October 25, 2023

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

It was a simple picture.

Three lifelong baseball men.

We were going to slap a cutline (the words which appear underneath each picture to identify who is in the picture ... from left to right) on it and post it on the Canadian Baseball Network website.

But we looked at again.

And again.

These three iconic British Columbia boys should not be dispatched with a simple cutline. Each of them deserve more than that.

So, from left to right in our picture are

Luigi Derosa (Trail, BC) — left

Born Sept. 14, 1935, Derosa had an early love of the game. When touring ball teams -- baseball or softball -- would come into Trail, Derosa and his pals would all attempt to earn the right to be the bat boy for the visitors. To get up close to the action.

When Eddie Feigner, also known as the The King & His Court, brought its four-man squad into Trail, DeRosa was the bat boy.

Derosa and his friends saw House of David barnstormers a team out of Benton, Mich. which formed in 1903 and were an attraction until the 1950s. Players were noted for their long hair, beards and abilities on the sandlots.

The Trail youngsters also saw the Iowa Colored Ghosts, teams from US air force bases in Spokane and Colville, Wash., and of course all the local visiting teams.

As is usually the case with good bat boys, they tend to go on to play at the next level. Derosa played youth ball in Trail and senior ball in Nakusp, Vancouver, Vernon and Trail.

Teaching was his life’s path. He married a registered nurse and graduated from University of British Columbia in 1965. He teaching career began in Salmo, BC. Two years later he moved to Trail where he taught for 27 years, retiring in 1995.

In 1972, he organized a high school ball team and played a short schedule with nearby schools from Washington State. Wayne Norton (Port Moody, BC) asked Derosa to assist John Haar, with the first Canadian Junior National Team which trained in Vancouver for three weeks in 1964.

“Louie was one of those guys who loved the game so much that it was contagious,” said Okotoks Dawgs founding father John Ircandia, a Trail native. “He was constantly promoting the sport to promising young athletes whether they were playing basketball or hockey or whatever. He would not let you forget that baseball was IT.

“I remember being 14 or 15 and playing rep hockey in December or January. That was a Trail thing: baseball in summer and fall, hockey in winter and spring. Louie would call our house most winter weekends and I would hear him on the other line: ‘Who is this?’ he would ask. ‘Who did you phone?’ the smart alec John would say. I would then hear pages shuffling and general confusion on the other line as Louie desperately tried to figure out who on his list of prospects he was phoning.”

Derosa would organize indoor training all winter at the local gym on Sunday afternoons, according to Ircandia.

More than 36 players from Derosa’s high school program continued playing at US colleges or in Canada. Two of these had pro careers, Jason Bay (Trail, BC) with 11 seasons in the majors and RHP Barry Parisotto (Trail, BC).

Both played junior college in North Idaho Community College and at Gonzaga University. Both also played for Team Canada, Parisotto in the 1987 Pan American Games and Intercontinental Cup, the 1988 Baseball World Cup and Seoul Olympic Games.

“Louie was so dedicated, he had a lot to do with Jason Bay going first to Coeur d’Alene (North Idaho) and later to Gonzaga,” Ircandia said. “Jason was one of dozens Louie promoted to college coaches and pro scouts all over the Northwest.

“I would wager that if you asked people in Trail who was the Smelter Town’s Mr. Baseball, most would say Lou DeRosa.”

A ninth-round selection of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Parisotto pitched for the rookie-class Great Falls Dodgers, class-A Bakersfield Dodgers, class-A Reno Silver Sox, rookie-class Salt Lake City Trappers and class-A High Desert Mavericks in both the Dodgers and the Florida Marlins systems. In 104 minor league games -- 48 starts -- Parisotto was 32-17 with 11 saves and a 3.26 ERA.

Bay played for Canada in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic, as well as the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Seattle Mariners. Selected to three all-star games he was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2004 with the Pirates. He won a Silver Slugger in 2009 with Boston.

In his career, Bay finished fifth among Canadians in homers (222), sixth in OPS (.841), seventh in doubles (240), eighth in RBIS (754) and on-base (.360), ninth in stolen bases (95).

“Lou is synonymous with baseball in Trail,” said Bay. “He has been involved for decades at many different levels. I don’t think there is a player to come out of Trail that hasn’t been influenced by him. And he’s just an amazing guy as well.”

