Raines (69.4), Tony Gwynn (69.2), Andre Dawson (64.8), Dave Winfield (64.2) and Vladimir Guerrero (59.4).

• Walker’s OPS+ ranks higher than Hall of Fame outfielders Vladimir Guerrero (140), Reggie Jackson (139), Ken Griffey Jr. (136), Tony Gwynn (132), Dave Winfield (130), Tim Raines (123) and Andre Dawson (119).

• In the expansion era (since 1961) Walker’s OPS+ is the seventhhighest, behind only Bonds, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron, Manny Ramirez, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente.

• Walker is one of seven players in MLB history with a slash line of at least .313/.400/.565 … the six other players are all in the Hall of Fame (Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, Rogers Hornsby).

• Walker slashed .278/.370/.495 on the road, a slash line equaled or bested by only 24 players in big-league history (excluding active players), 18 of which were Hall of Fame players … the other six are: Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Fred McGriff, Manny Ramirez and Carlos Delgado.

• Walker’s road OPS of .865 is equal or higher than Hall of Famers Willie Stargell, Ken Griffey Jr., Reggie Jackson, Orlando Cepeda, Tony Gwynn, Al Kaline,George Brett and Roberto Clemente.

• The only players in MLB history with more doubles (471), triples (62), home runs (383) and stolen bases (230) than Walker are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Andre Dawson and Carlos Beltran.

The only other outfielders who have at least:

1) .870 OPS

2) 100 steals

3) 2 Gold Gloves

Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mookie Betts

We have had back-to-back winners before like Joey Votto in 2016-17 and Paul Beeston in 2008-09. Last time we looked Walked already had 145 of published ballot on the Hall of Fame tracker, which accounts to 85.3%. He has picked up 28 voters and lost zero. But if these early polls have showed us anything there is usually a dip when the final results are known on Tuesday.

Could we have our first three consecutive

1. Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) HOF candidate.

1-A. Angela Burger, Savannah Blakley, Lou Pote and Geoff Scott.

Angela (Calgary, Alta.), a Dawgs photographer, arrived after I collapsed on stage at the 11th annual Okotoks Dawgs banquet inside the Foothills Centennial Centre on Feb. 2, 2019. Angela and Savannah performed CPR to bring me back and get my heart working again.

Okotoks angel/trainer Savannah Blakeley. Photo: Keith Howie.

Savannah (Okotoks, Alta.)learned CPR during high school health class, attended Mount Royal University in Calgary and is re-trained often due to her job. Savannah and Angela were presented with the Red Cross Rescuer award prior to a home game on July 30. The nickname of John Ircandia’s franchise is the Dawgs, but it could easily be the Okotoks Angels. And who knows … more awards could be coming her way.

Pote (Okotoks, Alta.), who completed his defibrillator training in November, raced to the front of the hall to retrieve the machine and bring it to the stage. The former Angels reliever become my new favorite player with his seventh career save.

Scott (Okotoks, Alta.), an Okotoks fireman, arrived from the rink next door where he had watched his son, Caden Scott, skate for the minor midget Okotoks Oilers. He said I was conscious and talking, but “crashed.” Scott used the defibrillator again to bring me back.

“I don’t mean to be brutal, but you were dead twice and you came back twice,” Scott said. “The trainer and the photographer saved your life. The women had you hooked up to the defibrillator, they deserve most of the credit, I just followed protocols.” As the song goes “Thank heaven for little protocol.”

2. (Technically this should be No. 6, but as Okotoks MC William Gardner is fond of saying “I have the mike, I am in control,” and life savers take preference in my Kingston counting system. Besides we hope that the Okotoks Angels had a one-year stint,) Alex Anthopoulos, Braves GM (2).

Anthopoulos (Montreal, Que.) followed up a 90-win season with 97 victories this year as his Braves won the NL East, four games ahead of the Washington Nationals. However, the Braves lost Game 5 of the NL Division Series at home to the Cardinals. He did an excellent job during the season bringing in free agent Dallas Keuchel in June and trading for three relievers at the deadline. The moves put them in position for a deep run before Chris Martin got hurt in Game 1 and 1B Freddie Freeman had to play injured with bone spurs in elbow.

The GM had a good start to the winter adding free agents early. He was very being aggressive to build his bullpen into potentially best in NL (Darren O’Day on a one-year deal and Will Smith, considered the best on the market, to a three-year deal), plus C Travis d’Arnaud (two-year deal) and getting LHP Cole Hamels to one-year deal. Hamels comes with some risk if that’s the only significant addition to rotation after not re-signing Keuchel and buying out Julio Teheran’s option.

Of course, the best signing in 2019 was former Blue Jays MVP Josh Donaldson, given a one-year $23 million contract. And the Braves chased him on a long-term deal as Donaldson bet on himself and won, while Anthopoulos bet on Donaldson and won. The GM decided not to go with a four-year offer as the Twins did. Now will he trade for Kris Bryant of the Cubs or Nolan Arenado of the Rockies? Anthopoulos is in a better spot now than he would have been had he stayed with Toronto.

3. Edward Rogers, Chairman Rogers Communications, (8).

There is always talk about windows surrounding the Blue Jays. Like “the window is closing” going into 2017 season: do they keep Jose Bautista and/or Edwin Encarnacion? Now, Rogers -- the man at Rogers Communications who cares the most about the ball club, while others at his company worry about wireless, radio stations, 5G, streaming and layoffs -- decided the “window is opening” for spending. How long will it stay open for president Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins?

The Jays led the AL in attendance drawing 3,392,099 in 2016. Crowds dropped 5.6% in 2017, were down 27.4% the next year and dropped 25.56% in 2019. That’s the second straight year the Jays have led in attendance decrease, losing half the people in the seats. We can see the next shareholders meeting as the chant starts at the back of the room “We’re No. 1, we’re No. 1 in attendance decrease!” But it’s all about revenue and early in the season Shapiro bragged how the Jays were eighth of 30 clubs. The team payroll slipped to $111,371,067 in 2019, according to Spotrac. However, the active end of season payroll pay roll was $36,637,976, what with significant earners like Troy Tulowitzki, Russell Martin, Kendrys Morales, Marcus Stroman, Freddy Galvis, Aaron Sanchez, Jaime Garcia, David Phelps and Daniel Hudson finishing elsewhere.

LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (four year $80 million deal), RHP Tanner Roark (two years $24 million), Shun Yamaguchi (two year $6 million) and INF Travis Shaw (one year $4 million) have been the expenses/additions to date. Ryu, 33 on opening day, is an arm for a team one pitcher away. The fact remains a 95-loss team is not an attractive destination. Still, the Jays have committed to $110 million. The “they have to pay an extra year” theory is folly. The Jays signed Jack Morris, Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor because the free agents wanted to win. The Jays sit 16th in according to Forbes (team value $1.5 billion), with $265 revenue and an operating deficit of $16 million.

4. Mike Soroka, Braves (29).

Soroka (Calgary, Atla.) was named to the first end of the season major league Second Team in 2019 after going 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts. He walked 41 and struck out 142 in 174 2/3 innings. Those numbers earned him the Tip O’Neill Award as Canada’s best, presented by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys.

For the first time two teams were selected. Starting pitchers on the First Team: Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander of the Astros, Mets’ Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg both of the Nationals. Joining Soroka on the second team were Zack Greinke, who pitched for the Diamondbacks and the Astros, Dodgers’ Hyun-Jin Ryu, Cardinals’ Jack Flaherty and Rays’ Charlie Morton.

Soroka finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year award voting behind Pete Alonso and sixth in the National League Cy Young award behind deGrom, Ryu, Scherzer, Flaherty and Strasburg. He’s the first Canadian to garner votes in both awards. Rangers Jeff Zimmerman (Kelowna, BC) made the all-star team as a rookie in 1999 but did not get any Cy Young votes

Soroka was 7-1 on the road and made Canada proud when he worked seven innings allowing one run as the Braves scored three in the ninth to win Game 3 at St. Louis.

5. LHP James Paxton, Yankees (3).

Yankee fans remember great Yankee moments in October. And they will remember Paxton’s from 2019. New York had lost three straight games in the ALCS to the Astros and were looking Justin Verlander in the eye. On four days rest Paxton (Ladner, BC) allowed a run in the first (on a wild pitch) and then put up zeros, walking four and striking out nine to prolong the series. Houston won Game 6.

He set career highs in wins and starts in his first season with the Yanks, going 15-6 with a 3.82 ERA in 29 starts, tied for eighth in the AL in wins. The former North Delta Blue Jay won 10 consecutive starts -- longest by a big leaguer in the last eight seasons since Verlander. He joined Yankee royalty who have done the same: Jack Chesbro (14 in 1904), Russ Ford (Brandon, Man. 12 in 1910), Ron Guidry (11 in 1979, 10 in 1978), Whitey Ford (11 in 1961) and Lefty Gomez (10 in 1932).

The second Yankee ever to record back-to-back games with at least 12 strikeouts (David Cone in 1998) became the eighth Canadian to pitch for the Yankees, the first since LHP Jeff Francis (North Delta, BC) and RHP Chris Leroux (Mississauga, Ont.) in 2014. Paxton was an original Jays draft but as a Scott Boras client went unsigned. Paxton’s mom, Barb, runs The Cloth Shop on Granville Island, regarded as one of BC’s best fabric shops.

6. Greg Hamilton, Baseball Canada (7).

All the maker of teams did in 2019 was put together three senior squads in the past 12 months: a fourth-place finish in the Pan Am qualifier in January in Brazil, a second-place finish in the Pan Am Games in Lima Peru in August and a seventh in the Premier12 in South Korea. Premier12 was a 28-man roster, while the other two consisted of 24 players. That’s in addition to the Junior National Team, which finished sixth.

Hamilton was probably choosing from a pool of roughly 200 players some in affiliated ball, players from Indy ball and those one or two years out of the game, who wanted to help out. Team USA didn’t even compete in Pan Am qualifier as it thought January was a stupid time to play. RHP Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) was the dominant arm throughout and was signed by the Jays. Canada fell two spots in the world ratings and is now No. 12.

RP Jasvir Rakkar (Brampton, Ont.) was an unsung hero -- eating innings to save the bullpen -- and he had not pitched pro ball since 2016 with the Quebec Capitales in the independent Can-Am league. He pitched to Chris Begg proportions and that is the highest compliment one can receive on the international stage.

And now what? Helping Tanner Watson coach his son Ty (Rasmus) Hamilton and putting together another roster for the Americas Olympic qualifier in March. How many people on this list were in their office working on New Year’s Eve? And making airport runs to pick up players the night before the Baseball Canada banquet?

7. Joel Wolfe, agent, Wasserman Group (4).

Wolfe has completed some mega deals: Giancarlo Stanton (13 years. $325 million in 2014), Yu Darvish (six-years, $126 million last year) and in February of 2019 made sure Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado has life changing money. Arenado will earn $260 million over the next eight years. It’s a seven-year, $234 million extension since he agreed to a $26 million contract for 2019, making it an annual average salary of $33.3 million, the most by a position player in history.

Wolfe also earned clubhouse cred sticking up for one of his guys. When the Reds demoted OF Nick Senzel at the end of spring he told ESPN that the Reds’ decision was “simply egregious case of service-time manipulation.” Senzel made his debut May 3, 2019 meaning he will be salary arbitration eligible in 2022 and a free agent in 2026.

Wolfe’s parents were from Montreal and growing up he spent time in the Eastern Townships making him WBC eligible. Also this year, he won Trevor Bauer’s salary arbitration case for $13 million, negotiated a two-year, $24 million deal for DJ LeMahieu (102 RBIs, AL batting champ) with the Yankees, came to salary arbitration settlements with Kike Hernandez, Tim Beckham, Joe Ross and Javi Baez. Plus he did free agent deals for Travis d’Arnaud and Yoshitomo Tsutsugo as well as signing two first rounders: RHP Quinn Priester, a Cary, Ill. high schooler (18th over-all to the Pirates, $3.4 million) and UCLA 1B Michael Toglia (23rd over-all to the Rockies for $2.725 million). He’s good enough to give Scott Boras a run.

8. Joey Votto, Reds (5).

Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) had his lowest OPS in his 13-year career in 2019 when he had an on-base mark of .357, while slugging .411 for a .768 OPS. He batted .261 (his second lowest) and far off his .307 career average. Votto had 32 doubles, a triple, 15 homers and 47 RBIs.

Still, despite that Votto was named one of the 10 best players of the decade by MLB.com sitting fifth behind Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. The reason? His .428 OBP for the decade was far and away the best in the game and better than Ken Griffey Jr. had in any single season. In seven of the 10 seasons he had the highest on-base mark. Talk about consistency

He was named to The Sporting News MLB All-Decade Team joining C Buster Posey, 2B Robinson Cano, SS Francisco Lindor, 3B Adrian Beltre, OFs Andrew McCutchen and Giancarlo Stanton, David Ortiz, RP Craig Kimbrel, LHP Kershaw, OF Trout and manager: Bruce Bochy. He was also tabbed as the Canadian Baseball Network’s top hitter of the decade.

9. Vladimir Guerrero, Jays (11).

He failed to hit the ball through Wayne Gretzky’s front window (three blocks as the Rawlings flies). Nor did he line a ball through the blue wall in left as Pete Incaviglia did one morn at rickety old Municipal Stadium in Pompano Park. Heck, he didn’t even win the Toronto chapter of the rookie of the year honors, finishing third six points back of Bo Bichette and three behind Cavan Biggio. He was fifth in player of the year voting six points behind Lourdes Gurriel.

The best prospect the organization has produced since Baseball America Player of the Year winner OF Derek Bell didn’t do that poorly in 2019. He hit .272 with 25 doubles, two triples, 15 homers and 69 RBIs in 123 games. His father, also named Vladimir, in the same amount of time hit .295 with 25 doubles, three triples, 17 homers and 54 RBIs. Not a huge gap.

Vlad led AL rookies in hits, tied for the lead in doubles and third in RBIs in 2019. The long-term concern is whether he will have the mobility and range -- he has the arm -- to stay at third. Or is he headed either to first base or DH down the road. He captured the Home Run Derby audience -- like Josh Hamilton and like Hamilton did not win. Guerrero became the youngest Jay to hit a grand slam since Brett Lawrie. His bombs had exit velocities of 111.3 and 113.7 MPH, making him the only Jay in Statcast history (brought to you by Amazon) to hit two homers of at least 110 MPH in the same game.

He ranked 139th among the 139 infielders rated in Outs Above Average, according to Baseball Savant. He has a -16 Outs Above Average (tied with Jorge Polanco, who played 46 more games). Is he headed for first or DH down the road?

10. Pat Gillick, senior advisor, Phillies (10).

How many co-owners were out scouting before the June draft? Well, Gillick was. The Phillies are owned by Tri-Play and Double Play equal partners while Gillick and the estate of president David Montgomery own the remaining interests. No partner owns a majority of the team.

One scouting director of a post-season team told of being the first to arrive before a game involving SS Bryson Stott of Nevada-Las Vegas at Vegas. “I was there early -- first in the park -- and the second scout in the door on a cold, blustery day when it was three degrees above zero was the Hall of Famer. Pat is amazing being out on the road with a full schedule evaluating players going into the draft.” Choosing 14th overall, the Phillies selected Stott and gave him a $3.9 million signing bonus. Gillick was also in on Stanford LHP Erik Miller, who signed for $428,300.

11. Fergie Jenkins, Hall of Famer (9).

He’s the only Canadian with a plaque in Cooperstown, at least until, perhaps, January 21 when the results of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s baseball writers’ voting are announced and Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) may finally join him.

In 2019, Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) continued to be very active with his charitable foundation in events across Canada and the U.S. Among his foundation’s highlights of the past year were two celebrity golf tournaments that raised money for the Red Cross and the Lions Foundation Dog Guides program.

Last year, 50 teams from 10U to 18U played in the Fergie Jenkins Showcase League run by former Chicago Cub Scott Bullett. And despite living south of the border, Jenkins has never forgotten his roots. Each year, he makes time in his busy schedule to attend the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in St. Marys, Ont., where he puts the honorary jacket on each inductee on stage.

12. John Ircandia, managing director, Okotoks Dawgs (15).

My first trip to Okotoks was Jan. 21, 2011. I remember the date because moments after I walked through the snow banks wearing my Toronto snow shoes and into the indoor fieldhouse I saw a coach hitting ground balls on the half infield with George Strait on the radio and asked “What is this heaven?” A few minutes later my phone rang “Vernon Wells had been dealt to the Angels.”

I’d been there nine straight years and this February could have been my last. However, my pal Ircandia had insisted all his coaches learn how to operate a defibrillator. So when coach Lou Pote entered the building he looked for one. I owe a lot to Ircandia and will never be able to repay him or his staff. Three minutes into my speech I was down and he was racing to the front. He returned with the machine and the women took over saving my life.

At the bantam nationals in Oshawa, Pote was one of the Alberta coaches. I only missed one Alberta game. Once we were lined up in a restaurant an Ontario coach saw me (again) with the Alberta crew and asked, “What do we have to do to get this kind of coverage?” Easy, I answered “save my life.” Another Ontario coach asked “How do you repay that?” I said “one meal at a time.”

And oh yeah, the summer college Dawgs beat Edmonton, Lethbridge and Regina to capture the first Western Canadian League title. Further, the club was first in Canada and third in North America in summer college league attendance with an average of almost 4,000 fans per game and over 100,000 fans for the season. And one large live saved.

13. Farhan Zaidi, Giants GM, (6).

Giants fans -- a passionate bunch -- disliked Zaidi’s decision to hire manager Gabe Kapler after two bad seasons with the Phillies. Then Zaidi didn’t tender CF Kevin Pillar a contract in his final year of arbitration. Giants fans came to love Pillar, this year’s winner of the Willie Mac (McCovey award). It was a precursor of not to go all in on Madison Bumgarner and signaled the rebuild was in full gear. Zaidi is more unpopular than Kapler, whom people think is a substandard manager.

The Sudbury-born Zaidi did deal Tyler Herb for Mike Yastrzemski (32 homers in 411 at-bats) and moved Franklin Van Gurp to the Padres for Alex Dickerson (six homers in 171 at-bats). Fans are not high on Zaidi now, though some are patient, waiting for things to develop.

14. Joe Natale, President and CEO Rogers Communications (62).

Natale is the big cheese at Rogers. He sits in the office of the late Ted Rogers office. And someone whether it is Edward Rogers, Jordan Banks, president of Rogers Media, Bart Yabsley, president of Sportsnet, or a bean counter named Claude Themalfachuck had to make the call.

Nick Kypreos. Gone. Doug MacLean. Gone. Don Cherry. Gone. Hall of Fame scribe Scotty Morrison. Gone. And many others signed by former boss Scott Moore. When Natale arrived from Telus it was reported he might get Rogers out of the ownership business. Instead a lot of people have lost their jobs. Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro answers to Edward Rogers, Tony Saffieri and Natale.

