Elliott: Lumsden carries ball at OBA HOF banquet, Barnes, O'Brien, Baka and more honoured
November 24, 2022
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
GUELPH _ Somehow we thought, we have seen this movie before.
Walk into a banquet and the guest speaker is a football player ... a guy named Lumsden ... Let me get this straight: a football player at a ball banquet.
The first time was Jesse Lumsden, former McMaster Marauders standout where he won the Hec Crighton Trophy in 2004, at the Okotoks Dawgs January banquet in Okotoks, Alta. in 2011. Jesse had played for the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders. Now, he was turning to two-man bobsled.
Teaming with Lyndon Rush, they won their first World Cup gold medal in 2012 at Oenigssee, Germany. They won silver the same year at the world bobsleigh championships in Lake Placid, N.Y.
His speech.
It was five-star.
It was about perseverance -- a needed requirement on the diamond -- how he recovered from knee surgery, rehabbed and was injured on the first play as he took a pass in the flat. He told about his desire switching to a new sport -- this was before the medal.
Dawgs managing director John Ircandia had booked a winning speaker with a message.
The next night on the drive home from Pearson International I called Jesse’s father, Neil Lumsden, who was in his car. When will you be home? Ten minutes. I told him to have his wife on the speaker.
Phoning back I told Donna and Neil how disappointed I was to see a football player/bob sledder speaking as a guest speaker. And then I told them how wrong I was and what a tremendous speech their son had given.
* * *
And Saturday night at the Delta Inn in Guelph, Baseball Ontario had its annual general meetings capped by its awards ceremonies.
Up to the podium stepped Neil Lumsden, Jesse’s father. Neil should have won the Crighton Trophy at the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. He was stud hoss of a fullback running into the secondary at times before being tackled by three deep backs and handling place kicking duties. Under coach Don Gilbert, the Gee-Gees went undefeated and untied in winning the Vanier Cup.
Neil won three Grey Cup Championships with the Edmonton Eskimos (1980-82) and again being a Grey Cup winner in 1999 as general manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In 10 seasons, Lumsden played in 141 regular season games and rushed for 3,755 yards and had 180 receptions for 1,729 yards. In all, he scored 51 touchdowns.
So what is he doing at a this banquet? Guest speaker.
He admitted he didn’t play much ball.
“Think I was eight or nine and I was standing in the on-deck circle when our guy swung and he hit it hard -- but the bat went flying and hit me under the eye,” said Neil. “That was it for me. My father thought I should play a sport less dangerous ... thanks dad?”
There are a few opposing linemen, linebackers and members of the secondary who wish Lumsden had not strapped on the pads and helmet.
Neil ran for office in Hamilton East—Stoney Creek riding -- which includes Dean Dicenzo’s home-away-from-home: Mahoney Park -- he was elected to Queen’s Park in the 2022 provincial election and was named to Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet as a Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
He told the players who won awards in the crowd, “For the most part I had good coaches. You’re not always going to have the best coach, but you can always learn.”
Lumsden told of being an assistant coach at the University of Guelph for head coach Stu Lang, former Queen’s Golden Gael, who he had played with in Edmonton.
“Stu asked me to coach the running backs,” explained Neil, “and we had, oh, eight or nine running backs. We had a young man from Brampton who worked really hard. He wasn’t better than anyone esle. He had not said a single word all camp.
“We’re walking off the field and someone sticks their arm under mine. It’s him. He said ‘Thanks. I got you coach ... just like you got me.’”
Lumsden had enjoyed some great moments on the field. Vanier Cup. Grey Cup wins. This gesture -- player-to-coach, 1-on-1 -- was up there with the memorable ones.
He then ticked off some of the province’s successes in 2022: Gold at the Ontario Summer Games in Niagara, managed by David Quattrociocchi (Toronto, Ont.), 58,000 players, 14,000 coaches and 6,000 umpires, Ashley Stephenson (Mississauga, Ont.) winning the Lionel Ruhr coach of the year and 3B Myles Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) earning Junior National Team MVP honors.
“I’ve met the greatest friends through sports,” Lumsden said. “Sports can be a spring board. It works whether you are 20, or 30 or 40 years of age. And I can’t find a better group than the one in front of me.”
Now, if I can only find Jesse’s number to tell him how well the old man did ... at a baseball banquet.
Harv Baillie (Mitchell, Ont.) was an umpire an administrator and so dedicated a ball field in Byron was named after him.