From 1992 to 2005, he was an area scout for the Atlanta Braves. His tryout camps attracted the likes of RHP Rich Harden (Victoria, BC), C Justin Morneau (New Westminster, BC), LHP Jeff Francis (North Delta, BC) and Bay. DeRosa also remembers seeing Josh Beckett, as a high school senior, pitch in the Grand Forks tournament on Labour Day weekend. Beckett was “clocked in the low 90s with a good breaking ball.”

Derosa was an assistant coach of the Trail Little League All-Stars that won their fourth Canadian championships in 1981 and represented Canada at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. He also served on the board of directors for BC Baseball and coached in Italy in 1987, both a youth team and a squad that played in C-1 division.

Ircandia remembers flying in from Calgary to his hometown for a function.

“I still laugh at a memory of going back long after I had ‘hung ‘em up’ with my new young wife and going to a banquet with my mom and dad,” said Ircandia. “Laurie and I would be dancing, enjoying the crazy ambience. All of a sudden this little dude (Louie) would dance with his wife into our space and say ‘You could have made it as a pitcher’ or words to that effect. Baseball was always on his mind even in the middle of a banquet function.”

Middle _ John Haar (Vancouver, BC).

Born Nov. 7, 1944, Harr, like a lot of young boys playing ball in the 1950s (and 1960s): he wanted to be grow up to be like Mickey Mantle, who most thought would wear his New York Yankee pin stripes into Cooperstown. Haar was an infielder for the University of British Columbia for coach Frank Gnup and doubled as a punter for UBC and Gnup.

UBC players would load up vehicles, travel south and play amateur teams. That’s where the San Francisco Giants scouted Haar. Haar started out with the rookie-class Magic Valley Cowboys, in 1964.

After missing the next season due to an arm injury, he was playing in Mantle’s organization. It’s tough enough for a Canadian to get signed once. The pros liked Haar twice. With the game’s most successful franchise, he made stops with at rookie-class Johnson City Yankees (hitting .318), class-A Greensboro Yankees, class-A Fort Lauderdale Yankees and class-A Kinston Eagles in 1966-68.

One season his shoulders donned a Yankee hand-me-down uniform No. 7 ... once worn by the great Mantle.

He rubbed shoulders with a bunch of major leaguers in both the Giants and Yankees systems ... like OF Ken Henderson (who played 1,444 games in the majors), OF Rusty Torres (694 games), 1B Tony Solaita (525 games, including 36 games with the Blue Jays and 29 with the Montreal Expos), OF Ron Blomberg (461 games), Jim Lyttle (391 games, 160 with the Expos), 1B Frank Tepedino (265 games), INF Bob Schroder (138 games), RHP Steve Kline (129 games, 43 wins for the Yankees) and C Charlie Sands (93 games).

And LHP Ron Cook (46 games), SS Frank Baker (18 games), reliever Gary Jones (14 games), INF Jim Kennedy (12 games), LHP Terry Ley (six games), LHP Joe Pactwa (four games), C Jim Deidel (two games), LHP Gary Timberlake (two games) and future Houston Astros manager Matt Galante (27 games).

Haar did not hang it up after his pro career ended. He played senior for the Vancouver Dufferins, Burnaby, Vancouver OKs, Vancouver Ramadas, Coquitlam, Vancouver Villas, Kelowna, Kamloops, Vancouver Stylers and Vancouver Puccinis.

“I remember seeing John especially with the Puccinis,” said Walt Burrows (Brentwood Bay, BC), now a Minnesota Twins scout and senior member of the Canadian scouts hard-working union, which has yet to unionize.

“John has been there at every level, the NBI was all John.”

The National Baseball Institute was funded by Labatt’s, Baseball Canada

Baseball BC and the Toronto Blue Jays. The idea was to keep Canadians at home so they would not be exposed to American scouts. Wayne Norton (Port Moody, BC) helped set up the program and put Haar in charge.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing at the NBI for Haar. Ray Carter, then with Baseball BC battled with Haar at times.

“John and I always didn’t see eye to eye,” said former Baseball Canada president Carter. “We struggled getting him to be on time to meet sponsors. It was a struggle to get him to do off the field because he was such a dedicated man on the field.