15. Dan Shulman, broadcaster, Sportsnet (16)

Back in the 2000s the Blue Jays used to have a promotion called “Flashback Fridays.” Around the fifth inning George Bell, Nelson Liriano or Juan Guzman would hop onto the third base dugout and fans would cheer. It was easy to mistake a Monday or a Wednesday for a Friday when watching the Jays this season. That’s because Shulman was back in the TV booth for about 50 games some with Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler. Some with just Martinez. Way back when Shulman and Martinez were together it was great listening, but ESPN recognized the same and stole Shulman away.

Shulman worked all of October for ESPN radio from the wild card game through the World Series as well as a handful of TV and radio games for ESPN during the season. He also did the All-Star game for MLB International. Shulman (Toronto, Ont.) was voted 2011 National Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, the first Canadian-born announcer to be so honoured. He began working ball games for ESPN in 1998. He still does college hoops, this is his 25th season, the lead play-by-play man for the last 14 years. He also remains the lead guy to vent when Syracuse Orangemen spit up a fourth quarter lead.

16. Jeffrey Royer, general partner, Arizona Diamondbacks (27).

A lot of free agent names went off the board early. The Diamondbacks additions earned a B+ from former GM Jim Bowden of The Athletic. Arizona signed LHP Madison Bumgarner to a five-year, $85 million contract, C Stephen Vogt to a one-year deal worth $3 million and RP Junior Guerra to a-year, $2.65 million deal. Bumgarner joins Robbie Ray, Zac Gallen, Mike Leake, Luke Weaver and Merrill Kelly in what Bowden says is a solid rotation. Only the Rays, White Sox and Braves received the same grade, while only the Yankees, Angels and Phillies had higher marks.

The Toronto resident had a lot of say in the expenditures. He committed $160 million US over a 10-year span to own roughly 40% of the Diamondbacks, the same as Ken Kendrick, the face of the franchise in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks sit 18th in according to Forbes (team value $1.29 billion), with $275 revenue and an operating profit of $10 million.

17. Steve Wilson, International crosschecker/Pitching analyst, Yankees (77).

The Yankees had nine Latin pitchers in their 30 prospect lists at the end of 2019. That is more than any other organization, signing seven and acquiring two via trade. To compare, the Astros have eight, followed by the Angels and Tigers with seven each, Twins and Padres (at six), Mets, Giants and Pirates (five each), Cubs Dodgers and Cardinals (four each), Braves, Red Sox, Royals, Marlins, Mariners, Rangers and Blue Jays (three each), the Orioles, Reds, Rockies, Nationals (two apiece). The Diamondbacks and A’s have one each. The Rays, White Sox and Brewers have zero International pitching prospects on their top 30 lists.

Wilson (Victoria, BC), the former major leaguer who pitched for the 1984 Olympic team, has scouted RHPs Roansy Contreras, Luis Medina, Alexander Vizcaino and Deivi Garcia plus SS Alexander Vargas, as well as OFs Kevin Alcantara, Antonio Cabello, Estevan Florial, Raimfer Salinas and Jasson Dominguez, who received a $5.1 million bonus. He says Dominguez is “probably the most talented and tools laden player at this young age I’ve seen going back to my time as a player, coach and now scout.” Donny Rowland is the Yankees International scouting director, which has seen C Gary Sanchez, RHP Luis Severino 3B Miguel Andujar and RHP Luis Cessa wear pinstripes.

When he was International scout for the Cubs, Wilson was in on OFs Albert Almora and Eloy Jimenez, 1B Dan Vogelbach, plus C Willson Contreras, LHP Jen-Ho Tseng and INF Gleyber Torres, now with Yanks.

18. Jeff Mallett, part owner, Giants (22).

Besides being a co-owner of the San Francisco Giants, he owns the class-A San Jose Giants. San Jose had 66 wins in five months, 11 wins shy of the Giants total over the six-month schedule. San Jose drew 155,253 in 67 home dates averaging 2,317. The Giants sit fifth in wealth according to Forbes (with a team value $3 billion), with $462 million in revenue and an operating profit of $84 million.

The Jeffrey Mallett Leadership Award is awarded to an outstanding University of Victoria student each year. As co-owner and director Mallett will assume the executive chair position of the Vancouver Whitecaps taking over from the retiring John Furlong. The Whitecaps ownership group also includes Greg Kerfoot, Steve Luczo and former Canadian NBA star Steve Nash. Mallett played soccer for the University of Victoria Vikes, Santa Rosa JUCO and San Francisco State University, earning All-American honors. He was president and CEO for Yahoo Inc. for eight years before picking up World Series rings in 2010, 2012 and 2014 with the Giants.

19. Andrew Tinnish, assistant GM, Blue Jays (19).

The former Jays scouting director -- who drafted Noah Syndergaard, Anthony Alford, Daniel Norris, Kevin Pillar, Dalton Pompey, Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman -- has a better title. Yet the assistant general manager is still scouting ... mostly in Latin America.

The most expensive signs from this summer were Dominican SS Rikelvin de Castro, who received a $1.2 million bonus. The summer haul also included Cuban Yosver Zulueta ($1 million), Dominicans 3B Peniel Brito ($600,000), OF Cristian Feliz ($200,000), plus Venezuelans RHP Cesar Ayala, who received a six-figure deal, SS Estiven Machado, C Victor Mesia, CF Robert Robertis, INF Endri Garcia and RHP Dahian Santos. The Jays made like the Mariners and went to Europe signing RHP Jiorgeny Casimiri ($225,000) and RHP Sem Robberse ($125,000) from The Netherlands.

The Jays had the fourth best WAR of drafted players in the previous decade, behind the Astros (George Springer, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman), the White Sox (Chris Sale, Marcus Semien, Tim Anderson) and the Marlins (Christian Yelich, Jose Fernandez, J.T. Realmuto). Brian Parker was the scouting director for four years while Steve Sanders and Tinnish were in charge three years each. The Jays best by WAR were Syndergaard, Stroman and Pillar. The other drafts to make the majors were Matt Boyd, Joe Musgrove, Anthony DeSclafani, Sam Dyson, Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio.

20. Arlene Anderson, CEO, Sam Bat (18).

A year ago founder Sam Holman and president Anderson’s product had a starring role in the premiere of a short film commemorating the Giants retiring Barry Bonds’ No. 25. A row of Sam Bats lumber Bonds used to break the all-time home run record had a supporting role As Danny Glover narrated the film. The film earned an Emmy.

Anderson was one of the few chosen to receive a Women Entrepreneurship Fund Grant by the Federal Government for $98,000, selected from 3,000 applications. As well Anderson received an Export Grant from Lanark County to purchase two new state of the art lathes to integrate into the bat-making process.

Garrett Stubbs of the AL champion Astros used a Sambat as did Cavan Biggio, Vladimir Guerrero (Montreal, Que.), and Teoscar Hernandez of the Jays, Padres OF Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.), Cards’ OF Tyler O’Neil (Maple Ridge, BC) and Diamondbacks Carson Kelly, who won a 2008 national peewee championship.

Some others include: Jonathan Villar and Jesus Sucre of the Orioles, Gorkys Hernandez and Jackie Bradley of the Red Sox, Willson Contreras, Carlos Gonzalez and Nicholas Castellanos of the Cubs, Yonder Alonso and Jose Rondon of the White Sox, Yasiel Puig, Phil Ervin and Curt Casali of the Reds, Jose Ramirez, Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis and Hanley Ramirez of the Indians, Miguel Cabrera, Christin Stewart, Victor Reyes and Jordy Mercer of the Tigers, Alex Gordon and Billy Hamilton of the Royals, Joc Pederson of the Dodgers, Miguel Rojas, Peter O’Brien and Jose Urena of the Marlins, Ryan Braun, Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal of the Brewers, Robinson Cano of the Mets, Luke Voit, Troy Tulowitzki and Austin Romine of the Yankees, Ramon Laureano and Kyler Murray of the A’s, Cesar Hernandez and Odubel Herrera of the Phillies, Gregory Polanco, ,Jose Osuna and Melky Cabrera of the Pirates, Manuel Margot, Ty France of the Padres, Pablo Sandoval of the Giants, Dee Gordon, Domingo Santana and Tim Beckham of the Mariners, Jose Martinez, Marcell Ozuna and Harrison Bader with St. Louis, Avisail Garcia, Brandon Lowe, Joey Wendle, Guillermo Heredia and Ji-Man Choi of the Rays and Willie Calhoun of the Rangers.

21. Terry McKaig, director of baseball, UBC (37).

Carleton University set a trend inviting hoops teams to play tourney games in Canada. In 2019, the University of British Columbia did the same. The year before McKaig (Vernon, BC) turned his team into The Traveling Wilburys. The T-Birds toured Japan -- with UBC president Santa Ono -- playing four university teams.

And this year the Sacramento State Hornets, University of Tokyo, Keio University and UBC played on campus. Division 1 schools can take a “foreign tour” every four years. UBC and Tokyo drew 3,300 fans to Nat Bailey Stadium. Sac State had RHP Tanner Dalton (Lethbridge, Alta.), INF Steven Moretto (Coquitlam, BC), RHP Connor Sparks (Saskatoon, Sask.), INF Dylan Ohlsen (Abbotsford, BC) and RHP Zack McQuaid (Oshawa, Ont.). Incoming players for this year are RHP Carter Morris (Vernon, BC), RHP Eli Saul (Vancouver, BC), RHP Ryan Scott (Quispamsis NB) and RHP Noah Takacs (Victoria, BC).

McKaig, whose UBC Thunder operated for a second season in the BC Premier League, was also inducted into the Okotoks Hall of Fame, although someone sabotaged his excellent speech. His wife Davina was on stage more than he was.

22. Buddy Black, manager, Rockies (12).

After 87 and 91-win seasons which carried the Rockies to post-season play Harry “Buddy” Ralston Black saw his team win 71 games -- the least since 2015, his first season with Colorado. The offseason started off even worse as there is talk that the Rockies may move their franchise player 3B Nolan Arenado, who has seven years and $234 million remaining on his contract.

Black is eligible for managing Canada in the WBC -- or pitching, he’s only a few years older than Ryan Dempster -- since his father Harry was born in the Edmonton area and his mom in Melville, Sask. His father was recruited from the Olds Elks to skate for UCLA in 1938. In 12 seasons, Black has managed his teams to 898 wins and 951 losses. On the mound he had 121 wins in 15 years, including two in three starts for the 1990 Jays.

23. Steven Bronfman, Montreal investor (20).

The Tampa Bay/Montreal Rays/Expos experiment was flawed from the start. Neither city can get a new ball yard built and under the most recent proposal it was suggested each erect a new park. The first half of the season home games would be in the Bay area and the second half in Montreal. So, you would have Austin Meadows and Brandon Lowe buying a house in Safety Harbour, Fla. and one in Laval, Que. That idea has been shelved.

What has not changed is Bronfman’s bank account or his interest in bringing major league ball back to his city ... as his father did. The patient style of Bronfman (Montreal, Que.), of Claridge Inc. is respected by the decision makers in New York. His deep roster of investors includes Alain Bouchard, Couche-Tard founder; Mitch Garber, chairman of the board of Cirque du Soleil, Eric Boyko, CEO of Stingray Digital Group Inc. and Stephane Cretier, CEO of Garda World. His father Charles Bronfman was a unique, patriotic Canadian and we think this apple slid down the truck of tree, rolling an inch or two away. I am betting on a return to Montreal but as an expansion franchise.

24. Dan Vertlieb, sports lawyer/agent, Beverly Hills Sports Council.

The dream of any player rep is to have a first rounder in the draft. Vertleib was walking on air as he had not only the top dog -- Oregon State C Adley Rutschman -- but he had two others in the first round. He helped negotiate an $8.1 million bonus with the Orioles for Rutschman, largest in draft history, a record-breaking amount. In addition to negotiating on-field contracts, he oversaw Rutschman’s equipment and marketing deals, which are valued over $1.14 million in the first four months of Rutschman’s pro career.

In total, Vertlieb (Vancouver, BC) represented three of the top 56 players in the 2019 draft. He also looked after second round OF Joshua Mears, a Federal Way Wash. high schooler (48th over-all) who went to the Padres and second rounder RHP Ryne Nelson of Oregon (56th). Both signed for $1 Milion apiece. He also represented SS Tanner Mprris, who the Jays took in the fifth round from Virginia and gave a $397,500 bonus. Dan’s father Dick Vertlieb had a lengthy run in the NBA before becoming the Seattle Mariners GM in 1977.

A switch-hitting catcher, Rutschman hit .411 with 17 HR for the Beavers in 2019. For his efforts, Rutschman won the 2019 Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s top amateur player, the first Beaver to win the award. He received the Dick Howser Trophy as the Collegiate Writers Association’s player of the year, and was named National Player of the Year by Baseball America, Perfect Game, Collegiate Baseball, and was a consensus First-Team All-American. He was named Pac-12 Player of the Year and is a finalist for the Buster Posey Award as the nation’s top collegiate catcher.

25. Russell Martin, Dodgers (17)

Canada’s best catcher finished his 14th season in the majors. And 11 times he was playing in October: four times the Dodgers, three with the Yankees, two with the Pirates and two with the Blue Jays. An amazing total. This Mr. October has played in 17 series: two National League Wild Card games, one AL Wild Card, five NL Division Series, four NLDS, three AL Championship Series and two NLCS.

In post-season play he has 235 plate appearances, only 14 less than he had with the Dodgers in 2019. He caught 60 games this season giving him 1,579 for his career, plus 11 others appearing parts of games at third base (seven) and pitching (four). Martin is fourth among Canadians behind Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) at 1,988, Matt Stairs (Saint John, NB) with 1,885 and Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) 1,717.

26. Tony Staffieri, CFO, Rogers Communications (14).

He is the chief financial officer of the Rogers empire. He was part of the governance formed to sell the naming rights to Rogers Centre which never happened. The group looking after naming rights, similar to the way the Maple Leafs hauled in $800 million were Edward Rogers, Roger Rai, a Rogers consultant; Joe Natale, president and CEO at Rogers; Jays president Mark Shapiro and Andrew Miller, executive vice president of business operations. Shapiro also had his father Ron Shapiro on board as a consultant. Miller has bolted to become CEO of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.

Jays president Shapiro answers to Edward Rogers, Joe Natale and Saffieri. Staffieri is the man who in 2017 told those at UBS Global Media and Communications conference in New York that Rogers was interested in selling the Jays to free up capital for its communications businesses.

27. Jim Stevenson, area scout, Astros (25)

Justin Verlander was a stud hoss back in 2006. At the time Abraham Toro (Longuiel, Que.) was 10 years of age. The two would not have been at Rogers Centre Sept. 1 this season, if not for Stevenson, who drafted and signed Toro. Verlander had thrown 106 pitches through eight hitless innings. All Verlander had was the bottom of the ninth, so the Astros had to score in the top of the ninth or say goodbye to a brilliant effort. With two out, Toro homered deep to left, Verlander came out for a 14-pitch bottom of the ninth (facing Bandon Drury, Reese McGuire and Bo Bichette) for his third career no-no. Toro was a fifth-rounder from Seminole State (OK) in 2016 and the Canadian Baseball Network’s minor league hitter of the year and winner of the Randal Echlin award.

Stevenson (Leaside, Ont.), who scouts for Houston out of Tulsa, Oak. excels at scouring the bushes for the Astros drafting and signing: RHP Josh James (5-1, 4.70 ERA, 35 walks, 100 strikeouts in 61 1/3 innings) a 34th rounder, Toro (who hit .218 with three doubles, two triples, two homers, nine RBIs and a .688 OPS in 25 games) and undrafted INF Jack Mayfield who Stevenson signed in 2013, making his debut (.156, five doubles, two homers, 10 RBIs in 26 games) when SS when Carlos Correa was hurt.

As well, CF Ramon Laureano (.288, 29 doubles, 24 homers, 67 RBIs, and an .860 OPS in 123 games), a 16th rounder, was dealt to the A’s. And Stevenson had three elsewhere for a total of six in the majors in 2019: RHP Adrian Houser, a second rounder from Locust Grove, Pa. who signed for $530,100 now with the Brewers, LHP Dallas Keuchel from Arkansas won a Cy Young award with the Astros, pitched for the Braves and signed a three-year $55.5 deal with the White Sox and Laureano.

He also has on the way: RHP Austin Hansen an eighth rounder Oklahoma, combined to go 7-3 with a 2.11 ERA walking 51 and whiffing 128 in 94 innings at two stops. This June in the ninth round he grabbed RHP Peyton Battenfield of Oklahoma State and gave him a $148,400 bonus. He had at an all-star season, 26th rounder Casey Chandler a senior sign from Lubbock Christian, 27th rounder Kevin Dickey from Seminole, who received $125,000 and was in the Gulf Coast League and 33rd rounder Bryan Martinez from Connors State.

28. Paul Beeston, president emeritus, Jays (23).

The former president of the Jays still maintains his same office, parking spot and sky box at Rogers Centre although he holds down the position of president emeritus. He and former day one employee Howard Starkman watch games together -- like Harold Ballard and Conn Smythe did from their bunker at Maple Leaf Gardens. Although we are never sure who is who in this analogy.

Beeston remains on the board at the National Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and always gets his calls returned. Has two World Series rings, the same as his son David Beeston has with the Red Sox.

29. Blake Corosky, agent, True Gravity (53).

When Corosky and football legend Neil Lumsden started their company in 2001 the goal was to represent Canadian players. They were told it would be difficult because so many of the best Canucks found representation south of the border. No one thought of a Canadian looking after an American -- except Corosky. The Mariners took 1B Evan White, of Gahanna, Ohio, from the Kentucky Wildcats 17th overall and gave him a signing bonus of $3.125 million.

Then, in November M’s boss Jerry DiPoto went where no GM had gone before. He worked out a deal with Corosky where White would earn a six-year $24 million, contract before playing a game above double-A. The agreement includes options for 2026-28. Phillies INF Scott Kingery ($24 million for six) and White Sox OF Eloy Jimenez ($43 million for six) signed big-money deals in March, but both had played at triple-A. True Gravity’s staff includes Raza Malik (Oakville, Ont.) Ashleigh Dobbs (North Bay, Ont.) and Jake Spodek (Toronto, Ont.).

True Gravity also represents Marlins’ closer Drew Steckenrider, formerly of the University of Tennessee, and LHP Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Sask.) in his third season with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan after signing a two-year $5.5 million extension. In 2019 Corosky also had drafted third rounder RHP Ryan Pepiot, who signed with the Dodgers for $547,500 and fifth rounder Josh Burgmann (Nanaimo, BC) who went to the Cubs for $225,000 and 27th rounder Indigo Diaz (North Vancouver, BC) of Michigan State, given $125,000 by the Braves.

30. Mike Frostad, assistant trainer, Braves (52).

The job of Braves trainer George Poulis and his assistant Frostad (Calgary, Alta.) was to keep new 3B Josh Donaldson on the field in 2019. After playing 52 games in 2018 -- 32 with the Jays and 16 with the Indians -- Donaldson appeared in 155 games making 149 starts. That was not the case for Troy Tulowitzki and Donaldson under the guidance of Jays High Performance team which had the pair doing January two-a-days in Dunedin back in 2017.

