March 29, 2025

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Wayne Norton passed away on Jan. 6, 2018.

So how come former major leaguers and current major leaguers are still talking about the scout?

Well, a few reasons:

A) Because of the great deal of respect people had for the diligent, kind man.

B) Because each spring when Doug Mathieson’s Langley Blaze travel to Arizona, the elite team plays Seattle Mariners’ first and second-year pros in the annual Wayne Norton memorial game, in memory of the former Seattle Mariners longtime scout. So, kudos to the Mariners and Mathieson.

Michael Saunders hung around for the game to speak to the Blaze and Mariners. Norton (Port Moody, BC) selected Saunders (Victoria, BC), the former Victoria Mariner, in the 11th round of the 2004 draft. Saunders did not sign immediately and played for the Tallahassee Community College Eagles. In those days, teams retained the rights of players for the next 50 weeks. Norton signed Saunders before the 2005 draft.

Mariners minor-league coach Michael Saunders (Victoria, BC) who played nine years in the majors.

Saunders was with the Atlanta Braves in 2023 but is now back with his original team as a roving minor-league outfield and base-runnung instructor.

Norton also drafted first-rounder RHP Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.), 11th overall in 2007, from the Academy Baseball Canada and gave him a $1.9 million bonus as well as OF Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC), now of the Baltimore Orioles. O’Neill was a third-round choice in 2013, receiving a $650,000 bonus.

“Wayne was a scout who was always around checking on the Blaze players and when I played with the Junior National Team,” said O’Neill Friday night at the Rogers Centre. “He had a big influence on my career. He pushed for me to go up the board and for Seattle to take me. It was a big deal -- for a BC kid that was my hometown team at the time.

“I’ll always be thankful for what Wayne did for me.”

Norton worked for his dear friend Pat Gillick with the Baltimore Orioles and when Gillick moved to Seattle, Norton followed him.

O’Neill was one of six Orioles to homer on Thursday, opening night, which is nothing new for him. It was the sixth straight opening day O’Neill has homered, which is a major-league record. In seven season openers, he is hitting .429 with a 1.821 OPS, thanks to six home runs and five walks with 13 RBIs, according to our stats guru Neil Munro (North Bay, Ont.) and Kevin Glew (Dorchester, Ont.).

In all, O’Neill has hit 110 homers for 10th place among Canadian sluggers, behind Hall of Famer RF Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) 383 homers, future Hall of Famer 1B Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) 356, OF-DH Matt Stairs (Fredericton, NB) 265, 1B Justin Morneau (New Westminster, BC) 247, OF Jason Bay (Trail, BC) OF Jeff Heath (Fort William, Ont.) 194, C Russell Martin (Montreal, Que.) 191, 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) 160 and 3B Corey Koskie (Anola, Man.) 124.

Besides O’Neill and Saunders, the only Canadian named MVP of a World Baseball Classic pool play, Norton either had input or signed the likes of second-rounder OF Gareth Morgan (North York, Ont.), of the Ontario Blue Jays, given $2 million in 2014, LHP Adam Macko (Stony Plain, Alta.), Vauxhall Academy, $250,000, a seventh rounder in 2019; RHP Colin Buckborough (Niagara Falls, Ont.), Bullett Proof Prospects, $200,000, 16th round, 2007; INF John Cole (Kanata, Ont.), Nebraska, after playing with the Ontario Blue Jays, fifth round in 2001, $170,000 and 3B Lachlan Fontaine (North Vancouver, BC), of the North Shore Twins, a 13th rounder in 2013, $100,000.

Wayne Norton (left), as a member of the Vancouver Mounties, shown here with Henry Aaron.

One year, Baseball America’s top 10 Mariners prospects included Alex Liddi from Italy, Greg Halman from The Netherlands and Saunders. All Norton signs, for you see he travelled the world, from Europe to South Africa. Baseball was in his veins as he played 1,206 games in the minors with the Kansas City A’s and Oakland, peaking at triple-A Vancouver and triple-A Iowa.

Besides coming up with the grand idea of having a junior national team (he picked up the idea from a badminton player), he wrote the Baseball Canada handbook and devised the idea of the National Baseball Institute under coach John Haar. It kept Canadians at home, producing the likes of future big leaguers LHP Denis Boucher (Lachine, Que.), RHP Steve Sinclair (Victoria, BC), LHP Paul Spoljaric (Kelowna, BC), OF Rob Butler (East York, Ont.), RHP Jason Dickson (Chatham, NB), OF Aaron Guiel (Coquitlam, BC), RHP Derek Aucoin (Lachine, Que.), Koskie and Stairs.

Norton is one of the reasons the Mariners spent so much on Canadians. After last year’s draft, they were fifth on monies paid when counting six-figure signing bonuses (fourth in 2023). They have spent $5,807,500 on Canadians, behind the Pittsburgh Pirates $7,180,000, San Diego Padres ($7,164,449), Atlnata Braves ($6,741,700) and the Milwaukee Brewers ($6,501,700). The Blue Jays sit 11th ($4,080,000).

Did all of Norton’s signs make it. No. No scout can boast that, but they all were given a chance to get a foot in the door.

* * *

The best Blaze hitters on the trip were: INF Nolan Weinmeyer (Sidney, BC), OF Evan Dugdale (Maple Ridge, BC), INF Kason Siguenza (Abbotsford, BC), INF Luke Laird (Langley, BC) and OF Logan Booth (Agassiz, BC). Weinmeyer hit .410 against pro teams, while Laird batted .391 facing pro arms with two triples, Siguenza hit .380 overall and Booth had a pair of doubles and two triples against pros.

The best arms were LHP Reid Clague (Victoria, BC), his fastball locked at 92-94 MPH. Cole Dorland (Langley, BC) a 2026 grad was very good at 85-89 MPH and showing three pitches, RHP Oliver Knorn (Surrey, BC) also a 2026, very well against the Cubs and Oakland hitting 89 MPH and RHP Kyu Lumsdon (Langley, BC) who is heading to Vernon, was up to college, hit 92 against the Canadian Premier League Stars and Yavapai Junior College.

Wayne Norton's great-grandson Theo points at his plaque on the day of his B.C. Sports Hall of Fame induction.

Norton was elected to the BC Hall of Fame in 2024 and the Canadian Hall of Fame in St. Marys in 2016. He was named the Canadian Baseball Network Scout of the Year in 1998 and 2013. The Canadian Baseball Network’s minor league Pitcher Of The Year was renamed the Wayne Norton award in 2021.