May 13, 2023

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Firstly, let’s count up how many people/sites had it wrong about Homer Bush, Jr. and his birthplace:

_ MLB.com.

_ Baseball-reference

_ Baseball America

_ The folks who ran the 2019 Tournament 12 at the Rogers Centre, an event Bush took part in.

_ One club’s database even had Bush entering the world Oct. 13, 2001 at St. Joseph’s Hospital on the Queensway. No mention or the room number.

_ And of course, the Canadian Baseball Network.

Homer, Jr. was born six days after the 2001 season ended when his father, also named Homer, played in Game 162 going 1-for-4 with an RBI in a 3-2 loss to Cleveland, as the Jays finished 80-82.

Homer, Jr., of the Grand Canyon Lopes, was expected to be the second highest Canadian-born player in this July’s draft.

However, the former Jays second baseman has emailed to say his son was born in Grapevine, Tex. -- not Toronto. So, scratch Homer, Jr. from our projected list of top Canadians.

And it’s not the kind of year where the pool is deep enough to be scratching Canucks from our list. Homer, Jr. was ranked 71st overall in Baseball America’s top 400, three spots behind Naylor.

“Only our daughter was born in Toronto in 1999,” wrote Bush. “My wife left Toronto early (in the 2001 season) so that she could deliver Jr. at home in Texas.”

Bush said that his wife had messaged corrections to a couple of places, “but the change has not been updated yet, sorry for the confusion.”

Bush is hitting .367 for Grand Canyon with 15 doubles, three triples, two homers and 35 RBIs. He had a .972 OPS and was 25-for-29 stealing bases in 51.

All of which means that INF Mike Irving (Scarborough, Ont.), a former Toronto Maple Leaf, remains the best Canadian to play at Grand Canyon.