The Jays were classy showing a two-minute tribute to their former MVP when the Braves came to town Aug. 27. I was talking with GM Alex Anthopoulos the next night when Donaldson walked by headed for the field. The GM said he enjoyed it when Dansby Swanson turned his back preventing a game of catch and prolonging cheers. I said “The only thing missing was a 20-second segment how the High Anxiety team kept you on the field.” Donaldson shook his head with a smile. So I added “My guess is your video last night will be a lot better than the one Alex receives tonight.”

Donaldson had a higher average exit velocity in 2019 than he did his MVP year. The Rain Maker -- and Anthopoulos -- bet on himself taking a one-year deal.

31. David Beeston, Chief Strategy Officer, Red Sox (33).

The title -- chief strategy officer -- means he is involved in everything that is happening on a day-to-day basis, whether that is sales, PR, issues with the commissioner’s office for the Red Sox and Fenway Sports management. He has two World Series rings -- as his father Paul Beeston does.

He advises president and CEO Sam Kennedy on all matters with a particular emphasis on internal and external communication, large undertakings requiring cross-departmental cooperation, as well as overseeing management and execution of many of the team’s key relationships, including the media, concessions and merchandise partners and Major League Baseball. Beeston guides the strategy and business development department in assessing opportunities for investment or partnership presented to FSG and prioritizes those that advance the goals and asset value. As well, he develops and executes the organization’s short-term initiatives and long-term strategic road map.

And we’re sure he had some involement in the Sox getting ahead of the story and parting ways with manager Alex Cora, the former Astros bench coach whose name was mentioned 11 times in the commissioner’s report on sign stealing. There was also an on-going investigation with the Red Sox.

32. Rob Thomson, bench coach, Phillies (24).

Gabe Kapler was relieved of his duties as manager of the Phillies after a lengthy “will they or won’t they bring him back?” segment lasting 11 days. He had compiled 80 and 81 win seasons. And 17 days later the Phillies hired former Yankee manager Joe Girardi. Two days after that Thomson received an email. “Have you had a chance to introduce yourself to the new skipper?” Thomson’s response was “LOL.” See the bench coach is one of the cool kids.

Thomson (Sebringville, Ont.) was on the coaching staff, either third base coach or bench coach, all 10 years that Girardi managed the Yankees. When Girardi was let go by the Yankees after the 2017, Thomson became Phillies bench coach under Kapler. Now the band is back together. Thomson earned five World Series rings -- four while running the Yanks minor league system in Tampa and spring camps for Hall of Famer Joe Torre. He was elected to the Canadian Hall of Fame in St. Marys this summer and told the crowd it was be the first time he’d be at home with his two daughters for Father’s Day during a major league season.

33. Maury Gostfrand, agent (31).

Gostfrand (Montreal, Que.) merged his Vision Sports Group company with The Montag Group and is now a partner. His baseball clients include MLB Network’s best Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, BC), Kevin Millar, Jayson Stark (also The Athletic), Tom Verducci (Fox Sports) and the league leader in information Ken Rosental (Fox Sports and The Athletic).

An Expos fan Gostfrand grew up Chomedey area of Montreal before and also negotiated deals for Hall of Fame manager, Joe Torre, ESPN types like Eduardo Perez and Tim Kurkjian. as well as club broadcasters John Kruk (Phillies) and Dave O’Brien (Red Sox), plus Jim Bowden of SiriusXM, The Athletic and CBS Sports.

34. Walt Burrows, scout, Twins (36).

There was a time when Burrows concentrated on all the players in the country for all the teams (as head of the Canadian arm of the Major League Scouting Bureau). Now, he evaluates all players in the country for the Twins. He signed RHP Jordan Balazovic (Mississauga, Ont.) an Ontario Blue Jays grad to earn the Canadian Baseball Network minor league Pitcher of the Year honor. He was a fifth rounder in 2016.

Balazovic began 2019 at class-A Cedar Rapids making four starts. Only once did he allow more than one run -- working 20 2/3 innings allowing five runs (2.18), while going 2-1. Next, he was moved to the class-A Fort Myers Miracle and pitched seven scoreless (10 strikeouts in a 95-pitch outing) to beat the Palm Beach Cardinals 4-0. He defeated Bradenton in his next outing (two runs in 5 2/3 innings, with 12 strikeouts). His other wins were against Daytona Beach (seven scoreless), Florida (one run in 5 2/3 innings), Bradenton (four scoreless) and Jupiter (five scoreless). He struck out nine or more hitters four times in 18 games.

He finished the season with a combined 8-5 record and a 2.69 ERA, while striking out 129 in 93 2/3 in 19 games at two stops and was promoted to double-A for the playoffs. He appeared in Futures Game and was with the Canadian senior team that won silver at the Pan Am Games in Peru.

35. Josh and Noah Naylor, Padres/Indians (21).

Josh is off the prospect list because he arrived in the majors May 24 -- DHing at Rogers Centre in a 6-3 win over Toronto. The next night he had three hits as the Padres thumped the Jays 19-4. Playing right field, he doubled off Edwin Jackson in the first and had two more singles. Josh had 15 doubles, eight homers and 32 RBIs with a .719 OPS in 94 games.

C Noah is regarded as the No. 3 prospect in the Indians organization by Baseball America and No. 5 by MLB Pipeline. This season at class-A Lake County he hit .243 with 18 doubles, 10 triples, 11 homers and 65 RBIs to go with a .734 OPS in 107 games. He turns 20 next month and will spend this season at class-A Lynchburg. Jeff and Jordan Zimmerman (Kelowna, BC) pitched against each other in 1999, what year will the Mississauga brother face each other? The pair earned $4,828,138 in signing bonuses.

36. Stubby Clapp, coach, Cardinals (22).

The greatest name in baseball -- and one of the best players ever for Canada on the international stage -- was a candidate for the vacant Pittsburgh Pirates managing job. The Bucs’ new GM Ben Cherington hired Derek Shelton. There was also the hot whisper a year ago that the Jays were interested in him to replace John Gibbons, as Gibbons suggested. He had had two stints with the Jays, first as a triple-A player and then as a coach.

Clapp is very popular as first base coach with the Cards since he managed managing triple-A Memphis for six seasons, where he had played for four years and had his number retired.

At Memphis he managed the likes of future major leaguers: Randy Arozarena, Harrison Bader, Steven Baron, John Bowman, John Brebbia, Todd Cunningham, Paul DeJong, Aledmys Diaz, Zach Duke, Tommy Edman, Chris Ellis. Jack Flaherty, John Gant, Zac Gallen, Giovanny Gallegos, Adolis Garcia, Sean Gilmartin, Austin Gomber, Marco Gonzales, Randal Grichuk, Mitch Harris, Ryan Helsley, Dakota Hudson, Chad Huffman, Carson Kelly, Andrew Knizer, Tommy Layne, Dominic Leone, Josh Lucas, Tyler Lyons, Nick Martini, Mike Mayers, Oscar Mercado, Alex Mejia, Edward Mujica, Yairo Munoz, Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC), Jhonny Peralta, Tommy Pham, Zach Phillips, Stephen Piscotty, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Rangel Ravelo, Alex Reyes, Alberto Rosario, Jordan Schafer, Ryan Sherriff, Miguel Socolovich, Edmundo Sosa, Lane Thomas, Wilfredo Tovar, Sam Tuivailala, Breyvic Valera, Luke Voit, Luke Weaver, Tyler Webb, Rowan Wick (Vancouver, BC), Justin Williams, Patrick Wisdom and Josh Zeid,

37. Bill Byckowski, scout, Reds (32).

As a crosschecker, Byckowski was in on the seventh over-all pick LHP Nick Lodolo of TCU. The Reds gave him $5,432,400 signing bonus. Plus second rounder SS Rece Hinds of IMG Academy paid $1,797,500, third round pick 2B Tyler Callihan a Jacksonville high schooler signed for $1,497,500, 10th rounder RHP Jake Stevenson of Minnesota, who signed for $7,500 and 15th rounder OF Matt Lloyd (Calgary, Alta.) from Indiana, given $25,000.

Making his major-league debut was a player Byckowski evaluated before the draft: CF Nick Senzel (who hit .256 with 14 doubles, four triples, 12 homers, 42 RBIs and a .732 OPS), who made his debut. Fellow first rounders LF Jesse Winker (.269 with 17 doubles, two triples, 16 homers, 38 RBIs and an .830 OPS) and OF Phil Ervin (.271, with 11 doubles, seven triples, seven homers, 23 RBIs and a .797 OPS) saw the most action they’d seen in this their third seasons.

In 2018 he also scouted first round 3B Jonathan India (.259, 11, 55, .767 OPS at double-A Chattanooga and class-A Daytona) given $5,297,500 to leave Florida and fourth rounder Michael Siani (.253, six homers, 45 RBIs, .672 OPS at class-A Dayton) a Philadelphia high schooler, who received a $2 million bonus. And from the 2017 draft first rounder RHP Hunter Green (3-7, 4.48 with 23 walks, 89 strikeouts in 68 1/3 innings) a Sherman Oaks, Calif. high schooler given $7,230,000 and OF Stuart Fairchild, a second rounder from Wake Forest (who hit .264, seven homers, 44 RBIs, .794 OPS at double-A Chattanooga and class-A Daytona) given $1,800,300.

38. Kyle Boddy, minor league pitching, Reds (26).

Boddy is a pioneer from running an indoor facility at Kent, Wash. working with weighted balls. He was way ahead of the curve working with RHP Trevor Bauer and LHP Matt Boyd. Bauer was 11-13 with a 4.48 ERA in 34 starts with the Indians and the Reds, walking 82 and striking out 253 in 213 innings. Boyd, maybe the best of the traded Jays, was 9-12 with a 4.56 ERA for the 2019 Tigers as he walked 50 and struck out 238. Boddy was born in Cleveland to his Toronto-born father.

Now he has been hired by the Reds as minor league director of pitching Initiatives and pitching coordinator. He’s not the only Driveline employee hired: Sam Briend is the director of pitching for the Yankees, Rob Hill is a pitching coordinator and technical development for the Dodgers, Cody Buckel is the pitching resource co-ordinator with the Indians, Cam Castro is a minor league pitching coach with the Brewers, Matt Daniels is co-ordinator of pitching analysis and Jack McGeary is a analyst with the Giants, Joel McKeithan is a minor league hitting coach, Jason Ochart a hitting co-ordinator and Eric Jagers is a pitching strategist -- all with Phillies. Demetre Kokoris is a minor league pitching coach and Cory Popham an assistant minor league pitching coach both with the Jays.

39. Doug Mathieson, GM Langley Blaze/Brewers scout (47).

After 10 years scouting for the Diamondbacks, Mathieson (Aldergorve, BC) has signed a contract to scout for the Brewers, rejoining crosschecker Mike Serbalik and assistant GM Ray Montgomery, both former Diamondback employees. Peter Orr (Newmarket, Ont.) scouts eastern Canada and Marty Lehn (White Rock, BC) is a birg dog on the west coast.

The Blaze, under Mathieson and Jamie Bodaly, had an excellent season on the recruiting trail: RHP Theo Millas (Burnaby, BC) signed with LSU, LHP Justin Thorsteinson (Langley, BC) at Oregon State and C Russell Young (Langley, BC) headed to Gonzaga. And that’s just the tip of the recruiting iceberg, as with 14 grads on scholarships. They have one of the best hitters in Johnny McGill (Richmond, BC) and 3B Brody Alexandre (Swift Current, Sask.) and LHP Owen Harriott (Red Deer, Alta.) who was impressive in fall ball. The bantam team includes 6-foot-3, 190 pounded Jacob Zibin, who was 87 MPH in the fall, Austin Goessen-Linder 87 and Ian Huang 85 MPH.

Doug’s son Scott Mathieson will be a guest coach with Greg Hamilton and the Canadian Junior National Team in Florida in March. After that he’ll follow the Blaze to Arizona (March 17-28) and pitch for Canada on the second-chance Olympic qualifying tournament.

40. Bob McCown, broadcaster (13).

His final show on The Fan was June 21, 2019. Robert had signed a multi-year contract extension in December 2017. He was the king of sports talk radio for 31 years, winning “Air Talent Of The Year” at the Rick Scott and Associates Sports Radio Conference in 2007. On his final show he said “I am leaving Prime Time Sports and Rogers. But nobody can shut me up when I still have things to say. Stay tuned. I’ll be back!” We believe him.

There is talk that day might be coming soon. His knowledge of all the sports is amazing and you would think he made every Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, Raptors work out, game and press briefing. That is not the case, which made listening to him all the more impressive. McCown nation is still out there.

41. Dave McKay, coach, Diamondbacks (35).

McKay (Vancouver, BC) completed his sixth season as first base coach of the Diamondbacks in 2019. The 2001 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee is also in charge of aligning the D-Backs outfielders defensively and under his watchful eye the club’s outfielders have won two Gold Gloves (A.J. Pollock (2015) and David Peralta (2019). McKay also serves as Arizona’s base running coach and in 2019, the club’s base runners were successful in 88 of 102 stolen base attempts, good for a National League-best 86.27% success rate.

McKay, who served on Cooperstowner Tony La Russa’s staffs in Oakland and St. Louis for 27 years, has been the first base coach on three World Series champs (1989 A’s, 2006 and 2011 Cards). He was also the first Canadian to appear with the Blue Jays, going 2-for-4 with a RBI in the club’s inaugural game on April 7, 1977 against the Chicago White Sox.

42. Justin Morneau, broadcaster/executive, Twins (57).

The former Twin first baseman was part of the Sportsnet studio staff during the World Series ... looking younger than he did five years ago. Morneau will be given the Kirby Puckett award for Twins Alumni Community Service later this month. The former American League MVP, who moved to Minnesota full-time after his retirement as a player, works to raise funds and acts as a spokesman for youth with rheumatoid arthritis, has been instrumental in the success of the annual “Home for the Holidays” event with the Minnesota Assistance Council of Veterans at Target Field, and -- along with his wife Krista -- hosts an annual holiday coat drive in the Twin Cities. As a player, Morneau won the 2009 Carl R. Pohlad Award for community service.

The 15th annual Diamond Awards dinner, will be held Jan. 23, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. at The Depot Minneapolis. It will honour the 2019 Baseball Writers of America Association award recipients as well as the winners of the Sherry Robertson Award (Trevor Larnach) for the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and the Jim Rantz Award (Randy Dobnak) for the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year. DH Nelson Cruz is the winner of both the Calvin R. Griffith Award given to the Most Valuable Twin and the Bob Allison Award, given to the player who exemplifies determination, hustle, tenacity, competitive spirit and leadership both on and off the field.

Besides Sportsnet in October, Morneau did 40 games for the Twins imparting the wisdom he learned from coaches Ari Mellios and Mike Kelly. Also, Morneau is still a special advisor in the Twins baseball operations department.

43. Cal and Paul Quantrill, Padres, Blue Jays (52).

It must have brought back memories for Cal Quantrill of the days when Port Hope played Clarington. Except rather than mothers, fathers and grandparents on hand there were 24,212 at Rogers Centre as he registered his first win -- pitching six strong innings in a 19-4 win over the Jays. In his 96-pitch outing he allowed three runs on two hits and two walks, while fanning nine. The former Ontario Terrier appeared in 23 games for the Padres -- 18 starts -- going 6-8 with a 5.17 ERA walking 28 and fanning 89 in 103 innings.

Paul is an instructor in the minors along with Rick Langford and former Cy Young award winner Pat Hentgen. Paul pitched 14 years and was inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame in St. Marys. He leads all Canuck pitchers in appearances with 841 appearances. Next are Rheal Cormier (Cap-Pele, NB) with 683 and Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) with 664. Yet, never once in a year did Paul earn what Cal was given as a signing bonus ($3,963,045 from the Padres) when he was selected out of Stanford.

44. Doug Melvin, senior advisor, Brewers (39).

The previous off season the New York Mets almost put Melvin in charge of their team before Jeff Wilpon decided to hire agent Brodie Van Wagenen. Melvin is a senior advisor with the Brewers. Just as he almost became GM of the Jays before management moved on to hire J.P. Ricciardi.

His biggest move -- and we’d call it a correcting a mistake -- was serving on the 16-member modern era committee which met the day before the winter meetings began in San Diego. No one knows who voted for whom, but this committee got it right where others have failed Marvin Miller being to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, along with former C Ted Simmons. The committee consisted of Hall of Famers George Brett, Rod Carew, Dennis Eckersley, Eddie Murray, Ozzie Smith and Robin Yount, along with executives Sandy Alderson, Dave Dombrowski, David Glass, Walt Jocketty, Doug Melvin and Terry Ryan and veteran media members/historians Bill Center, Steve Hirdt, Jack O’Connell and Tracy Ringolsby.

45. Ron Tostenson, national crosschecker, Cubs (34).

Tostenson (Kelowna, BC) scours North America for players, so usually has input on the top round picks. The Cubs are excited about their second rounder Chase Strumpf (.244, with three homers, 17 RBIs and a .774 OPS at three stops) given $1,050,300 to leave UCLA. He was All American as a sophomore and a guy the Blue Jays almost took.

The Cubs like their third rounder out of Louisville Michael McAvene, who signed for $500,000. McAvene (0-0, 1.42 with four walks and 20 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings) has a big arm with a put away breaking ball. INF Nico Hoerner a first rounder from Stanford in 2018 was given a $2,724,000 signing bonus. Hoerner (.282, three homers, 17 RBIs and a .741 OPS with the Cubs, as well as .292 with three homers, 22 RBIs and a .752 OPS in 75 games during two stops in the minors) was the first player from that draft to make the majors. He did well in September with chance to make the team in 2020.

46. Marnie Starkman, senior vice-president, Jays.

Rising as fast through the Jays organization -- as the team itself in the American League East standings after acquiring David Price and Troy Tulowitski in 2015, is Marnie. When former ex-Indian employee Andrew Miller departed to be CEO of the Minnestoa Vikings, Marnie took over half of his duties rising to senior vice president, marketing and business operations. Marnie is a trusted advisor of president Mark Shapiro. Is credited with the popular Jaysfest.

The Mississauga native is in her 10th season with the Jays. Previously Marnie was promoted to vice-president, marketing and events in 2016 which meant she was responsible as well for broadcasting, game entertainment/internal productions, community/player relations, social media/digital content, internal communications and amateur ball. Marnie joined Jays in 2009 as director, game entertainment, adding the responsibilities of promotions in 2010.

Before that Marnie worked with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, where she received the MLSE Rookie of the Year Award as a creative producer, content and production in 2008. It’s something like the Calder Trophy. Marnie graduated from the University of Toronto, Sheridan College and York/Ryerson University. And in 2018 was a recipient of One of 5 to Watch Award winners presented annually to five Canadian sports business professionals to achieve remarkable career success prior to turning 40.

47. Roger Rai, Rogers consultant (48).

Rai (Toronto, Ont.) and Edward Rogers have had a friendship since their days attending University of Western Ontario. Rai is the managing director of E. S. Rogers Enterprises and president of R3 Concepts Inc. As managing director at E.S. Rogers, Rai advises Edward Rogers on business, revenue, partnership and talent development.