* * *
Hall of Fame
Harv Baillie, Mitchell, Ont.
After getting his start coaching minor ball in Byron, a London neighbourhood, he went on to win four OBA championships and 11 league championships. As a founding member of the Byron Optimist Sports Complex committee, he was given the greatest honour having Diamond 2 renamed the Harv Bailie Diamond in 2005.
Bailie served as president of Byron Optimist and the London District Association for more than 20 years, as well as being OBA president (1981-82) and a vice-president of Baseball Canada. He represented Canada at the World Congress international meetings and at tournaments in Amsterdam, Milan, Kobe, Seoul and Havana, in addition to being the administrator for the Canadian National Team and the chef de mission for the 1988 Canadian Olympic team in Seoul Korea. He was inducted into the London Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
Hall of Fame umpire Don Gilbert (left) with Jim Cressman (middle) and Andy Callaghan.
* * *
Umpire Don Gilbert, Windsor
Beginning to work as an umpire in Baseball Canada’s national program in 1978, he was given his first national assignment two years later. From 1980 until 2009, he served as either an umpire or supervisor at the national or international level. He has worked or supervised every level of Baseball Canada national championships from 15U to senior, including the Canada Summer Games and Blue Jay Cup.
Internationally, Gilbert called him as he saw them at World Youth, World Cup, World University Games and Pan Am games. In 2004, he officiated at the World University Games in Chinese Taipei as well as the XXVII Olympic Games in Athens, working the gold medal game in both tournaments. He earned Baseball Ontario Umpire of the Year (1992), Baseball Canada Umpire of the Year (1997) and International Umpire of the Year (2004). Gilbert was so accurate and respected in his calls that the Baseball Ontario Program of Excellence Umpire of the Year for Level 4/5 is presented annually in his honour. He was supervisor of umpires for Baseball Ontario (1995-2000) and for Baseball Canada (1996-2008). Gilbert was elected Vice President of Baseball Ontario from 1998-2000. He was elected to the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
* * *
Coach Marc Picard, Windsor/Pickering
Picard has been a player, scout and coach for over 45 years. He grew up and played in Windsor, before becoming an amateur scout for the New York Yankees under Dick (The Legend) Groch, who signed Hall of Famer Derek Jeter. As a coach, he was in charge of teams -- or helped run -- teams in Windsor, Team Ontario, the Ontario Youth Team and Durham College while based in Pickering. Returning to Windsor again, he is in charge of skills at Central Park Athletics for the F. J. Brennan Academy in Windsor. No less than 13 times did Picard manage or coach a team to a Canadian national championship. He won six times at juvenile level (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990), the Canada Cup four times (1990, 1991, 2011 and 2012), Canada Summer Games (1997), the junior level once as an assistant coach (1991) and national 15U as an assistant (2015).
He coached future major leaguers Joe Siddall, Stubby Clapp, Chris Leroux, David Davidson and others. Picard also coached Jason Wuerch, the first Canadian ever selected in the MLB draft in 1991 once Canadian high schoolers were eligible to be chosen. Prior to 1991, Canadian high schoolers were free agents.
Builder, Gwen Turner, Flesherton
The first full-time employee of Baseball Ontario (1976 to 1994), Turner worked as OBA office manager when “going to work” meant going to “Ron and Cathy Pegg’s basement,” in Flesherton. Every evening, Ron would organize Gwen’s day and she worked on her own while Pegg taught high school. Turner was responsible for every decision the OBA did -- from player cards to informing membership of rule changes. This one-woman show did it all without computers or fax machines until 1989. As well, Turner edited and prepared the constitutions each year, prepared and ran off all materials for the annual general meetings, which she attended as the secretary.
In her spare time, Turner edited, printed and mailed out the popular “Baseball Bits.” Turner prepared the paperwork for the first Best Ever Clinic and those that followed, in addition to coordinating information for all the umpire and coaching clinics. Turner was responsible for approving player rosters and returning them to various registrars. Those were a few of the everyday responsibilities Turner performed as a most valuable member of the OBA administrative team.