“John and I see now see eye to eye and are friends.”

Now both wear the same Canadian Hall of Fame blazer. Among the NBI grads who reached the majors are Canadian Hall of Famers OF Matt Stairs (Fredericton, NB), 3B Corey Koskie (Anola, Man.) LHP Denis Boucher (Laval, Que.) and RHP Jason Dickson (Miramichi, NB), plus LHP Steve Sinclair (Victoria, BC), LHP Paul Spoljaric (Kelowna, BC), OF Rob Butler (East York, Ont.), OF Aaron Guiel (Vancouver, BC) and RHP Derek Aucoin (Lachine, Que.).

Eventually all Canucks were eligible for the draft and the Blue Jays pulled their sponsorship. Haar coached Team BC at many nationals and made the North Shore Twins organization into a BC Premier League organization others tried to match.

One province east the Okotoks Dawgs were getting off the ground. John Ircandia had a solid core of players, but wanted to make them better.

“John was a major inspiration for me and the Dawgs,” Ircandia said. “When I was still on the field, managing, I called John and told him I had a very promising group of teenagers. I asked if he would come out to Calgary and put on a training camp. His comment was ‘Love to come John, but what I think you should consider is having my NBI team come to you. Our coaches and players will train with your guys. There is nothing more motivational than having your young outfielders working with our college outfielders, infielders with infielders, pitchers with pitchers.

“Our players were blown away not only by the skill development but the sheer motivation of rubbing shoulders and seeing how the big boys got their work done. Virtually the entire young Dawgs team commented it was the best camp they had ever attended.”

Said Burrows: “John Haar is one of the last guys to coach for the love of the game.”

Added Ircandia: “John is a phenomenal baseball man. What a multi faceted career and another coach who never said no to a baseball request.”

Haar is a member of the Canadian Hall of Fame in St. Marys, the UBC Sports Hall of Fame as an athlete (baseball, football and soccer, including a record 22 goals in one season) and the BC Sports Hall of Fame as a builder. He also guided Canada to its first-ever gold medal winning the World Junior championship in Brandon in 1991.

Even though he hasn’t coached the last few years. Haar spents time working on the field, comes to the park and watches games.

RHP Brooks McNiven (Vernon, BC) never played for Haar. They met in 2004 at Haar’s indoor facility, The Ballpark in Richmond. McNiven was headed into the second of his seven-year career in the Giants system and worked a Christmas camp with Haar.

“John made sure I knew that when I was done playing that he wanted me to come and coach with him,” McNiven said. “I started coaching with the Twins in 2010 but didn’t have the chance to actually coach with John until 2014.

So playing pro ball, coaching against the best in the world and coaching from teenage to college years, Haar has run the gamut of coaching from top to bottom. From fathers to sons.

He is a man who has touched thousands of lives with life advice, with diamond guidance and a one hoppers off the shins.

“If you went to just about any ballpark in BC and asked around you would find someone that knows John or has some connection to him though the sport,” said McNiven, who runs the North Shore Twins. “How John impacted the game in our province? That is a tough one to sum up in a few sentences.

“He has had an impact on decades of BC players and coaches. He has inspired so many players to chase their dreams and assisted in creating all kinds of opportunities for athletes to play at levels beyond their expectations. Many of his former players have gone on to coach and the lessons that they learned from John are still being passed on to players just entering the sport.

“John is certainly one of the reasons that I got into coaching.”

One New Year’s Eve around 9:30 EST Haar phoned me and said (he wasn’t yelling but he was stern and it sounded like he was talking in capitals) “BOB I THINK JIM RIDLEY SHOULD BE IN ST. MARYS. NOMINATE HIM.”

My answer was that the deadline was midnight.

Haar said “WELL, I THINK HE SHOULD BE NOMINATED. WILL YOU DO IT?”

Yes. Sir.

I went to work and filed the info on Ridley with a notation: It’s not midnight in Hawaii yet.

Eventually Ridley was elected.

Right _ Ossie Chavarría (Burnaby, BC)

Of the three BC boys, Chavarria is the only one who wasn’t born in Canada and the only one who made the majors, making his debut playing left field for the Kansas City A’s in a 4-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on April 14, 1966 at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn. The Colon, Panama native was 0-for-4 against Hall of Famer Jim Kaat.