Now a member of the Miami-based InfoSonics Corporation board, Rai previously was the VP of business development of Peeks Social Ltd., operating Keeks.com, a networking service focusing on video content. Rai managed and directed private and public companies, as a director for Sustain Co. Inc., Pintree Capital Ltd. and The Mint Corporation. He has experience in the digital and telecommunications, holding managerial positions. He was the founder and a director of the ONEXONE foundation, a charitable organization focused on global child welfare.

48. Corey Koskie, Linklete.com (30).

There are websites like Derek Jeter’s “The Players’ Tribune: The Voice of the Game” where a player tells his side of the story. No one is misquoted and the player gives his version on his career or a subject. Yet, we are told how it’s basically a player talking to a writer, who then sends copy back to the player for approval.

Koskie (Anola, Man.) has a site where he gives his side of the story -- whether it be sandlot ball, memories of playing with David Ortiz when they were teammates with the Twins or helping youth sports. The categories range in order from dealing with Adversity, finding Humility, Fear, Coaching, Leadership, Injuries, Insecurity, Faith and Pride. And you never know which one of Koskie’s pals will drop in to lend advice ... like Justin Morneau (New Westminster, BC). If your child plays sports you should check it out.

49. Mike McRae, assistant coach, Virginia Commonwealth (51).

Lots of people on this list wear two hats. Ditto for McRae (Niagara Falls, Ont.), the pitching coach of the VCU Rams, as well as the recruiting coordinator. His staff ranked amongst the top 10 in NCAA in four categories: fourth in walks per nine innings (2.90), sixth in strikeout to walk ratio (3.11), sixth in WHIP (1.19) and ninth in ERA (3.42)

RHP Evan Chenier (Georgetown, Ont.) enters his second year after earning Freshman All American in 2019. RHP Evan Elliott (Toronto, Ont.) is a freshman now after playing for Dean Dicenzo and the Ontario Terriers, while LHP Campbell Ellis (Georgetown, Ont.) and RHP-OF Justin Humenay (Beaconsfield, Que,) are coming next fall. Toronto Mets’ ex Virot Siharath (Barrie, Ont.) will be in the class of 2021. So he may have switched area codes, but his impact remains the same on young Canadian arms. He spent 14 seasons as head coach of the Canisius Golden Griffins, compiling a record of 440-358 record, including a 333-222 in the last eight seasons with three Metro Atlantic regular-season titles.

50. Jamie Lehman, California scout, Blue Jays (45).

It is not up to Lehman (Brampton, Ont.) to personally sign players anymore. He is too busy examining all the talent in his rich area. The scouts he supervises landed a bunch of players: Kory Lafreniere signed third rounder Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays for $797,500 and 26th rounder OF Jean-Christophe Masson (Ancienne-Lorette, Que.), an ABC grad for $297,500.

Scout Randy Kramer signed 26th rounder INF Cameron Eden from California for $222,500. Ryan Fox grabbed 18th rounder LHP Brandon Eisert of Oregon State for $125,000, while Jim Lentine signed 23rd rounder RHP Anders Tolhurst from Grossmont JC for $125,000 and Darold Brown grabbed 28th rounder RHP Gabriel Ponce of Arizona Western JC for $75,000. A Lehman signee for $5,000 from Arizona -- 10th rounder Cal Stevenson (.288, 15 doubles, five triples, five homers, 59 RBIs and .772 at class-A Dunedin and class-A Fayetteville) was traded to Astros as part of Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini package for Fisher.

51. Scott Thorman, manager, Lexington (60).

The class-A Wilmington Blue Rocks were down 2-1 after losing the first game in Fayetteville. The outlook did not look for the Mudville Nine as Game 4 and if necessary Game 5 would be played at the home of the Woodpeckers. No problem for manager Scott Thorman (Cambridge, Ont.) and his club. Justin Cox worked six scoreless in a 2-0 win tie series. Then former Jays second round pick (unsigned in 2015) Brady Singer did the same for a 2-0 win in the championship final.

Thorman (Cambridge, Ont.) a former first-rounder has a way of developing prospects. According to Baseball America he had seven of the Royals top 10 prospects: No. 2 Daniel Lynch 22 (5-2, 3.10 with 23 walks and 77 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings), No. 3 Jackson Kowar 22 (5-3, 3.53 with 22 walks and 66 whiffs in 74 innings), No. 4 Singer (5-2, 1.87, 13 walks, 53 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings), No. 5 OF Kyle Isbel 22 (.216, five, 23, .643), No. 8 Kyle Bubic 21 (7-4, 2.30, 27 walks, 110 whiffs in 101 2/3 innings), No. 9 Cox 22 (3-3, 2.77, with 16 walks and 52 whiffs in 55 1/3 innings) and No. 10 Nick Pratto 20 (.191, seven, 49, .588).

He is expected to manage double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals in the double-A Texas League in 2020, as he looks to improve on his five-season record of 298-255 (.539) and move players up the ladder. His son Robbie Thorman is a former South Atlantic League bat boy of the year.

52. Shi Davidi, Sportsnet (59).

The best when it comes to analysis of what is going on at 1 Blue Jays Way and what it means in the “big-picture.” He is more than a two-way threat as he writes on the Sportsnet website, does pre-game shows and radio as well. And he passes on his knowledge to students taking journalism at Centennial College.

His pieces on the late Roy Halladay whether they have a Clearwater or a Cooperstown dateline are worth a re-read. He is a well-read man and a lot of people read him (106,700 followers on the Twitter machine).

53. Alex Agostino, scout, Phillies (61).

Agostino (St-Bruno, Que.) was promoted from his position of longtime Northeast Scouting Supervisor/area scout to crosschecker, covering Canada to North Carolina. He will have a staff of three working for him. Agostino has previously been a scout, for the Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins, before joining the Phillies. He has drafted C Russell Martin with the Expos, but Martin chose to attend Chipola College.

In June of 2019, he drafted and signed 30th rounder RHP Dylan Castaneda, a Salisbury (Conn.) high schooler who signed for $130,000. A Michigan commit he was named the best late round pick by Baseball America after showing a 91-94 mph fastball and a solid breaking ball to go with solid athleticism. He also selected Hofstra C Vito Friscia, a senior sign for $2,500, who fared well in the Gulf Coast League. His signee OF Ben Pelletier (Varennes, Que.) had 13 homers and 40 RBIs for class-A Lakewood.

54. Phil Lind, Vice Chairman, Rogers Communications (44).

Lind represented Rogers communications at two owners meetings in 2019 and is off to Orlando for the next set of meetings in January.

Long before The Bringer of Rain arrived when Alex Anthopoulos made the Brett Lawrie-Josh Donaldson deal, Lind was a behind the scenes rainmaker going back to the days of Ted Rogers when the founder of the company decided to purchase the ball team and Donaldson was hitting line drives on the Auburn campus with Tyler Johnstone (Mississauga, Ont.) playing second. Lind secured the broadcasting license from the CRTC for the MLB Network and still has power on The Campus. He like Rogers consultant Roger Rai has the ear of Edward Rogers.

55. Jim Baba, Baseball Canada (50).

Baba (Moose Jaw, Sask.) was the head of the technical commission at U18 World Cup in South Korea, the Europe/Africa Continental Olympic Qualifier in Italy and the Final Round at Premier12 final in Tokyo.

The Baseball Canada executive director will hold down the same role at Americas Qualifier in March in Arizona. It’s the second-chance qualifier for Canada and the Olympics. Baba is the go-to guy for technical duties with the WBSC and instructs at technical commissioner clinics around the world regularly.

56. Hazel Mae, Sportsnet (64).

The hardest working woman in the game did double duty again in the fall of 2019 for both Sportsnet and TBS’s playoff coverage. Mae reported on Twins-Yankees AL Division Series for both outlets, filing to the Atlanta studio crew of Casey Stern, Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, Jimmy Rollins and Gary Sheffield, as well as Toronto. Next was the Yankees-Astros American League Championship Series. Her best October interviews were 1-on-1’s with Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius, Jose Altuve and George Springer.

Memorable interviews during the regular season year included sit downs with Mike Trout, Francisco Lindor, and Adam Jones. Mae also voted on World Series MVP and was on the media panel voting for the inaugural end-of-season First and Second teams. Mae kept the Canadian Hall of Fame induction ceremonies moving at a fast pace.

57. Ryan Dempster, MLB Network, Chicago Cubs (-).

It was fitting that Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) was on stage to put the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame jacket on Dempster when he was inducted into the Canadian ball shrine in St. Marys, Ont., in June. After all, it was on a back field at Chicago Cubs spring training in Arizona in 2005 that Jenkins showed Dempster his change-up grip. The 2019 Canadian ball hall inductee adopted it as a split-finger grip and that pitch became the biggest weapon in his arsenal and was largely responsible for his 132 major league wins and 2,075 strikeouts, both of which are the second-most by a Canadian to Jenkins.

And when Dempster wasn’t delivering his hilarious induction speech north of the border, you could find him providing analysis and doing the odd Harry Caray imitation on the MLB Network. He also worked as a special assistant to the president of the Chicago Cubs. The charismatic Canadian also hosts an online sports talk show called Off the Mound which features interviews with major league stars and entertainment personalities.

58. Gord Ash, VP baseball projects, Milwaukee Brewers (65).

The Toronto native and former Blue Jays GM was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., in June, along with former players Jason Bay (Trail, BC) and Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, BC) and longtime coach Rob Thomson (Corunna, Ont.). Ash batted leadoff at the ceremony, delivering his humorous and heartfelt speech first with his family, friends and former bosses Paul Beeston, Pat Gillick and Doug Melvin in attendance.

With his induction, Ash became the fourth Canadian big league general manager to have a plaque in the Canuck ball shrine, joining George Selkirk (Huntsville, Ont.), Murray Cook (Sackville, N.B.) and Melvin (Chatham, Ont.). Ash, who served as Brewers assistant GM under Melvin from 2002 to 2015, continues to work with the organization as VP of baseball projects. In 2019, he continued to supervise the work on the new Brewers academy in the Dominican Republic, located north east of the Santo Domingo airport, near Guerra. The site will open in 2020. Ash is also part of TSN’s roster of analysts.

59. Jordan Banks, Rogers Communications.

He took over as president of Rogers Media in 2019 replacing Rick Brace six months ago. Before that he was co-founder of Thunder Road Capital (2008–2019) as well as finding time to be managing director of Facebook and Instagram Canada (2010–2017). For two years he was Facebook’s Global Head of Vertical Strategy (2013–2015).

He also served as CEO of JumpTV (2007-08). The network showed sports and international TV over the Internet with 250 employees in offices in Toronto, Orlando, New York, London and Buenos Aires. As well he helped form the merger in 2008 of JumpTV and NeuLion Inc., a company owned by former Computer Associates founder and CEO Charles Wang. Banks was named “The Most Influential Innovator in Canada” by the Financial Post in 2012 and one of “Canada’s 50 Most Powerful Business People” by Canadian Business two years. He was managing director of eBay Canada (2000-07) and is remembered as a “hard-working bloke.” Holder of a law degree from Osgoode Hall he handled International Business and Licensing for the NHL Players’ Association (1997-2000).

60. Michel Laplante, president, Les Capitales de Quebec (68).

Laplante (Val D’Or, Que.) has done it all since helping form Les Capitales in 1999. He has been on the mound, has been an executive, has probably even tracked down a foul ball or two and now owns the franchise, with Jean Tremblay, Pierre Tremblay and Marie-Pierre Simard. The Capitales played in the Can-Am League winning Capitales 10 division titles and seven league championships in 21 seasons. Next year they will compete in the Frontier League after a merger. Since taking the field the Capitales have a record of 1,117-851 (a .568 winning mark).

Manager Patrick Scalabrini (Waterford, Que.) saw his club draw 146,946 fans to Stade Canac, an average of 2,381 fans per game. Quebec is always the first choice of recently released pros. In 2019 Canucks on the roster included:

OF Francis Desilets (St. Maurice, Que.), RHP Lachlan Fontaine (North Vancouver, BC), OF Jean-Francois Garon (Laval, Que.), RHP Karl Gelinas (Iberville, Que.), OF Tyson Gillies (Vancouver, Ont.),3B Jesse Hodges (Victoria, BC), LHP Jay Johnson (Sussex Corners, NB), INF Jonathan Malo (Laval, Que.), RHP Dustin Molleken (Regina, Sask.), OF Connor Panas (Toronto, Ont.), RHP Dany Paradis-Giroux (Levis, Que.), 1B Josue Peley (Montreal, Que.), LHP Vincent Ruel (Cap Rouge, Que.), C Chris Shaw (Winnipeg, Man.), OF Brett Siddall (Windsor, Ont.) and DH-INF J.D. Williams (Brampton, Ont.).

61. Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney, co-owners Vancouver Canadians (54).

It’s not usually good news when attendance stays stagnant as it did for the Canadians. They showed a change in average number of people in the seats between 2017 and 2018 at 0.00. Actually the drop came out to 13 people per night. The C’s averaged 6,292 this season, compared to 6,303 in 2017, according to Baseball Digest, which made Nat Bailey Stadium No. 1 of the 22 short-season class-A teams. The Canadians drew 239,527 fans in 38 home dates at the Nat last year and 239,086 this year in the Northwest loop.

The C’s were 30-46 (.395) finishing games behind the Spokane Indians. Don’t blame co-owners Kerr (Vancouver, BC) and Mooney (Regina, Sask.) who grew up in Winnipeg, are the co-owners. They didn’t put the product on the field. Next in attendance was Spokane which averaged 5,270, followed by Hillsboro 3,516, Eugene 3,460, Boise 3,416, Everett 3,069, Tri-City 2,290 and Salem-Keizer 2,12, roughly 1/3 less than the numbers than flocked to beautiful Nat Bailey. In nine seasons, Vancouver has won the title four times rolling to a 346-336 (.507).

62. Jamie Campbell and Joe Siddall, Jays broadcasters (43).

Sportsnet’s Campbell and Siddall manned the desk 162 nights a year from April to September. And then almost all of the 27 more post-season nights in October. Cliff Floyd, the former Expos 1B also shared his wisdom. Siddall was very informed and knowledgeable without waving his hands like a traffic cop. There may have been too much analysis of Charlie Montoyo’s lineup but with the group the rookie manager had he could have pulled the names out of a hat before young uns arrived.

Campbell always kept things running smoothly with a sense of humour and a few puns -- but not too many. Formerly the man in the play-by-play booth during games, he has never lost his passion for the game or his respect for Canadian players. The pair were as comfortable together and interacted well as Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth back in their prime.

63. Rick Johnston, coach, Ontario Terriers (74)

The Terriers had their best season ever: their first grad made the majors RHP Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.), two players were drafted in 17th rounder Trevor Brigden who signed with the Rays and 27th rounder Kyle MacDonald (Mississauga, Ont.) who joined the Yankees and they had more players on the Junior National Team than any other team with SS Austin Gomm (Mississauga, Ont.), who earned all-star honors at the World championships, INF-OF Elijha Hammil (Oakville, Ont.) and LHP Connor O’Halloran (Mississauga, Ont.), son of former major league Greg O’Halloran. signed to attend University of Michigan, the first since LHP Mike Wilson (Pickering, Ont.) in 2008.

Established in 2005 by Danny Thompson, there were probably more wins in 2019 than most years as the team had first place finishes in all PBLO age divisions. The 16u Terriers won the Hoosier Classic in Ft Wayne, Ind. while 18u Terriers followed with back-to-back titles in Nashville and in Cleveland at the CABA World Series. The 17u Terriers won the 18u PBLO playoffs in Windsor.

Co-owners Nicole and Mike Tevlin have a deep staff led by Dean Dicenzo, John Milton, Ryan Armstrong, Scott Vandevalk, Kevin Hussey, Ryan Pollard, Omari Briscoe and Johnston, who has been instructing so long he now moves on to another generation of youngsters.

64. Shiraz Rehman, assistant GM, Rangers (55).

Rehman (Montreal, Que.) oversees the Rangers’ salary arbitration cases and contract negotiations, has input on trades and acquisitions, looks after roster management and administration, negotiating and structuring player contracts. He has an active hand in expanding the research and development/analytics department and handles some of the day-to-day front office duties. He is in his second season with the Rangers. After being an intern with the Red Sox, where he met Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer he headed to the Diamondbacks and then joined Epstein and Hoyer with the Cubs in 2012. After seven seasons in Chicago and a World Series ring he has a new club.

Born on Montreal’s West Island, he was raised in New York and played for the McGill University for four years being a captain for two. With toe constant changing of levels in front offices, he could loose the assistant title, become the GM now that Jon Daniels is president of baseball operations with the Rangers.

65. Allan Simpson, Canadian Hall of Fame selection committee (56).

The foremost authority on the history of the baseball draft, Simpson (Kelowna, BC) continues to serve as a consultant with Baseball America, the publication he founded in his garage in White Rock, BC, in 1980. He is also working on a follow-up to his popular 2016 book Baseball America’s Ultimate Draft Book.

The 2011 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee took over from the late Randy Echlin to head the Canuck ball hall’s 24-person selection committee. In 2019, he guided the voting process that saw former players Jason Bay (Trail, BC), Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, BC), longtime coach Rob Thomson (Corunna, Ont.) and former Jays GM Gord Ash (Toronto, Ont.) elected.

66. Jason Bay, 2019 Canadian Hall of Fame inductee (-).

Bay (Trail, BC) belted 54 of his 222 big league home runs out of the three spot in the lineup and he hit another one batting third at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in St. Marys, Ont., in June. Following Gord Ash and Rob Thomson to the podium, Bay, who earlier in the day had said that he wasn’t much of a speaker, delivered an inspiring and humorous speech with his wife, children and much of his extended family in attendance.

The determined outfielder had to work for every break he got in professional baseball. He received only one scholarship offer to a junior college out of high school, was drafted in the 22nd round by the Montreal Expos in 2000 and was traded three times before he got his first extended big league opportunity. But the right-handed hitting Canuck persevered to become the first Canadian to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award and a three-time major league All-Star. It’s no wonder then that the town council in his hometown of Trail, B.C., approved naming a ball field in his honour in November. Bay now lives in the Seattle area with his family and helps coach his kids ball teams.

67. Les McTavish coach, Vauxhall Academy (79).

If you are going off wins -- and who doesn’t like winning? -- the Jets had their best won-loss record in their 14 years. They won the prestigious Bishop Gorman Tournament in Las Vegas for the first time ever, took the Missoula (Mont.) tournament, won the PBA tournament and also their own Vauxhall tournament.

Headed off to school in the fall and the spring are 3B Max Grant (Fredricton, NB) and 1B Carlin Dick (Abbotsford BC) both to to Canisius University, 1B Jackson Clemett (Calgary, Alta.) is going to Utah, INF Anson McGorman (Parksville, BC) to Sacramento State, LHP Ben Adams (Ottawa, Ont.) to St. John’s, RHP Chase Florendine (Lethbridge, Alta.) to Illinois State and RHP Matt Wiggins (Merrickville, Ont.) to Niagara University.

Former Jet Josh Burgmann (Nanaimo, BC) went to the Cubs in the fifth round for $225,000 and LHP Thomas Little (Lethbridge, Alta.) was selected by the Phillies. McTavish also scouts for the Mariners.