* * *
Awards
14U and Above
Player of the Year:
Rep _ Darian Barnes, Hamilton Cardinals
(Batted .462, two homers, 23 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, 1.921 OPS)
Select _ Luca Prevedel, Vaughan Vikings
(Had a .538 average, one homer, 32 RBIs, .675 on-base)
Pitcher of the Year:
Rep _ Joseph Baka, Oakville A’s
(10-1, 3.68 ERA)
Select 13U and below
Player of the Year
Rep _ Clive O’Brien, North York
(Six homers, 47 RBIs, 27 stolen bases)
Select _ Carson Delaney, West Mountain
(Three homers, 38 RBIs and 15 steals in 24 games)
Pitcher of the year
Rep _ Nicholas Zeleny, London Badgers
(5-0, 2.11, three no hitters)
Select _ Evan Wells, Creemore
(7-0, 1.10, 51 innings)
Teams of the Year
Rep _ 11U Oakvilla A’s
Select _ 11U Toronto Playgrounds Select Blue
President’s Award
David Quattrociocchi, head coach, Toronto
Scott Robinson, coach, Whitby
Perry Scott, coach, Hamilton
Geoff Whent, coach, Whitby
Frank Fascia, GM, Brampton
(The group guided the Ontario Youth Team to gold at the Summer Games)
Coaches of the Year
14U and above
Ron Burke, Mississauga Majors
13 and below
Rep _ Marco Bianchi, Toronto Playgrounds
Select _ Scott Weldon, Creemore
Barrie Salt Director of the Year award
Rebecca Sauder, Barrie.
Volunteers of the Year
Jack Middlemass award
Neil Alderton, Niagara
Peter Budziak, York-Simcoe
Jesse Harrison, Toronto
Bryan Howcroft, Oshaw
Don McKnight Affiliate
Carrie Jo Long, Southern Counties
Cathy Lapar, Intercounty
Andrew Warwick, Western Ontario
Association of the Year
Central Ontario (COBA)
Don Gilbert Umpire of the Year
Level IV-V _ James Liles, Mississauga
Dick Willis Umpire of the Year
Level III _ Mike Grove, Mississauga
Levl 1-II _ Quinn Szilock
Provincial award
Lisa Turbitt
(Supervised 18U-22 and senior nationals, as well as the WBC qualifier in Panama)
Special recognition award
Trevor Grieve
(Worked five nationals, two World Baseball Clasics, the Olympics and a leader in developming umpires
45 Years of Service
Howie Birnie, Leaside
35 years
Linda Lewis, Sombra, Ont.
30 years
Dayle Legros
Randy Pickle
25 years
Chris Norton
Ted Williams
15 years
Stephen Gomes
Kelsey McIntosh
10 years
Derek Brown
George Brown
Edward (Ted) Chapman
Rafique Choudhury
Corey Dalton
Terry Doyle
Eldon Dunseith
Michael Gouthro
Jamie Graham
Annette Hoggarth
Peter Kritz
James Liles
Pat Mastrogiacomo
Patrick McConnell
Alen Mijic
Dean Oberle
David Quattrociocchi
Scott Robinson
Peter Seto
Tony Simone
Howard Brain
Five years
David Fuller
Barb Henry
Chris Kowalewski
Bryan Leeman
Don Norman
Chris Savaglio
Former OBA players of the year:
Year Junior and Senior Players of the Year
1994 Chris Green, Mike Kusiewicz
1995 Paul Brown, Shawn Pearson
1996 Dan Hansen, Doug Vandecaveye
1997 Scott Thorman, Jason Mandryk
1998 Bradley Gould, Patrick Nailer
1999 Chris Emanuele, Tanner Watson
2000 Derek Lowe, BJ Richardson
2001 Dan Zehr, Chris Robinson
2002 Kate Psota, Jamie Romak
2003 Ian Choy, Cherie Piper
2004 Trevor Barton, Davey Wallace
2005 Cain Monaghan, Kevin Long
2006 Tanner Nivins, Greg Densem
2007 McCalla Sturgeon, Robert Cooper
2008 Geoffrey Seto, Larry Balkwill
2009 Nicholas Dimpfel, Ryan Zimmer
2010 Josh Naylor, Jake Lumley
2011 Connor May, Byron Reichstein
2012 Jason Stott, Matt Smith
2013 Noah Naylor, Justin Gideon
2014 Noah Roberts, Zachary Fascia
2015 Colin Mandarich, Jake Brennan
2016 Joe Kuin, Tyrell Schofield-Sam
2017 Carson Lumley, Josh Arce
2018 Brett Talbot, Carter Arbuthnot
2019 Jorja Sandilands, Scott Austin
2020 COVID
2021 Markus Woodley, Ryan McGivney
2022 Clive O’Brien, Darian Barnes