Ten days later, he pinch-hit leading off the 10th and singled facing Eddie Fisher for his first major-league hit in eight at-bats as the Athletics lost 4-3 to the Chicago White Sox at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City.

In his rookie season, he played 86 games making 54 starts hitting .241 with 10 doubles, two homers and 10 RBIs. Playing shortstop, third base, second, left and right field he had a .631 OPS. He was demoted to triple-A Vancouver.

In 1967, he played in 38 games, 13 starts with a pair of doubles and four RBIs. The A’s sent him to Vancouver again.

Signed by the Chicago Cubs, he broke in with the class-D Morristown Cubs and after one season was dealt to Kansas City. Besides the West Coast, he played for the class-D Sanford Greyhounds, class-B Lewiston Broncs, class-A and double-A Binghamton Triplets, triple-A Dallas Rangers, triple-A Iowa Oakes and triple-A Syracuse Chiefs. After that, he was with the Cafeteros de Cordoba and Indios de Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

Besides his parts of two season living the major-league life — with Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson — he was on the same minor-league rosters as the likes of future big leaguers INF Bert Campaneris (2,328 games), 3B Sal Bando (2,019), LF Joe Rudi (1,547), INF Granny Hamner (1,531), INF Dick Green (1,288), INF Ted Kubiak (977), C Dave Duncan (929), 1B Ken “Hawk” Harrelson (900), OF José Tartabull (749) and C Jose Morales (733).

And OF Larry Stahl (730), reliever Paul Lindblad (655), RHP Diego Seguí (640), C Moe Drabowsky (589), RHP Pedro Ramos (582), INF Tommie Reynolds (513), reliever Jack Aker (495), RHP Ken Sanders (409), INF John Donaldson (405) and LHP Fred Norman (403).

And OF Joe Gaines (382), 1B Ramón Webster (380), C Billy Bryan (374), RHP Lew Krausse (321), CF Nelson Mathews (306), RHP Moon Odom (295), OF Danny Walton (297), reliever Hal Reniff (279), OF Bobby Mitchell (273) and INF Rick Joseph (270).

And reliever Tom Buskey (258, including 77 games with the Blue Jays), LHP John O’Donoghue (257), RHP Bob Anderson (246), INF Bobby Cox (220 games and managed 4,497 games on his way to the Hall of Fame managing the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays), LHP Joe Grzenda (219 games), LHP Ted Bowsfield, Vernon, BC, (215 games), OF Manny Jiménez (213 games), RHP Ed Sprague, father of the Blue Jays 3B by the same name (198), reliever Bob Duliba (176) and RHP José Santiago (172 games).

And OF Larry Elliot (157), OF Allan Lewis (156), OF Don Taussig (153), INF Ernie Fazio (141) and RHP Bill Kelso (119), INF Tony La Russa (132 games, plus 5,387 games managing the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A’s, St. Louis Cardinals as a Hall of Famer), LHP Rob Gardner (111), reliver Jim Dickson (109), OF Jim Small (108) and LHP Bill Landis (102).

And C Rene Lachemann (97 games played and 991 games managing in the majors with the Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs), reliever Joe Verbanic (92), OF José Vidal (88), C Tim Talton (83) and 1B Santiago Rosario (81), RHP Dan Pfister (78), LHP Dick Egan (74), RHP Aurelio Monteagudo (72), reliever Marcel Lachemann (70 games and 334 games managing the California Angels) and RHP Norm Bass (65).

And OF Rick Bladt (62), RHP Roberto Rodríguez (57), OF Len Boehmer (50), RHP Thad Tillotson (50), OF Jackie Warner (45), OF John Wojcik (41), RHP Ron Tompkins (40), LHP Bob Meyer (38), C Charlie White (38) and RHP Bill Burbach (37).

And INF Jim Driscoll (36), RHP Vern Handrahan, Charlottetown, PEI (34), RHP George Lauzerique (34), reliever Darrell Osteen (29), LHP Gil Blanco (28), INF Charlie Shoemaker (28), reliever Don O’Riley (27), OF Al Closter (21), C Freddie Velázquez (21) and reliever Gerry Pirtle (19).