68. Greg Brons, Going Yard facility (69).

Logan Hofmann (Muenster, Sask.) may have earned a nickname: Tip. As in he is the Tip of the Iceberg. Drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 35th round he turned down “Pretty good money to sign” after being an all-star with the Falmouth Commodores in the Cape Cod League. Instead, he will attend Northwestern State University. Hoffman was a reason Saskatchewan won national championship in 2016 and the Canada Games gold in 2017.

Yet, coming behind him are more and more, thanks to the new baseball/ softball indoor training facility, part of the Gordie Howe Complex in Saskatoon. It is the biggest one in Canada with a first-class weight room upstairs. There are two full size infields with turf indoors as well as nine batting cages with six hack attack pitching machines. Fundraising continues for two full size outdoor turf practice infields beside the building plus outdoor batting cages.

As well, the Nutana bantam diamonds in Saskatoon have been renovated. They have two diamonds lit with LED lights and one diamonds has synthetic turf. Registration continues to grow in Saskatoon due to the volunteers in the city.

69. Adam Stephens and Scott Crawford, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (75).

In the most exciting year in the Canadian ball hall’s history in St. Marys, Ont., a 2,500-square foot addition to the museum was officially opened in the spring. Chairman of the Board Stephens (Stratford, Ont.) and Director of Operations Crawford (Georgetown, Ont.) worked tirelessly to make this happen. One part of the expanded area in the museum offers the R. Howard Webster Foundation Visitors Lounge which is a multi-purpose room for groups and social events, as well as a home for temporary and travel exhibits. Also brand new is the Harry Simmons Memorial Library and Centre for Canadian Baseball Research which houses the Hall’s historic documents and artifacts. The Hall also hired Christi Hudson as its new curator in July.

Renovations to the stone house which served as the museum for the past 20 years were also completed. In its new incarnation, the old stone house showcases permanent exhibits professionally design by BaAM Productions that tell that the most important stories in Canadian baseball history. On top of the renovations, Crawford worked long hours to organize several fund raising events as well as another outstanding induction ceremony in June which featured Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae as emcee.

70. Tom Tango, Advanced Media, MLB (63).

If you watch MLB.Network you can hear some stats you didn’t know about playing Little League. The man who is a THE EXPERT in metrics like barrels, catch probability, exit velocity (speed off the bat) and sprint speed to describe performance is Canadian. Online he is known as TangoTiger (Montreal, Que.). He is the senior data architect for baseball.

And now the 2019 evidence from the 95 loss Jays: Most barrels: Randal Grichuk, 36, while the major league leader was Royals Jorge Soler with 70; most five-star catches: Grichuk, two, while A’s Robbie Grossman, Twins Byron Buxton and Cards Harrison Bader led with four apiece; most outs above average: Grichuk, six, while the leader was Nationals Victor Robles with 23; the highest average exit velocity Justin Smoak, 90.3 MPH, while the leader was Twins’ Nelson Cruz, 93.7; Above-average in sprint speed (minimum 10 competitive runs): Socrates Brito 29.8 ft/sec, Anthony Alford 29.4 and Teoscar Hernandez 29.1, while the best was Diamondbacks Tim Locastro 30.8.

71. Jacques Doucet, broadcaster (-).

A finalist for the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2020 Ford C. Frick Award, Doucet continues to be a beloved and respected voice among Canadian fans. The Montreal native served as the Expos French-language play-by-play man from 1972 to 2004 and has now been calling Blue Jays games in French for TVA Sports since 2011.

Many Quebec baseball fans say Doucet is the reason they fell in love with the sport. After the Expos moved to Washington following the 2004 campaign, Doucet worked radio broadcasts for the Can-Am League’s Quebec Capitales home games from 2006 to 2011. He was inducted into the Quebec Hall of Fame in 2002 and was named to the Canadian Hall of Fame’s Jack Graney Award winner two years later.

Going back to records in 2004, Doucet has been a finalist in 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2020. His time will come.

72. Tyler O’Neill, Cardinals (46).

O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) started 30 games for the Cardinals (26 in left, three in centre and one game in right) fifth most of the team behind Dexter Fowler, Marcell Ozuna, Harrison Bader and Jose Martinez. Ozuna is a free agent while Adolis Garcia was dealt to the Rangers. Martinez and Randy Arozarena were shipped to the Rays for prospects on Jan. 12. GM John Mozeliak, said that the (Tampa Bay trade) “helps us create more opportunity in the outfield for players like Tyler O’Neill, Lane Thomas, and others.” The others would be Justin Williams and Dylan Carlson.

The former Langley Blaze appeared in 60 games, batting .262 with six doubles, five homers, 16 RBIs and a .773 OPS. His sprint speed was 29.9 ft/sec, which is sixth (Anything 30 and above is considered elite). He batted .301 (25-for-83) with four homers and 12 RBIs in 23 July games.

73. Kory Lafreniere, scout, Jays.

Lafreniere (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) is more than a Canadian Area Scout, as he is also the scouting coordinator. Lafreniere was the signing scout on Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.) of the Ontario Blue Jays, selected in the third round -- highest Canadian selected in 2019. Brown is the highest Canadian high schooler the Jays have signed since fourth rounder RHP Tom Robson (Richmond, BC) was chosen from the Langley Blaze and given a $325,000 bonus in 2011.

Brown signed for $797,500. Of course, besides Adam Arnold, Jasmin Roy, Jay Lapp and Lafreniere, played a large role in evaluating Brown. Lafreniere also signed 26th rounder Jean-Christophe Masson (Ancienne-Lorette, Que.) for $297,500.

74. Ashley Stephenson, former women’s team MVP (67).

Ashley (Mississauga, Ont.) retired in March of 2019 after 15 seasons with the women’s program, a winner of a Pan Am silver medal to go with two World Cup silvers and four bronzes. Baseball Canada’s Andre Lachance -- her former coach -- asked her to continue as a coach. A knee injury officiating a university hockey game helped opened the door. Ashley coached third for manager Aaron Myette (New Westminster, BC) at the World Cup qualifier in Aguascalientes, Mex. The Canucks beat host Mexico and Ashley has a sore arm waving runners around in an 11-1 romp for the bronze after qualifying earlier. Ashley was invited by to attend winter meetings in San Diego for sessions designed for growth in the areas of diversity and inclusion within the sport.

Ashley went out with her boots on as major leaguers say -- her final game was an 8-5 extra-innings win over the United States in 2018 in Florida, giving Canada bronze at the Worlds. Ashley was a two-way threat. Besides the diamond, she skated for the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks earning four OUAA titles, a gold medal at the National final, plus all-Canadian and Most Valuable Player awards. In 2011, she was inducted to Laurier Hall of Fame. Ashley, was selected MVP of Canada’s National Women’s team and winner of the Jimmy Ratttlesnake award in 2005. Now a teacher in Burlington Ashley was elected the only Canadian to the World Softball Baseball Confederation Athletes Commission in 2017.

75. William Humber, Canadian baseball historian (66).

Humber, the only historian elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, has enjoyed another active year working on multiple projects. On top of being one of the founding directors of the Centre for Canadian Baseball Research which opened its doors in St. Marys, Ont., this spring, the veteran author has two more books on the go. His first, slated to be published in 2020, will shine the spotlight on Tex Simone who served as the triple-A Syracuse Chiefs GM when the team was affiliated with the Blue Jays. This will be a great read.

Humber’s second will focus on Robert Addy (Port Hope, Ont.), first Canadian to play in the majors. And fortunately for Canadian ball fans, talk of his retirement from his annual Spring Training for Fans course have proven to be false. The course will, however, change its location. Held at Seneca College for the past 41 years, this year’s sessions will take place under Humber’s supervision at the Toronto Public Library in March.

76. Chris Reitsma, senior advisor amateur pitching, Royals (58).

Another busy year for the former major leaguer. Every five days -- if possible -- he would watch his pupil RHP Mike Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) pitch for the Braves. And leading up to the draft he scoured North America searching at the top pitching prospects. He’s now with the Royals, after a successful stint with the Orioles.

Reitsma (Calgary, Alta.) was in on sandwich pick RHP Alec Marsh of Arizona State, who the Royals gave a $904,300 signing bonus and third rounder RHP Grant Gambrell from Oregon State awarded $647,500. Four of KC’s first six picks were position players.

In 2018 with the Orioles, he was in on RHP Grayson Rodriguez (10-4, 2.68, 36 walks, 129 strikeouts in 94 innings at class-A Delmarva) a first round (11th over-all) high schooler given a $4.3 million bonus.

77. Bart Yabsley, Sportsnet.

Yabsley was named president of Sportsnet in March. His mandate is to oversee the network’s programming, rights acquisitions, sponsorships and product innovation. He joined Rogers Media in 2014 and had been senior vice president of sports and entertainment partnerships and content distribution.

He has more than 30 years of experience, after starting his career as a lawyer. He graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School and Dalhousie University. Prior to joining Rogers, he worked at Bell Media/CTV Inc. for more than 15 years in executive roles including executive vice president of content sales and distribution, executive VP of business planning and distribution, and CTV specialty television Inc.

78. Stéphanie Savoie, Quebec Hall of Famer.

Stéphanie (La Pocatière, Que.) became the first female player inducted into Quebec’s Baseball Hall of Fame. (Scorekeeper Francyne Lauzon, was inducted in 2003). Stéphanie is the first woman who didn’t play in the All-American Girls Professional League to receive such an honour, in any province or nation. The power-hitting catcher is the youngest person in Quebec’s hall of fame, which includes former Expo stars Gary Carter and Rusty Staub.

The 5-foot-8 Stéphanie joined the national team in 2008, winning the starting job behind the plate in 2012. At the 2014 Women’s Baseball World Cup, she threw out six attempted base stealers on 17 attempts, as well as winning silver with Canada at the Pan Am Games in 2015, silver at the Women’s World Cup in 2008 and bronze at the same event in 2012. Stéphanie earned top female catcher in the world in 2012 and 2014 Women’s Baseball World Cup, when she was Team Canada MVP, retiring in 2015.

79. Adam Stern, coach, Great Lake Canadians (78).

Stern (London, Ont.) and Chris Robinson (Dorchester, Ont.) keep churning out players headed to NCAA Division I schools. To name a few Tyler Hinrikus (Kitchener, Ont.) to Ball State, Brian Zapp (Waterloo, Ont.) Miami of Ohio, Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, Ont.) Alabama, OF Noah Myers (Wyoming, Ont.), University of South Carolina, Eric Martin (Kitchener, Ont.) Indiana State University, RHP Garner Spoljaric (Lisle, Ont.) Stetson University.

Besides former major leaguers Stern and Robinson, the Canadians have a number of ex-pros helping out with instruction, many of them former London Badgers: Brock Kjeldgaard (London, Ont.), Jeff Helps (Wyoming, Ont.), Shane Davis (Belmont, Ont.), Jon Fitzsimmons (London, Ont.), Derek Bloomfield (Strathroy, Ont.), Brad McElroy (London, Ont.), Jamie Romak (London, Ont.) and Larry Balkwill (Chatham, Ont.). Robinson and Fitsimmons have added to Alexis Brudnicki’s wonderful website, one of the best in the country. The teams won the CPBL championships at the 14U, 15U, 16U and 17U levels last summer.

80. Matt Higginson, scout, A’s.

Heading into this draft 29 of the 30 major-league clubs had signed a Canadian player to a six-figure bonus. The only team not to was Oakland, which concentrates on college players (and there is only one college program, UBC, in Canada).

That all changed this summer when Higginson (Grimsby, Ont.) drafted and signed Tyler Schofield-Sam (Brampton, Ont.) from the Ontario Blue Jays in the 12th round and went away above slot to give him a $320,000 signing bonus. Schofield-Sam’s father, Frankie Sam, came to Canada from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

81. Steve Simmons, columnist (92).

If you don’t like the way the current regime was headed in 2019, Simmons was the must read. There was a time when three newspapers covered the Jays like a tarp. They gave praise when praise was due (like 11 straight winning seasons) and were critical (during the 22-year-drought).

Simmons is the most critical scribe when it comes to the Jays and therefore his fan base among disgruntled Jays fans has grown. He can be read from Vancouver to Montreal and this year was inducted into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame in Calgary with his cousin Danny Bliewas, who married his first cousin’s daughter, at his side. Bliewas happened to be in town for a conference. Pinball Clemens of the Argos gave a tremendous speech and Simmons followed it up with one of his own talking about going to games with his father.

82. Jason Dickson, president, Baseball Canada (83).

The 11th president in Baseball Canada’s 55-year history, Dickson (Miramichi, N.B.) has done an admirable job stepping into the large shoes of previous president and 2017 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ray Carter. In 2019, Dickson completed his second two-year term as the head of the organization. Among the 2019 highlights for him were seeing the men’s national team win silver at the Pan Am Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil and the women’s squad capture bronze at the World Cup qualifier at Aguascalientes, Mexico. This year was also the first year there was participation from all 10 provinces at the 16U girls national championship.

Dickson reached the top as a pitcher, going from the 1991 gold-medal winning Canuck team at the World Juniors to pitching four big league seasons with the Angels. In 1997, he posted a 13-9 record and made 32 starts for the Angels, earning him an All-Star nod and a third-place finish in American League Rookie of the Year race (behind Nomar Garciaparra and Jose Cruz Jr.).

83. Joey Ellison, coach, Ontario Blue Jays 18U.

Former Mississauga Southwest Twin and Mississauga North Tiger, Ellison took over for Sean Travers as Ellison is the head of operations for owners Stephanie and Joe Wilkinson. In June of 2019, OF Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.) was the top Canadian pick giving the Ontario Blue Jays the top pick in the country for the fifth time in the past eight years. The others were C Noah Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) a first rounder in 2018, 1B Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) was a first rounder in 2015, OF Gareth Morgan (North York, Ont.) was a second rounder in 2014, 3B Eric Wood (Pickering, Ont.) an Ontario Blue Jays grad was sixth rounder in 2012.

Kyle DeGrace reports to Ellison (Mississauga, Ont.) and Greg Byron reports to Mike Steed who reports to Ellison. The Ontario Blue Jays will have a new addition come August when former Abbotsford Cardinals coach Corey Eckstein (Abbotsford, BC) arrives. Ellison learned pitching mechanics from two of the best Remo Cardinale (Thornill, Ont.) and Steed.

84. Stu Scheurwater, umpire (71).

In his second full year in the majors Scheurwater (Regina, Sask.) worked 118 games, the same as last season. He had 29 plate assignments in the regular season. He is the first Canadian to be a major-league umpire since the late, great Jim McKean (Montreal, Que.), who retired in 2001 and passed in 2019.

He worked seven games at Rogers Centre: a four-game series May 20-23 and Sept. 10-12. Both series were against the Red Sox. While in Toronto last year, his crew visited SickKids Hospital as part of the UMPS CARE program.

85. Denny Berni, coach, Pro Teach (82).

He did not coach in 2019, but the Rangers 18U he put together went to the Canadian nationals and lost in final for the second straight year. He served as general manager of the Humber Hawks, besides giving instruction at the facility Bob Symth created and coaching his son Dante Berni.

In addition to ex-pros Geoff McCallum and Berni, former RHP Eddie McKiernan is now helping out with teaching. McKiernan, a 17th round choice of the Angels in 2007, played for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in the class-A California League in 2010 and was a teammate of Mike Trout. The facility is where Joey Votto honed his trade and Votto will drop in for a workout. We’ve seen him give advice to youngsters when he complete his workout. Students from Hollycrest Middle School are there weekdays.

86. Dana Bookman, Toronto Girls Baseball (89).

The Founder and CEO of the Canadian Women’s Baseball Association (including Toronto Girls, Manitoba Girls and Nova Scotia Girls leagues) has touched a lot of lives in a short period of time. A producer for CBC, CTV and Discovery – it is a simplistic story. A mom could not find a girls-only loop for her daughter. So she started her own.

The league, which began with 42 players, entered 2019 with over 600 players in three provinces. Her approach is to teach girls how to play to win and learn how to lose, as how the girls learn lessons in teamwork and build communications, self confidence and relationship skills. Her Girl Expo Canada is one-day trade show in Toronto that celebrates girls.

87. Jon Lalonde, player personnel coordinator, Jays (93).

Lalonde is very involved with transactions and trade deadline discussions. On the pro side for the Jays, it is more about compiling information. Scouts -- not just Kevin Briand (Montreal, Que.) and Lalonde (Midland, Ont.) -- don’t have the same single handed ability as say 5-to-10 years ago. The Jays relied on their reports making deals.

When he was scouting director, Lalonde ran six amateur drafts, with his best picks being when he and scout Tom Burns combined on lefty Brett Cecil, 38th overall in 2007, who will have made $31.7 million by the end of 2020. Plus, DH Adam Lind, RHP Jesse Litsch, LHP Ricky Romero, OF Travis Snider, C JP Arencibia, LHP Marc Rzepczynski, OF Eric Thames, C A.J. Jiménez, RHP Chad Jenkins, RHP James Paxton, OF Jake Marisnick and INF Ryan Goins to mention a few.

88. Mike Wilner, broadcaster, The Fan (93).

Wilner is more than a voice on radio from the pregame show until picking the best player of the game. He is a member of the board of directors of Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys and each year is the master of ceremonies at the year’s best banquet: the Baseball Canada fundraiser.

He does a fine job painting pictures on the radio, but we found ourselves missing him on Jays Talk after games. Not that Scott MacArthur, who took over, did a bad job. Far from it. He was excellent. He had the answers people wanted, but he was not there the whole year. And that made us think all the more than once “How would Wilner have handled that call?” As always, there were some cranky calls during last year’s 95-loss season. The host of the postgame show has not been filled yet.

89. Richard and Patrick Griffin Blue Jays P.R.(90).

Now Richard is back to his roots. He began working for the Expos with Larry Chiasson and Monique Giroux, a group respected as the best in baseball. When the Jays were on their way to winning the 1992 World Series over Atlanta, Richard was taking the Robert O. Fishel award, an award handed out annually to an individual who best exemplifies public relations excellence in Major League Baseball. We’ve seen the plaque walking through the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Dave Perkins of the Toronto Star hired Richard as the paper’s baseball columnist in 1995 and Griffin won the Jack Graney award 2014, which goes to the person who has made significant contributions to baseball in Canada and is presented annually by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont. Richard and I have been “homies.” He was born in Kingston, Jamaica and I was born in Kingston, Ont. -- Canada’s first capital. For the 2019 season he moved back to the P.R. department of the Jays and has a solid staff in Adam Felton, Rodney Hiemstra and Ryan Brown. Alykhan Ravjiani is responsible for the most of the good Tweets you read.

After serving with the class-A Vancouver Canadians and working at 1 Blue Jays Way, Patrick, a former catcher for the Oakville A’s, is now working scouting Canadians.