And LHP Bill Edgerton (17), C Elmo Plaskett (17), 1B Randy Schwartz (16), C Frank Zupo (16), OF Frank Cipriani (13), RHP Jesse Hickman (13), LHP Mike Pazik (13), INF Chet Boak (10), OF Joe Nossek (10 games, plus eight games managing the White Sox) RHP Dave Thies (nine), C Nate Smith (five), RHP Alan Brice (three), OF Héctor Martínez (three) and RHP Bill McNulty (three).

And INF Weldon Bowlin (two), LHP Paul Gilliford (two), RHP Al Schmelz (two), RHP Rupe Toppin (two) LHP Ray Blemker (one), reliever Loyd Colson (one), RHP Tom Harrison, Trail, BC (one), RHP Gerry Schoen (one), C Bart Zeller (one) and John McNamara who managed 2,395 games with the Oakland A’s, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, California Angels and the Boston Red Sox.

Following his days in pro ball, he played for Red Deer Generals, and then in the Vancouver senior league for Burnaby Astors, Vancouver, Team Vancouver and New Westminster Auroras.

“You didn’t see slick fielding Latin America shortstops like Ossie in Canada,” Burrows said, who played against Chavarria. “Ossie had a great personality.”

After retiring as a player, Chavarría turned to umpiring working the minor leagues, including the Northwest League and college. He was clicking his clicker at the 1992 Olympics at Barcelona, the World Cup, Pan American Games and Intercontinental Cup.

“Ossie was a real good umpire,” Burrows said. “In terms of popularity he was the best, he was full of fun. There isn’t anyone in baseball that didn’t like Ossie.”

Former major-leaguer Ossie Chavarria with his grandson Matt Hardy

Brooks McNiven pitched many times when Chavarria umpiring.

“He was an umpire all though my high school career and was still doing games until around 2015, I think,” McNiven said. “He is an amazing man and always a pleasure to talk baseball with.

“Ossie and John are really good friends. There was some talk one year that Ossie was going to come and coach with us as well. It never happened but it would have been a lot of fun had it worked out.”

Ted Hotzak was president of the BC Premier League until 2022, after taking over from co-founder Clyde Inouye.

“My thoughts are that he was an outstanding umpire and a true gentleman,” Hotzak said. “In the many years of him working the PBL, I remember very few interactions with the coaching staff or players. His reputation was based on his excellent knowledge of the game and his great ability to call a game. He had the ability to understand the pace and rhythm of the game and never made the game about him.

“The great respect shown by the coaches was because of his talent in working a game. I can’t remember a single coach or player ever challenging his calls.”

High school Canadians became eligible during for the 1991 draft. And the final free agent to sign was Ossie’s son RHP David Chavarria. We remember Hall of Famer Pat Gillick telling us the news.

My response was something really insightful ... “good news another Canadian gets a chance.”

Gillick’s answered “well ... HE SIGNED WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS AND HIS FATHER SCOUTS FOR US!”

David Chavarria pitched for the rookie-class GCL Rangers, rookie-class Butte Copper Kings, class-A Hudson Valley Renegades, class-A Charleston RiverDogs and class-A Charlotte Rangers in the Texas system. Then he moved on pitch for the double-A Arkansas Travelers in the St. Louis Cardinals chain. Next, with the San Francisco Giants he had stops with the double-A Shreveport Captains and the class-A San Jose Giants in 1999.

A chip off the old block when he stopped playing he did not take his uniform off. Like Poppy. He became a pitching coach in the Rangers’ organization working with the GCL Rangers (2001-02), Spokane Indians (2003-2004, 2011), Bakersfield Blaze (2005-2006, 2008-2010), assistant pitching coordinator for the Rangers (2007) with Texas. Joining the Milwaukee Brewers he was pitching for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (2012-2013), Brevard County Manatees (2014-2016), Carolina Mudcats (2017) and Biloxi Shuckers (2018). Next he joined the Atlanta Braves in 2019 as rehab pitching co-ordinator and double-A Mississippi Braves (2022) for his 20th year coaching.

* * *

It was just a picture ...

It was and it was worth more than three lines in a cutline.