90. Chris Kemlo, scout, Padres, PBR.

There may be busier baseball men in the country but not many see more players than Kemlo. Kemlo (Bowmanville, Ont.) coaches the Toronto Mets 18U and runs the Prep Baseball Report, which involves staging workouts, camps and evaluating players across the province. A rough guess would be 150 days a year at the park or inside a facility. A 34th rounder of the Yankees in 2001, he spent four years in the New York system (with the rookie-class Gulf Coast Yankees, class-A Tampa and class-A Battle Creek), two with the Diamondbacks (class-A Yakima) and two in Indy ball (Edmonton and Quebec).

In 2020, he will have even more work and more diamonds to visit and more players to see. He will be filling the large shoes taking over for Murray Zuk (Souris, Man.). Zuk was the longest serving member of the Canadian scouting community and is retiring. Padres area scout James Parker (Toronto, Ont.) suggested Kemlo for the job.

91. Marc Griffin, broadcaster, RDS.

Quebec ball fans get their baseball fix from watching play-by-play man Alain Usereau, who has written a book on the Expos, and former minor leaguer OF Griffin. Griffin (Boucherville, Que.) signed out of the National Baseball Institute in 1989 by the Dodgers and played three seasons at class-A Vero Beach and class-A Bakersfield. Then two more seasons in the Expos system at class-A West Palm Beach and double-A Harrisburg. They work games from the RDS studios, roughly 60-to-65 a season, except when they are at the World Series.

Griffin, whose style has been compared to Sportsnet’s Joe Siddall when it comes to explaining the technical aspects, is on the Baseball Quebec’s board of governors. His son Henri Griffin is an INF with the Okotoks Dawgs. When not on air he helps coach his two younger sons’ teams.

92. Ben Nicholson-Smith, Sportsnet (97).

His best story of the season was probably the day that the Marcus Stroman trade took place on July 28. On a getaway day the Jays turned left, headed for the bus to Pearson and on to Kansas City, while Stroman left the clubhouse and walked straight ahead, bound for the underground parking. An unusual day: Eric Sogard was dealt to the Rays, the clubhouse was closed after the game as Stroman was told that he was headed to New York -- the Mets, not the Yankees. In between Nicholson-Smith observed Aaron Sanchez improving his place on trade market (10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings) and Shelley Duncan, the major-league field coordinator, who started 2019 as a coach, would be reassigned.

So two trades, a surging starter and a coach on his way out. All of in a span of five hours. He also pointed out how the Jays would not win PR points hiring another Farrell (Shane Farrell as the new scouting director). Arden Zwelling and Nicholson-Smith have a podcast called At the Letters.

93. Maxime Lamarche, executive director, Baseball Québec (-).

The 2019 season was one of change for Baseball Quebec and its Academy Baseball Canada. And Lamarche (Montreal, Que.) was in the midst of the decision making. Rob Fatal is no longer the head coach. Fatal’s responsibilities for now are divided between the coaching staff. A strong staff is in place with Maxime Hockhoussen (Laval, Que.) as player development coordinator and 16U manager, Marc-Antoine Bérubé ((Montreal, Que.) as pitching coordinator, legendary Quebec Capitales starter Karl Gelinas (Quebec, Que.) as the associate pitching coach, Yannick Bergeron as hitting coordinator, 18U manager and in charge of new technology and innovation, Yannick Desjardins as defensive coordinator and Raimondo Callari as special advisor to the program.

The 2020 season is the 30th anniversary of the ABC, which moves deeper into the technology era concentrating on spin rate, etc. Lamarche will look after the schedule as ABC teams will continue to train from September under April. There are over 50 players playing college ball this spring -- most of them from the ABC.

94. Jeff Simpson, Brewers scout (88).

Signed sixth rounder LHP Nick Bennett from Louisville for $242,400, 11th rounder LHP Brock Begue of Cuyahoga JC and 13th rounder LHP Jackson Gillis Vanderbilt for $125,000. He is following in the shoes of his father, Allan Simpson, who founded Baseball Amercia.

He has two on the Brewers top 10 prospect list. OF Tristen Lutz, a first rounder Arlington, Tex. high schooler in 2017 and RHP Zack Brown, a fifth rounder from Kentucky in 2016 sit second and third on Baseball America’s top 10 list of prospects. Lutz hit .255, with 13 homers, 54 RBIs and a .754 OPS at class-A Carolina at age 20. Brown was 3-7 with a 5.79 at double-A San Antonio walking 64 and striking out 98 in 116 2/3 innings.

95. Kevin Briand, scout, Jays (-).

Briand (North York, Ont.) grew up in Montreal, used to work for Baseball Canada and then became the Jays Canadian director of scouting. He is now one of 17 Jays pro scouts. He is one the hardest working scouts on staff.

Last year he covered the Giants, Rangers and Indians organizations. In 2018, when the Jays sent Joe Smith to the Indians, coming back to Toronto were LHP Thomas Pannone, 23, and INF Samad Taylor, 18. Pannone appeared in 39 games in 2019 for the Jays going 3-6 with a 6.16 ERA as he walked 31 and whiffed 69 in 73 innings. Taylor hit .216 in 108 games at class-A Dunedin with seven homers, 38 RBIs and a .689 OPS. He was 26-for-36 on the base paths.

96. Gregor Chisholm, columnist, Toronto Star.

After doing a great job writing for Jays beat reporter for MLB.com he switched mediums: from website to newspaper. He was the Star’s pick out of many qualified applicants to replace Richard Griffin.

Chisholm (Saint John, NB), a graduate of of St. Francis Xavier University and Ryerson University, is now writing without the shackles of the New York office. Chisholm found his voice quickly. However, as my friend John Matthew IV, Chisholm’s former boss says while he agrees about Chisholm writing on the Jays, one has to be careful. There is a man by same name who writes about the hoops. If you go off the byline, suddenly you find yourself reading about dinosaurs rather than baseball.

97. Adam Arnold, scout, Jays (-).

Arnold was involved in evaluating the Jays highest pick of a Canadian high schooler -- Ontario Blue Jays OF Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.) -- in the third round since 2011 when RHP Tom Robson (Richmond, BC) was selected in the fourth. Arnold scouted the country to select players for the annual Tournament 12 rosters.

In 2020 Arnold will be promoted to an area scout covering the Four Corners: Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and the talent-rich Arizona.

98. Michael Bonanno, agent (98).

With the Ballplayers Agency, Bonanno (Burlington, Ont.) and his Michigan-based staff represent over 72 clients including ex-Jays C Erik Kratz and Marlins INF Jon Berti, as well as Red Sox Marcus Walden, Orioles C Austin Wynns, A’s OF Seth Brown, Indians’ C Beau Taylor, Marlins’ LHP Josh D. Smith and Jays Jordan Romano (Markham, Ont.) who made his debut this season.

Other Canucks include A’s TJ Schofield-Sam (Brampton, Ont.) selected in the 12th round and given a $320,000 US bonus, plus, Brewers’ Tyler Gillies (London, Ont.), Padres’ LHP Erik Sabrowski (Edmonton, Alta.), Twins LaRon Smith (Spruce Grove, Alta.), Padres RHP Jake Sims, (Guelph, Ont.) and free agent Eric Wood (Pickering, Ont.) a Team Canada veteran in the Pirates system in 2019.

99. Claude Pelletier, scout, Mets. (73).

Pelletier is the first Quebec scout to be inducted into the Quebec Hall of Fame. He worked for the Dodgers signing Cy Young award winner Eric Gagne and then with the Mets. He was a booster of local talent, drafting 20 Quebecers. In 2000, he received the Canadian Baseball Network’s Jim Ridley award as scout of the year. Richard Gladu (Montreal, Que.), Mario Morissette (Quebec, Que.) and Pelletier (Saint-Lazare, Que.), had their Hall of Fame plaques unveiled Aug. 5, 2019 at Stade Canac as the class of the 2018.

Gladu was a tireless volunteer with Baseball Quebec in the Montreal region as the GM of one of the Inter-Metropolitan City league, having his received Volunteer of the Year award from Baseball Canada in 2009, while Morisette is a well-respected scribe in Quebec.

100. Aaron Myette women’s team manager.

Myette (New Westminster, BC) had big shoes to fill, taking over for Andre Lachance. In his first season as manager, he guided the team to a third place finish at World Cup qualifier in Aguascalientes, Mex. to advance. Led by Amanda Asay (Prince George, BC), Alli Schroder (Fruitvale, BC), Sena Catterall (Pierrefonds, Que.), Ellie Jesperson (Spruce Grove, Alta.), Stacy Fournier (Surrey, BC), Kelsey Lalor (Red Deer, Alta.) and Britt Langlais (Garson, Man.).

Canada beat the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico, while losing to Team USA and Venezuela. Next up is leading a young squad into the World Cup qualifier this September in Monterrey, Mex. The women’s team maintained its No. 2 world ranking trailing only No. 1 Japan.

101. Rest in Peace: Don Breen (Winnipeg, Man.), John Broll (Mississauga, Ont.), Ken Campbell (Scotstown, Que.), Betty Carveth Dunn (Grande Prairie, Alta.), Brian Coffey (Kingston, Ont.), Frank Guly (Winnipeg, Man.), Al Johnson (Winnipeg, Man.), Jack Langmaid (Oshawa, Ont.), Jim Lawson (Richmond, BC), Dr. Andy Lillie (Winnipeg, Man.), Margaret (Callaghan) Maxwell (Vancouver, BC), Jim McKean (Montreal, Que.), Bob Picken (Winnipeg, Man.), Gordon Simpson (Winnipeg, Man.), Ted Stone (Oshawa, Ont.), Bill Tanguay (Montreal, Que.) and Lorne Thompson (Dorchester, Ont.).

Breen was a volunteer for the Winnipeg South Minor Association and had a diamond at the Charleswood Baseball Complex named in his honour.

Broll was a long-time Mississauga North coach with the Bengals and the Tigers. From 1997-to-2002, he coached the Bengals and in 2005 he helped with the Tigers, which included Dalton Pompey. Broll won an OBA honour and a pair of COBA championships with the Tigers.

Campbell, a proud supporter of the Ottawa-Nepean Canadians since the 1970s. He passed April 12 at the age of 81. Campbell only coached one season of Little League, but he was a huge influence on his sons Don, who has been involved with the Canadians since 1977, and Murray, who played for the Nepean Knights as a youngster. When he wasn’t at home cheering on John Gibbons and the Blue Jays, Campbell could often be found at Ottawa parks quietly rooting on the local teams. Though he was raised in Quebec, Campbell was a hardcore Toronto Maple Leafs fan. He was also a devoted Montreal Expos supporter who once saw Willie Mays and Willie McCovey club back-to-back home runs at Jarry Park.

Carveth Dunn, a former All-American Girls Professional League (AAGPBL) pitcher, passed Jan. 27 at the age of 93. A standout hurler in the local Edmonton ranks, she was signed by the Rockford Peaches prior to the 1945 season. In her sole AAGPBL campaign, she was an effective but hard-luck pitcher, posting a 4-11 record despite a sparkling 2.28 ERA in 21 combined appearances with the Peaches and the Fort Wayne Daises. Following that season, she returned to Edmonton and became the city’s first female Little League coach. In 1998, she was one of 68 Canadian women who played in the AAGPBL to be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Coffey, former centre fielder of the Kingston Indians and Ponies passed away on Wolfe Island at age of the 74 on April 24. Coffey, who was also a Kingston fire fighter, spent seven seasons with the local seniors from 1967 to 1973 and helped the club to two senior championships. The former Wolfe Island Bridge Booster’s finest season with the Indians came in 1967 when he batted .296 in 19 games. In all, in 139 contests he batted .242 and scored 68 runs.

Guly had a passion for baseball, whether it was watching or playing. He caught and pitched with five Winnipeg teams, most notably the Canadian Ukrainian Athletic Club (CUAC) Blues, champion of the Greater Winnipeg Senior League, when he joined in 1944. He was inducted into the baseball HOF with the Blues.

Johnson played for the St. Boniface Native Sons a OF team. He was a talented lefty pitcher, first baseman, and outfielder, playing River Heights Cardinals in Tribune Junior All Star.

Langmaid, a junior star in Oshawa between 1943 and 1947, passed away on May 17 at the age of 93. A gifted multi-sport athlete, Langmaid tossed a no-hitter for Oshawa B’Nai Brith against the Oshawa Hunt Club in the Lakeshore Junior League in 1946 to lead his club to a 12-0 win. It was one of several low-hit games that Langmaid hurled as a junior. Two years earlier, while with the Oshawa Coca-Colas, he batted .455, good for second-best in his league. Langmaid, who became a well-respected orthodontist, was also a four-time Oshawa Tennis Club men’s champion and a world-class, championship-winning sailor.

Lawson, a national team graduate and the founder of the PBF Redbirds, passed away on August 8 at the age of 52. Growing up in Richmond, BC, Lawson honed his pitching skills in his home province and with the Canadian national team before being selected by the Oakland A’s in the 1988 MLB draft. After three seasons in pro ball, he returned to BC to serve as a coach with Baseball BC and with a senior team in his hometown. He and his family eventually moved to Calgary where he established the PBF Redbirds and served as the head coach and lead instructor. Among the many graduates of the program is Braves all-star pitcher Mike Soroka (Calgary, Alta.).

Dr. Lillie who passed in Arizona was excellent three-sport athlete, who went into the Manitoba shrine with the Rosedales.

Maxwell, an infielder for eight seasons in the AAGPBL, passed away on Jan. 11 at the age of 97. Maxwell, whose maiden name was Callaghan, played professionally in the AAGPBL with her sister, Helen, and it’s been reported that they were the inspiration behind the iconic sister characters, Dottie Hinson (played by Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (played by Lori Petty), in the classic movie, “A League of the Own.” After growing up playing fastball in Vancouver, she became a steady infielder in the AAGPBL for five different teams between 1944 and 1951. She was one of 68 Canadian women that played in the AAGPBL inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.

McKean, a Montreal native and legendary big league umpire, passed away on Jan. 24 at the age of 73. After a stint with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, McKean served as a junior hockey referee and as a basketball coach at Concordia University, before focusing on umpiring. He began calling games at the minor-pro level in 1970 and worked his first big league game in 1974. During his 28-year major league umpiring career, he was on the field for seven no-hitters, three all-star games, three World Series and was named Major League Baseball Umpire of the Year in 1988. In 2002, he accepted a position as supervisor of umpires with the commissioner’s office. For his efforts, he was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004.

Picken was known for broadcasting career with CJOB and CBC. He was a man for all seasons as his lengthy career included inductions into the Manitoba baseball, curling, golf and hockey halls of fame.

Simpson went into the Manitoba Baseball HOF with the St. Boniface Native Sons. He also coached the 1964 Allan Cup champion Winnipeg Maroons.

Stone, an Oshawa pitching and coaching legend, passed away on July 16 at the age of 86. Stone began his successful pitching career with the Oshawa Legion, Branch 43 in 1946. Seven years later, while playing for the Oshawa Merchants of the Intercounty League, he was scouted and signed by the Boston Red Sox. He’d spend four seasons in the pros before returning to Oshawa to play and assist the Merchants. He later coached in the Oshawa Minor Association for more than three decades. For his efforts, he was inducted into the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Tanguay, a founding director of the Okotoks Dawgs, passed away on Nov. 16, just 10 days shy of his 92nd birthday. Born in Montreal, Tanguay moved to Alberta in the late ’50s and established his successful company, Metro Tech Systems Ltd. A longtime season ticket-holder of the triple-A Calgary Cannons, Tanguay played a key role in bringing summer collegiate baseball to Okotoks, Alta., and he could always be found cheering on his beloved Dawgs from his seat adjacent to their dugout. For his tireless support of the Dawgs, the team named their home clubhouse at the Duvernay Fieldhouse in his honour.

A youth coach, Thompson passed away on Christmas Eve Day in 2018 at the age of 77 after our 2018 list was published. He was a one-of-a-kind, unfiltered character and one of the most influential and passionate coaches in Dorchester, Ontario baseball history. LT, as he was called, was blunt and supportive, tough yet caring. He was a supportive member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and in his true candid fashion, each year he’d complain about who had and hadn’t been inducted, but he was always there on induction day, renewing his membership and bidding generously on the silent auction items.

102. Denis Boucher, Team Canada/Yankees.

It is always a hut-hut, hurry-up offence in international competition. Pitching coach Boucher (Lachine, Que.) looked after the Canuck staff which allowed six runs in three games against Cuba, Korea and Australia at the Premier12 in Korea. Canada’s Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) pitched eight scoreless facing Cuba. Scott Mathieson (Aldergrove, BC), Rob Zastryzny (Edmonton, Alta.), Chris Leroux (Mississauga, Ont.), William McAffer (North Vancouver, BC), Evan Rutckyj (Windsor, Ont.) Dustin Molleken (Regina, Sask.), Brock Dykxhoorn (Goderich, Ont.), Brandon Marklund (North Vancouver, BC) and Aumont combined to allow six runs on 14 hits and seven walks, while fanning 29 in three games.

Boucher also scouted Canada for the Yankees, who drafted and signed third round Jake Sanford (Cole Harbour, NS) of Western Kentucky University for $597,500 and 27th rounder 1B Kyle MacDonald (Mississauga, Ont.) for $5,000.

103. Adnan Virk, MLB Network

DAZN has hired Virk to host its new nightly baseball show, ChangeUp, a live whip-around program that began March 28, opening day of the 2019 MLB season. The fast-talking movie affincinado was previously with ESPN as a studio host for “Baseball Tonight,” “SportsCenter” and “Outside the Lines.” Unless you had a dish you didn’t see much of him.

Yet, he was on MLB Network this winter and was out-STAND-ing. From the Kingston area, he was at The Score for roughly seven years. He exudes passion for the game.

104. Anuk Karunaratne, VP, Jays.

In his third season with the Jays after joining the club on Opening Day of 2017. Karunaratne (Vancouver, BC) oversees business analytics, fan insights, strategic projects, concessions, and works closely with the executive leadership team on organizational strategy. He assumed the other half of Andrew Miller’s portfolio when Miller headed to the Minnesota Vikings.

Before joining the Jays, he was a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group focused on corporate strategy in the CPG, retail, health care and sports and entertainment industries. Prior to that he held roles at customer research, analytics, and marketing consulting firms where he built and managed data and analytics practices and led client initiatives He holds a biomedical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.

105. Murray Zuk, former scout, Padres.

The longest serving member of the Canadian scouting community, a man who saw the first pitch and ther last offering of every tournament. He is a former winner of the Jim Ridley Canadian Baseball Network scout of the year award.

Zuk was part of four Manitoba provincial winners at Hamiota, was the first president of the Manitoba Baseball Association from 1969-70 when four groups amalgamated. He coached and umpired in Souris for many years, and was head coach for the Souris Cardinals Western Canada Juvenile champions in 1967. Zuk was C.F.A.B. director for four years, W.C.B.A. Director for two years. He scouted for the Reds for 28 years and then the Braves. He is a member of the Manitoba HOF.

106. Mike Steed, manager, Thunder Bay Border Cats.

If you see a pitcher with a high leg kick chances are Steed (Beamsville, Ont.) worked with him. He is with the Ontario Blue Jays and come summer will manage Thunder Bay Border Cats of the Northwoods summer college league. Steed signed a three-year contract. He returns to Thunder Bay after serving as the Border Cats manager in 2010 and 2011 and as the team’s pitching coach in 2009.

He has served with the Ontario Blue Jays as a head coach, pitching coach/instructor and college placement coordinator. And in his spare time he was a part-time scout with the Reds organization. He replaces Eric Vasquez, who guided the Cats to a 24-47 record in 2019.

Thunder Bay team president hopes that Steed will be able to bring in talent saying, “Mike has tremendous ties and connections throughout the college game in the US and also has a solid recruiting list of Canadian talent through his work with the Ontario Blue Jays program and his connections with Baseball Canada.”

107. Rob Ducey, hitting instructor, Fubon.

Ducey (Cambridge, Ont.), did not have his contract renewed as a minor league coach by the Phillies at the end 2019. He was headed to Denver to be interviewed by the Rockies for a job.

That’s when Phillies phoned and said that they had suggested him to the Fubon Guardians for the job of hitting coach in Taiwan. He took the job and the raise. Ducey, a member of the Cambridge HOF and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, wore a Jays uniform for parts of five seasons, prior to being dealt to the Angels in 1992. He had a two-year stint in the Japanese Pacific League with the Nippon Ham Fighters in 1995 and 1996 that saw him belt 51 home runs.

108. Spencer Estey, analyst, Jays.

Estey (Toronto, Ont.) developed the Jays entire database that which is used daily by people in the front office, pro and amataur scouts and player development. He’s had a massive impact on how the Jays operate.

The Waterloo grad started with the Jays at the beginning of the 2016. His work literally saves staffers 100s of hours and puts everything they need at employees’ fingertips.

109. Shawn Hill, scout, Yankees.

Hill is a pro scout for the 26-time World Series champions, working under director of pro scouting Dan Giese. Hill (Mississauga, Ont.) was drafted by Alex Agostino in the sixth round in 2000.

Only four Canadians have played for both the Expos and the Jays. The Yankees have two in Denis Boucher and Hill. Will the Yankees hire Rob Ducey (Cambridge, Ont.) next time he is available and Matt Stairs (Fredericton, NB) former Padres hitting coach.

110. Derek Marques, agent, Lakeridge Sports Management.

Marques represents 65 players, 50 players in affiliated ball another 15 playing in independent leagues. The top pick for the Whitby, Ont. native was Nic Enright who drafted in the 20th Round by the Indians out of Virginia Tech.

He attends to every need of Canadians: RHP Jake Polancic (Abbotsford, BC) who went in the 11th round of the 2016 draft from the :angley Blaze, Morgan Lofstrom (West Kelowna, BC) selected by the Reds in the 20th round from the Okanagan Athletics in 2013 and 22nd rounder J.D. Osborne (Whitby, Ont.) selected by the Marlins in 2017 from Tampa University.

111. Sam Katz, Indy owner (-)

The former Winnipeg mayor has owned the Winnipeg Goldeyes since 1994. Now he’s like the cavalry coming over the hill to keep an indy team in Ottawa. Either the cavalry or the Norris family which owned two of the original six NHL teams. The Ottawa Champions were about to come to an end with a $463,000 in rent due.

Katz will keep the team alive in the revamped Frontier League. He will team up with John Ruddy, Roger Greenberg, Bill Shenkman, Jeff Hunt and John Pugh -- the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group -- owners of the CFL Redblacks, the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s and Blackjacks in Canadian Basketball league.

112. Ed Heather, driver of the year (-).

Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty. Heather (Cambridge, Ont.) ran Babe Ruth and juniors in Galt as a coach and an executive, scouted for the Toronto Blue Jays and then was with the Ontario Terriers. Stepping back a pace or two this summer he was supposed to have a relaxing season.

Then, Rob Ducey’s father heard of a coach who had lost his driver’s license through illness. Over the hill on a white horse came Mr. Ed. “I think you should still be coaching and I’ll drive you to and from the games,” he told the man, whose wife was not into highway driveway. So in stepped Ed, some nights spending two hours on the road as a chaffeur. He was presented the Male Driver of the Year award (March 1-Aug. 3) at a special ceremony upstairs at the Lone Star at the airport.

Rob Ducey (Cambridge, Ont.), left, and Ed Heather (Cambridge, Ont.)’in 2005 when Ducey managed the Yankees extended spring league team and was the hitting coach for the Yankees’ New York-Penn League team, the class-A Staten Island Yankees.

Honourable mention

OF Jim Adduci, Burnaby, BC, Triple A Iowa/Cubs; LHP Andrew Albers, North Battleford, Sask. Orix Blue Wave, Japan; Jordy Alexander, Absolute Academy, Calgary, Alta.; Jeff Amos, Oyen, Alta., Badlands Academy; Alex Andreopoulos, Etobicoke, Ont., bullpen catcher, Blue Jays; J.P. Antonacci, Simcoe, Ont., Canadian Baseball Network; Don Archer, White Rock, BC, scout, Angels; Cole Armstrong, Surrey, BC, hitting coach. Surrey, BC, hitting coach, Class-A Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox); Pierre Arsenault, Pierrefonds, Que., pro scout, Miami Marlins; Amanda Asay, Prince George, BC, Canada women’s national baseball team.

Nick Ashbourne, Toronto, Ont., Yahoo Canada Sports; Laura Armstrong, Toronto, Ont., writer, Toronto Star; Derek Aucoin, Lachine, TVA, 98.5 FM, Quebec HOFer; Casey Auerbach, Westmount, Que., coach, McGill University; Phillippe Aumont, Gatineau, Que., Team Canada, Ottawa Champions, Canadian Baseball Network pitcher of the year, foreign or indy ball, Jays system; RHP Jordan Balazovic, Mississauga, Ont., Canadian Baseball Network affiliated pitcher of the year (Twins); John Axford, Port Dover, Ont., free-agent/promising TV talking head; Justin Ayles, Brampton, Ont., OUA Guru, OCAA Guru and Ontario Baseball Guru; John Azzoli, St. Catharines, Ont., vice-president, Fergie Jenkins league convenor and expansion; Ken Babcock, Oshawa, Ont., athletic director, Durham College; Evan Bailey, coach/GM, Okanagan Athletics.

Luke Baker, Cambridge, Ont., manager, Kitchener Panthers; Scott Ballantyne, Kincardine, Ont., coach, Laurier; Bruce Barker, visiting clubhouse, Rogers Centre; Ross Baron, grounds keeper, Nat Bailey Stadium, Sports Turf Manager of the Year Award class-A Northwest League for third consecutive season; Thomas Bell, Rexdale, Ont., Covermaster tarps; Al Bernacchi, Windsor, Ont., coach, Windsor Selects 21U; John Berry, Burnaby, BC, president Baseball BC; Matt Betts, Brantford, Ont., Canadian Baseball Network’s Big Man on Campus; Sean Bignall, Brampton, Ont., coach, Ontario Blue Jays 15U; Howie Birnie, Leaside, Ont., Keeper of the Shrine (Talbot Park) Baseball Ontario Hall of Famer; Scott Blinn, Toronto, Ont., clubhouse manager, Jays.

Rod Black, Toronto, Ont., broadcaster, TSN; Jeff Blair, Hamilton, Ont. broadcaster, The Fan, 2019 winner of the Jack Graney award; Jamie Bodaly, head coach, Langley Blaze, pro scout, Reds; Rob Boik, Spruce Grove, Alta., coach, Parkland Twins; Matt Blackborow, Stoney Creek, Ont., umpire Rookie-Class Gulf Coast League; Jordan Blundell, coach, Edmonton, Alta., Edmonton Prospects, co-host of the Prospects Show; Mike Boon, Etobicoke, Ont.; Toronto Mike’d Podcast; Jason Booth, Richmond Hill, Ont., coach, Ontario Astros 18U, The Dugout; Steve Boston, Nepean, Ont., son of Ottawa-Nepean Canadians founding father Brian (Chicago) Boston; Nick Boudreau, Fredericton, NB, executive Director Baseball New Brunswick; Shawn Bowman, Coquitlam, BC, coach, Oversee operations at Pirates Dominican Academy.

Jordan Broatch, White Rock, BC, coach, Douglas College: Charles Bronfman, Montreal, Que./New York, former Expo owner, Montreal, Que.; Gary Brotzel, Cupar, Sask., president, Regina Red Sox, Saskatchewan HOF inductee; Alexis Brudnicki, London, Ont., MLB.com press box rookie of the year when it came to ideas; Jason Bryans, Tecumseh, Ont., scout, Cardinals; Rob Butler, Ajax, Ont., coach/instructor, Butler Prospects/Butler Baseball Academy; Rich Butler, 709 Baseball Upper Island Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador; Scott Bullett, Welland, Ont., Bullett Proof Prospects/President of the Fergie Jenkins league; T.J. Burton, Ottawa, Ont., Toronto Blue Jays; Raimondo Callari, Côté St-Luc, Que., scout, Giants/ABC advisor.

Dick Callahan, Kitchener, Ont. Oakland A’s P.A. announcer; Don Campbell, Nepean, Ont., executive, Ottawa-Nepean Canadians Hall of Famer; Al Cantwell, Saint John, N.B., assistant coach, Airline High School, Bossier City, La.; Remo Cardinale, Thornhill, Ont., lifetime scholarship; Ken Carson, Barrie, president class-A Florida State League; Ray Carter, Tsawwassen, BC, former Baseball Canada president, owner of the Ray Carter Cup; Pat Cassidy, St. Albert, Alta., owner, Edmonton Prospects; Dean Castelli, Hamilton, Ont., manager, Hamilton Cardinals; Rory Cava, Thunder Bay Ont., part owner, Thunder Bay Border Cats; Steve Chatzispiros, Richmond, BC, manager, Whalley Chiefs; Rob Cherepuschak, Regina, Sask., Martin Academy.

Roop Chanderdat, London, Ont., manager, London Majors; David Chavarria, Burnaby, BC, rehab pitching co-ordinator (Braves); Don Cherry, Mississauga, Ont., Don Cherry’s Grapevine Podcast; Mike Chewpoy, coach/GM, Victoria Mariners; Voon Chong, Vancouver BC, assistant trainer, Blue Jays; Troy Clara, Toronto, Ont., senior director for Jays games, Sportsnet; Sharon Clarke, Regina, Sask., Regina Red Sox, Saskatchewan HOF inductee; Gary Cohen, Monteal, Que., The Baseball Cube; Jeremy Cohen, New York, vice-president, corporate sales, marketing, MLB.

Andrew Collier, Portage la Prairie, Man., general manager, Winnipeg Goldeyes; Murray Cook, Sackville, NS, scout, Tigers; Dave Cooper, coach, St. Clair College Saints, St. Clair Green Giants; Heather Connolly, Toronto, Ont., senior manager, baseball administration, Blue Jays; Wayne Corness, Surrey, BC, pitching coach, UBC; Joanna Cornish, Toronto, Ont., Hum and Chuck; Scott Costello, Barrie, Ont., umpire, triple-A International League; Mike Cormack, Toronto, Ont., Sportsnet; Rob Corte, vice president of production, Jays games, Sportsnet; Melissa Couto, Toronto, Ont., writer, Canadian Press; Jon Cram, Toronto, Ont., Alomar Sports.

Greg Cranker, Mississauga, Ont., coach, Erindale Cardinals; Francis Cubos, Toronto, Ont., coach, Ontario Blue Jays 15U; Phil Curtis, Sherwood Park, Alta., program director, Absolute Academy; Tom Dakers, Calgary, Alta., Bluebird Banter; Lars Davis, Grand Prairie, Alta., volunteer assistant coach, University of Florida; Darren Dekinder, executive director, Baseball Alberta; Lee Delfino, Brantford, Ont., coach, FieldHouse Pirates 17U; Kyle DeGrace, Toronto, Ont., coach, Ontario Blue Jays 16U; Claude Delorme, Sturgeon Falls, Ont., executive VP operations and events, Marlins; Guido Dell’unto, Toronto, Ont., coach, Ontario Blue Jays 14U.

Sam Dempster, Kingston, Ont., former coach, Durham Lords; Kyle Dhanani, White Rock, BC, White Rock Tritons; Dean Dicenzo, Binbrook, Ont., Hamilton Cardinals, Ontario Terriers, Rosie DiManno, columnist, Toronto Star; Erin Durant, Ottawa, Ont., BIG-time lawyer, BLG; David Dion, CEO, Fredericton, N.B. Baseball New Brunswick; Mark Ditmars, Toronto, Ont., vice-president, corporate partnerships, Toronto Blue Jays; Michael DiStefano, Toronto, Canadian Baseball Network; Jack Dominico, Toronto, owner, Toronto Maple Leafs; Andrew Downs, Cape Breton N.S. President Baseball Nova Scotia.

Jeff Duda, Surrey, BC, coach, Okotoks Dawgs, Nationals scout; RHP Brock Dykxhoorn, Goderich, Ont. SK Wyverns, Lotte Giants, Korea; Cory Eckstein, Abbotsford, BC, coach, Fraser Valley Cardinals; Bernie Eiswirth, GM, Regina, Sask., Regina Red Sox, HOF inductee; Dave Empey, North Vancouver, BC, Dave talks Baseball blog; Jonathan Erlichman, Toronto, Ont., process and analytics coach, Rays; Brian Essery, Vancouver, BC, manager, Welland Jackfish; Dwain Ervin, Mississauga, Ont., coach, Mississauga North Tigers/Michael Kim tourney convenor; Ray Fagnant, East Granby, Conn., scout, Red Sox; Rob Fai, Vancouver, BC, Vancouver Canadians/Jays broadcaster.

Frank Fanning, London, Ont. GM, class-A Jamestown Jammers; Drew Fairservice, Birds All Day; Robbie Fatal (Boucherville, Que.), former coach, ABC coach; Frank Fascia, Brampton, Ont., coach, runs Midget Elite League; Dr. Irv Feferman, Toronto, Ont., Blue Jays physician; Ken Fidlin, Ancaster, Ont., 2020 winner of the Jack Graney award; Lino Feijo, Mississauga, Ont., coach, Ontario Blue Jays 14U; Jenna Flannigan, Cornwall, Ont., Canadian Women’s Team, daughter of former Prescott/Ottawa all-star John Flannigan; Dylan Flasch, Lloydminster Sask., Badlands Academy; Dr. Noah Forman, North York, Ont., Blue Jays physician; Pablo Forno, Okotoks, Alta., Grand Slam Sports.

Stacey May Fowles, Toronto, Ont., scribe, The Athletic; Shaun Fraser, Weyburn, Sask., President of Sask Baseball; 1B Freddie Freeman, Fountain Valley, Calif., Braves; A.J. Fystro, Calgary, Alta., GM Grand Slam Sports, Okotoks, Alta.; Eric Gagne, Mascouche, Que., bullpen coach, triple-A Nashville Sounds (Rangers); Martine Gaillard, Toronto, Ont., broadcaster, Sportsnet; Danny Gallagher, Toronto, Ont., author of Always Remembered: New Revelations and old tales about those fabulous Expos coming soon, Canadian Baseball Network; Tim Gasparotto, Mississauga, Ont. Erindale and Terriers coach; Karl Gelinas, Quebec City, Que., assistant pitching coach, ABC/Quebec Capitales; Holly Gentemann, Kingston, Ont., director of Events, Alomar Sports Inc.

Ted Giannoulas, London, Ont., The Famous Chicken; Perry Giannias, Montreal, Que., organizer of ExposFest which has raised a large amount of monies to help fund research for a rare form of brain cancer which took the life of his niece; Shawn Gillespie, Lucan, Ont., Ontario Nationals 18U; Kevin Glew, London, Ont., Cooperstowners in Canada/Canadian Baseball Nework, chair Jack Graney selection committee; George Godfrey, Kingston, Ont., Jays Aggregator; Mitchell Godkin, Walton Ont., Leadbury Bat Company; Nick Gorneautl, Springfield, Mass., scout Anaheim Angels; Julie Gosselin, women’s baseball, Quebee, Bryan Graham, Thunder Bay, Ont., vice president Thunder Bay Border Cats Northwoods Summer League;

Chris Graham, Brampton; Ont., umpire, triple-A International League; Paul Grasby, coach, Stratford, Ont., Ontario Nationals 14U; Patrick Gray, Oakville, Ont., senior director of development, University of Michigan athletics; Taylor Green, Comox, BC, supervisor pro scouting, Brewers; Jean-Paule Grice, director, OES Inc. scoreboards, London; Mike Griffin, Nanaimo, BC, managed Czech Republic in European Olympic qualifier; Evan Grills, Whitby, Ont., triple-A Albuquerque (Rockies); Johnny Guinta, coach, Milton, Ont., Ontario Nationals 16U; John Haar, director of baseball operations, North Shore Twins; George Halim, Grimsby, Ont., director of player development, coach, Fieldhouse Pirates 14U; Tim Hallgren, Victoria, BC, national crosschecker, Tigers.

Jayson Hajdu, Regina, Sask., media relations director, University of North Dakota; Mike Hansford, Burlington, Ont., Corbett’s Source for Sports; Jason Hart, Thunder Bay, Ont., coach, Thunder Bay Lakers 15U; Ellen Veronica Harrigan, Beeton, Ont., director of baseball administration, Dodgers; Dave Ruhr, Calgary, Alta., Absolute Baseball Academy; Rob Jack, Toronto, Ont. Alomar Sports; Glenn Jackson, Ajax, Ont., Toronto Mets 15U; Ian Harvey, Oakville, Ont., pitching coach, Fieldhouse; John Hashimoto, Hamilton, Ont., Blue Jays Academy; Mustafa (Moose) Hassan, Toronto, Ont. home clubhouse manager, equipment, Toronto Blue Jays.

Ernie Hawkins, North Delta, BC, coach North Delta Blue Jays; Blake Hawksworth, North Vancouver BC, assistant pitching coach, Grand Canyon University; Luc Hebert, Cocagne, NB, pitching coach, Prairie Baseball Academy; Chris Henderson, Jays Journal; Andrew Hendricks, Toronto, Ont., writer, Canadian Baseball Network; Maxime Hockhoussen, Laval, Que., coach, ABC; Mitch Hodge, Vancouver, BC, coach BC Thunder; Jonathan Hodgson, Victoria, BC, communications manager Sport Officials Surrendered, writes for Sports Spectrum, Catching Academy (founded by former Dawgs catcher head coach Brett Thomas), Canadian Baseball Network; Chad Hofmann, Muenster, Sask., coach Sask Baseball; Tyler Hollick, Calgary, Alta., coach, Okotoks/Brewers scout.

Paul Hollingsworth, Dartmouth, N.S., broadcaster, TSN; Ted Hotzak, president, Vancouver, BC, BC Premier League; Cam Houston, St. Albert, Alta. Prospects Academy; Jerry Howarth (Etobicoke, Ont.) icon, visiting celebrity the first game of each Rogers Centre homestand: owarth, Burlington, Ont., coach 16U FieldHouse; Peter Hoy, Cardinal, Ont., coach, St. Lawrence College (NY); Todd Hubka, Claresholm, Alta., head coach, Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs; David Huctwith, Mississauga, Ont, past president and treasurer, Baseball Ontario; Marc Hulet, London, Ont. the longest serving scribe at Fangraphs; Frank Humber, director of field operations, Corner Brook Association Corner Brook, Nfld.; Ian Hunter, Kitchener, Ont., scribe, @BlueJayHunter Daily Hive.

Kevin Hussey, Burlington, Ont., Ontario Terriers 17U; JJ Hyde, Coquitlam, BC, coach, Tri-City Indians; Todd Ireland, Burlington, Ont., associate head coach, Tusculum College; Dutche Iannetti, owner, Fort McMurray Giants; Dan Iassogna, major league ump, whose grandfather, Don Washburn was from McAdam, NB, moved to US as kid but the family maintined a cottage there for years on Palfrey Lake; Vincent Ircandia, Calgary, Alta., President and CEO at StellarAlgo (which concentrates on sports business analytics with clients like the Portland Trailblazers, other NBA teams, US Open Tennis, NHL teams, minor-league teams and big-league clubs ... he spoke at the winter meetings); Aaron Izaryk, Markham, Ont., head coach and director of athletics, Bridgton Academy, North Bridgton, Maine; Steven Jaschinski, Burlington, Ont., umpire, class-A Carolina League; Jeremy Jayaweera, president and owner, Ontario Nationals, scout Angels.

Mike Johnson, Sherwood Park, Alta., coach, St. Francis Xavier Academy; Doug Jones, Oyen, Alta., GM Brooks Bombers/Sylvan Lake/Badlands Academy; Frank Kaluzniak, Brandon, Man., Parksville Royals; Andrew Karkoulas, Guelph, Ont., owner PPA hithouse; Tom Katelnikoff, president, West Kelowna, BC, West Kelowna Diamondbacks; Travis Kayler, Guelph, Ont., coach, FieldHouse Pirates 16U; Mike Keating, Miramichi, NB, president, Baseball New Brunswick; Mike Kelly, North Delta, BC, BC Minor; Kevin Kennedy, Toronto, Ont., Pitch Talks; Brynn Kibble, Windsor, Ont., Windsor Selects 16U; Mike Kicia, Edmonton, Alta., assistant minor league strength and conditioning coordinator Yankees; Mike Koreen, Buffalo, NY, sports editor, The Canadian Press; Mike Kozak, Kirkland, Que., assistant trainer, Marlins.

Blair Kubicek, Digby, NS, PBA Hall of Famer; Kevin Kvame, Lethbridge, Alta., president WMBL, GM Lethbridge Bulls; André Lachance, Baseball Canada; Jessica Lack, Calgary, Alta., digital media coordination, community relations, class-A Tampa Yankees; Jacques Lanciault, Laval, Que., writer, all you need to know about Quebec players jacqueslanciault.com; Scott Langdon, Etobicoke, Ont., Canadian Baseball Network. Eric Langill, bullpen catcher, Kirkland, Que., Mets; “Every Day” Eddie Largy, Mississauga, Ont., coach, Ontario Blue Jays 17U; Jean-Gilles Larocque, Sudbury, Ont., The Baseball Academy; Jay Lapp, London, Ont., scout, Jays; Brent Lavallee, North Delta, BC, manager, class-A Vancouver; France Lauzière, Montreal, Que., president, TVA.

Alex Lawrie, Mineville, NS, umpire, Rookie-Class Gulf Coast League; Dr. David Lawrence: primary care physician, Toronto Blue Jays; Randy LeBleau, Winnipeg, Man., assistant coach, Campbellsville College; Kevin Legge, Paradise, Nfld, president, Baseball Newfoundland and Labrador; Marty Lehn, White Rock, BC, GM White Rock Tritons, Brewers scout, Big League Experience; David Laing, Langley, BC, executive director, Baseball BC; Rich Leitch, Whitby, Ont., coach, Toronto Mets 17U; Marc LePage, Welland, Ont., coach Brock University; Chris Leroux, Mississauga, Ont., The Fan; Honsing Leung, Toronto, Ont., coach, Toronto Mets.

Linda Lewis, Port Lambton, Ont., commissioner, Premier League of Ontario; Justin Logan, pitching coach, Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs; Rob Longley, Burlington, Ont., Toronto Sun; Mr. John Lott, scribe, photographer, The Athletic SHOULD BE HIGHER; Jeff Lounsberry, St. Catharines, Ont., coach, Burlington Bandits; Mike Lumley, London, Ont., coach, London Badgers; Jim Lutton, Oshawa, Ont., Baseball Ontario Hall of Famer; Shawn Lynn, North York, Ont., coach, Ontario Royals 18U; Marika Lyszczyk, Tsawwassen BC, invitee to GRIT girls invitational camp in Arlington, Tex.; Scott MacArthur, Toronto, Ont., The Fan; Drew MacDonald, Bradford, Ont., trainer double-A New Hampshire; Geoff MacDonald, Regina, Sask., hitting coach, Regina Red Sox.

Mitch MacDonald, Regina, Sask. assistant coach, Regina Red Sox; Ryan MacDonald, Kennetcook N.S, Prairie Baseball Academy/Lethbridge Bulls; Walter MacEwen, Charlottetown, PEI, president of Baseball PEI; Jay-Dell Mah, author, Western Canada Baseball, Scoresheet Baseball, Nakusp, BC; Kevin Malloy, visiting clubhouse manager, Rogers Centre; Arash Madani, Toronto, Ont., Sportsnet; Kevin Mandzuk, Regina, Sask., umpire class-A Midwest League; Chris Marco, Waterdown, Ont., umpire, double-A Eastern League; Dave Margetts, Burlington, Ont., umpire, (best amateur ump in country?); Dave Martin, Ottawa, newspaper collector; Keegan Matheson, Toronto, Ont. scribe, MLB.com.

RHP Scott Mathieson, Abbotsford, BC, Yomiuri Giants/Team Canada; John Matthew IV, Ormond, Ont., producer extraordinare, bluejays.com; Ryan McBride, Whitby, Ont., president, Toronto Mets; Kurt McCallum, Thunder Bay, Ont., coach, Thunder Bay Lakers 19U; Joe McFarland Airdrie, Alta., Alberta Dugout Stories; Todd McFarlane, Edmonton, Alta., collector; Kaitlyn McGrath, Toronto, Ont., writer, The Athletic; Aaron McKay, coach, Stratford, Ont., Ontario Nationals 15U; Connor McKenna, umpire, Mississauga, Ont., Rookie-class Gulf Coast League; Brooks McNiven, North Vancouver, BC, coach, North Shore Twins; Doug McPhail, Okotoks, Alta., coach, Okotoks Dawgs 15U.

Chris Mears, Victoria, BC, pitching cross checker, Red Sox; Mitch Melnick, Montreal, Que., broadcaster, TSN 690; Cory Melvin, Tampa, Fla., pro scout, Yankees; Tim Micallef and Sid Seixeiro, Tim and Sid, Sportsnet; Jason Miller, Winnipeg, Man., executive director, Baseball Manitoba; Matt Mills, Hamilton, Ont., coach, Ontario Royals; Larry Millson, Toronto, Ont., Field Level Media; John Milton, Brampton, Ont., Ontario Terriers, St. Petersburg baseball commission, program coordinator; Tyler Milton, Okotoks, Alta., coach, Okotoks Dawgs 13U; Scott Mitchell, Toronto, Ont., writer, broadcaser TSN.; Ryan Mittleman, director, pro scouting, Toronto Blue Jays.

Herb Morell, Mississauga, Ont., Intercounty League stats man, official scorer at Rogers Centre; Donald (Buzz) Morris, Windsor, Ont., Windsor Selects 18U; Peter Morris, East Lansing, Mich., historian/author; Greg Morrison, owner, Medicine Hat, Alta., Medicine Hat Mavericks; Adam Morissette, Ottawa, Ont., public relations and best-dressed man this side of Don Cherry, Baseball Canada; Colin Moro, Calgary, Alta., Absolute Baseball Academy; Morris Mott, Brandon, Man., chairman Manitoba Hall of Fame; Neil Munro, North Bay, Ont., Canada’s stat guru, Canadian Baseball Network; Leo Mui, Toronto, Ont. scribe, Bluebird Banter.

Mike Mutlow, Swift Current, Sask., president, Swift Current 57s; Bill Neale, Collingwood, Ont., head coach Kansas Wesleyan University; Shawn Neale, Collingwood, Ont., assistant coach, West Texas A&M University; Scott Neiles, Winnipeg, Man., Home Run Sports; Nancy Newman, New York, Yankees Magazine, host, does the same job legendary Mel Allen did, YES Network; Trevor Nyp, Kitchener, Ont., defensive coach, Angels; Andrew North, St. Marys, Ont., organizer of the annual Canadian Baseball History Conference, founding director of the Centre for Canadian Baseball Research at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame; Greg O’Halloran, Mississauga, Ont., assistant coach, Ontario Terriers; Jon Oko, Edmonton, Alta., Jon Oko, Edmonton, Alta., Alberta’s Baseball Canada director; Cory Olafson, Moose Jaw Sask., GM, Moose Jaw Miller Express; Santa Ono, Vancouver, BC, president, University of British Columbia.

Peter Orr, Newmarket, Ont., pro scout, Brewers; Stephen Osterer, Ottawa, Ont., pitching resource coordinator, Indians; James Parker, Toronto, Ont., area scout, Padres; Matt Pearson, Thunder Bay Ont., Sleeping Giant Brewery/Second Vice President, Thunder Bay Border Cats; Rob Pegg, Flesherton, Ont., coach, Vanguard University; Curtis Pelletier, Victoria, BC, director of player Development/Assistant coach, Victoria Harbourcats, Marlins scout; Dr. Marc Philippon, Hamilton, Ont., Steadman Philippon Research Clinic, Vail, Col.; Marc Picard, Windsor, Ont., coach, Windsor Selects; John Picco, Windsor, Ont., GM/coach, Windsor Selects; RHP Nick Pivetta, Victoria, BC, Phillies.

Jamie Pogue, Guelph, Ont., bullpen catcher, Cardinals; Mark Polishuk, London, Ont., MLB Trade Rumors; Ryan Pollard, Milton, Ont., coach, Ontario Terriers 15U; Rick Pomerleau, Brantford, Ont., manager, Brantford Red Sox; Rye Pothakos, Saskatoon Sask., assistant director of recruiting, Regina Red Sox; Dr. Mike Prebeg, Toronto, Ont., Blue Jays physician; Adam Prendergast, Montreal, Que., associate director of athletics/communications and creative content, Troy University Trojans; Terry Puhl, Melville, Sask. coach, University of Houston-Victoria; Dr. Keith Pyne, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., chairman, medical services advisory board, Nationals; Shawn Pynn, Brampton, Ont., head recruiting coach NCSA (Next College Student Athlete);; Ed Quinlan, Stoney Creek, Ont., president Baseball Ontario.

David Quattrociocchi, Toronto, Ont., Ontario Youth Team; Mark Randall, Edmonton, Alta., coach, Team Alberta; Mark Rajsigl, Windsor, Ont., Windsor Selects 15U; Claude Raymond, Ste-Jean, Que., former Expo; Al Ready, London, Ont., coach, University of Indianapolis; Jackie Redmond, MLBNetwork; Darryl Reid, Oshawa, Ont., Toronto Mets 16U/Durham College Lords; Morgan Reiter, Regina, Sask., Inside Pitch Baseball Academy; Jim Richardson, Burlington, Ont., director of baseball operations, coach FieldHouse 18U; Scott Richmond, North Vancouver, BC, Team Canada, Quebec Capitales.

Mike Shaw, Oakville, travelling secretary, Toronto Blue Jays; Meyer Shemtov, Barrie, Ont. scout, Rockies; Elliot Shrive, Rockwood, Ont., The Kinetisesnse team a group of industry experts who have built a system that has real applications for trainers, coaches, medical practitioners, chiropractors and researchers; Tony Siemens, Rosenort, Man., president Baseball Manitoba; John Silverman, Montreal, equipment manager, Marlins; Marie-Pierre Simard, La Beauce, Que., co-owner Les Capitales de Québec; Matt Skirving, London, Ont., coordinator, amateur scouting, Pirates; Annakin Slayd, hip-hop, rap, passionate Expos fan; Bill Smith, Calgary, former mayoral candidate who wanted a new stadium/fieldhouse development of Foothills Stadium former home of the triple-A Calgary Cannons; Dr. Jason Smith, Toronto, Ont., Jays consulting orthopedic surgeon, Jays; Mary-Ann Smith (Cambridge, Ont.) director of operations, Baseball Ontario; Paul Solarski, Toronto, Ont., head coach, Polish National Team; Ryan Snair, Margaret’s Bay, N.S., head coach, Sullivan County Community College.

Bernie Soulliere, Windsor, Ont., chef de mission Team Canada; Matt Spatafora, Scarborough, Ont., assistant coach/recruiting coordinator, Niagara University; Craig Spencer, Calgary, Alta., coach, Okotoks Dawgs 16U; Tanner Spencer, Craik, Sask,, coach, Moose Jaw Miller Express; Howard Starkman, Mississauga, Ont., Toronto Blue Jays; Sammie Starr, Toronto, Ont., assistant coach, University of British Columbia; Brandon Steele, London, Ont., head coach, Tusculum College; Dale Stevens, Dundas, Ont., longest-serving member, MLB.com; Andy (Mileage) Stewart, Oshawa, Ont., Toronto Mets; John Stewart, Brighton, Ont., manager, ballpark operations and clubhouse attendant, Vancouver Canadians; Andrew Stoeten, Toronto, Ont.; The Athletic.

Charlie Strandlund, Victoria, BC, coach, Victoria Eagles; Jim Swanson, Prince George, BC, managing partner and GM, Victoria HarbourCats; Jameson Taillon, The Woodlands, Tex., Pittsburgh Pirates; Kurtis Taylor, Okotoks, Alta., coach, Okotoks Dawgs 14U; Dr. Ron Taylor, Leaside, Ont. physician emeritus Blue Jays; Wes Taylor, Port Coquitlam BC, Coquitlam Reds; Devon Teeple, Thunder Bay, Ont., GM’s Perspective, winner of Most Innovative Sports Analysis Consultancy, Nutrition, Global 100 Baseball Business Consultant of the Year 2019 Canada, KMH Media Business Consultant of the Year awards; Nichole and Mike Tevlin, Toronto, Ont., co-owners The Baseball Zone, Ontario Terriers; Dr. John Theodoropoulos, Toronto, Ont., head orthopedic surgeon, Jays; Jason Thomasen, Brooks, Alta., president, Brooks Bombers.

Jordan Tiegs, Woodstock, Ont,, assistant coach Indiana State; Dale Tilleman, Tabor, Alta., High Performance Coordinator Alberta Baseball, scout Tigers; Ben Tinklin, coach, Kitchener, Ont., Ontario Nationals 17U; Tom Tippett, Boston, Mass., independent statistical consultant, Tippett Analytics; Damon Topolie, North Bay, Ont., manager, Toronto Maple Leafs; 3B Abraham Toro, Longueuil, Que., Canadian Baseball Network hitter of the year, winner of the Randy Echlin award, Triple-A Round Rock/Astros; Rene Tosoni, coach, Coquitlam Reds/scout Toronto Blue Jays; Shawn Travers, Toronto, Ont., coach, Ontario Blue Jays/Ontario Youth Team; David Tredgett, executive producer live events, Rogers Communications; Jean Tremblay, Quebec City, Que. co-owner Les Capitales de Québec; Pierre Tremblay, Quebec City, Que., co-owner Les Capitales de Québec.

Randy Town, Calgary, Alta., associate athletic director for athletic operations and director of physical education director, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges; Marc Vadboncoeur, Laval, Que., president of Baseball Quebec; Tom Valcke, Stratford, Ont., coach, Panda Sport and Culture, Zhongshan, China; David Valente, Thunder Bay, Ont., president Border Cats; Scott VandeValk, Georgetown, Ont., coach, Ontario Terriers; Jimmy Van Ostrand, Richmond, BC, Mental performance coach, Toronto Blue Jays; Ben Van Iderstine, Regina, Sask., hitting instructor, Inside Pitch Academy; Gary Van Tol, Pincher Creek, Alta., coach, Boise State; Raul Verde Rios, Richmond, BC, Richmond City Chuckers; Melissa Verge, Titusville, NB, Canadian Baseball Network.

Allison Vickers, Mississauga, Ont., beach ball specialist, One Heart Care; Carson Vitale, Victoria, BC, major-league field coordinator, Mariners; Hugh Walters, Bowmanville, Ont., Toronto Mets 16U; Doug Walton, Toronto, Ont., producer, Sportsnet; David (Mr. Bourne) Wall, Richmond Hill, Ont., Canadian Baseball Network/CollegeBaseba12; Sean Wandler, Kamloops, BC, Kamloops RiverDogs; Tanner Watson, Arnprior, Ont. coach, Watson Elite Academy; Rob Watt, Chemainus, BC, head coach, Mount Olive College; Duncan Watt, Pickering, Ont., coach, Toronto Mets 17U; RP Rowan Wick, North Vancouver, BC, Triple A Iowa/Cubs.

Stephanie and Joe Wilkinson, Oakville, Ont., co-owners of the Ontario Blue Jays; Justin Willard, Brampton, Ont., pitching coach Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Twins); Kassandra Wilson, Delta, BC, Nettex netting; Mark Wilson, Delta, BC, Nettex netting; Chance Wheatley, Bawlf, Alta., Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs; Tim Wharnsby, Waterloo, Ont., The Canadian Press; Ian Wilson, Calgary, Alta., Alberta Dugout Stories; Charlie Wilson, director, minor league operations, Blue Jays; Nigel Wilson, Ajax, Ont., Competitive Edge, Ontario Yankees; David Wiseman, Etobicoke, Ont., problem solver.

Robert Witchel, Toronto, Ont., executive director, Jays Care Foundation; Joe Wiwchar, Morden, Man., administrative manager Manitoba Hall of Fame, located near Joe Wiwchar Field; Greg Wolfe, Edmonton, Alta., New Zealand Baseball Federation development manager; 3B Eric Wood, Pickering, Ont., Taiwan, Triple A Indianapolis (Pirates); Fred Wray, Calgary, Alta. Independent Sports & Entertainment agent; Andrew Wright, Woodstock, N.B., Director, Dominican Republic baseball operations, Yankees; Bill Young, Hudson, Que., co-author Ecstasy to Agony: The 1994 Montreal Expos; Bill Yuill, Medicine Hat, owner, Medford Rogues, West Coast summer league; LHP Rob Zastryzny, Edmonton, Alta., Triple-A Oklahoma City (Dodgers);; Arden Zwelling, Sportsnet.

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Previous most Influential Canadians in baseball:

2019 Larry Walker

2018 Larry Walker

2017: Joey Votto

2016: Joey Votto

2015: Alex Anthopoulos.

2014: Edward Rogers

2013: Blue Jays fans

2012: Paul Beeston

2011: Greg Hamilton

2010: Joey Votto

2009: Paul Beeston

2008: Paul Beeston

2007: Paul Godfrey, Greg Hamilton

(Apologies for being late and thanks to Kevin Glew for writing 11 profiles …. so we went over the usual the top 101.)