Fitzpatrick: National team pitching legend Heisler elected to the Canadian ball hall
Rod Heisler (Moose Jaw, Sask.), who made more pitching appearances for the Canadian men’s national team than any other player, was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
February 7, 2024
By Trevor Fitzpatrick
Canadian Baseball Network
On the international stage, no one’s represented Canadian baseball more than Rod Heisler.
The left-handed hurler from Moose Jaw, Sask., made a record 14 appearances in international competitions for Canada, dating back to his first Amateur World Series in 1978.
Heisler pitched in that same tournament in 1980 and 1982, then started Canada’s first game at the 1984 Olympics.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame when you add on three Pan Am Games, three Intercontinental Cups, a Pacific Cup, and a World Cup. Yet, to Heisler it did.
“I was on the way to a hockey alumni event in Minnesota when I got the call from Scott Crawford (the Hall of Fame’s director of operations),” Heisler recalled, “I had to pull over to take the call and I assumed that he was going to tell me that our 1984 Olympic team was being inducted. It was a huge honour to find out it was me as an individual.”
Heisler is a natural storyteller. During the press conference with the inductees, you could see him light up every time he was asked a question. Without fail, each of his answers brought a smile to everyone’s face as he reminisced.
One of his best answers came when he was asked about the six years that he spent playing hockey professionally in Germany.
“I remember Scott and I were chatting well before any of the inductees were announced and he asked if I liked hockey or baseball more. I told him hockey, but looking back I probably should have picked the politically correct answer of baseball,” he said with a laugh.
Heisler was much more than just a ball player. He was an extremely talented multi-sport athlete. Before the international baseball competitions and the professional hockey in Germany, he played both at Bemidji State University.
He earned baseball All-Conference honours in 1978 and 1979 and All-District honours in 1979. On the rink, he was a major part of bringing BSU to a national championship in 1979. He finished his career tied for the most goals scored at the school with 100.
Following that, he graduated in 1980 with a degree in physical education and a minor in biology. He was later inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2006.
If you ask Heisler about his best memories of being an athlete, he’ll tell you that his favourite memories of his career were from all of the traveling he had the opportunity to do.
“It was awesome playing for Canada in the ‘80s. Meeting people from every country was so special because we were welcomed everywhere we went. No matter where we were, people were cheering for Canada.”
He went on to recall how incredible it was that the teams played as well as they did with how little they had.
“When I first started, we didn’t even have a training camp until the one in Windsor was established. It’s great to see how far the program has come since the ‘80s,” said Heisler, “Our early teams had a wide range of players from college to independent leagues, we all took to the field and were proud of the results.”
That 1984 Olympic team not only opened doors for Canadian players for years to come but also created some of the funniest stories ever told.
Rod Heisler (left), poses with his manager from the 1984 Olympics Eric MacKenzie (Glendon, Alta.).
Heisler was pitching with Larry Downes (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.) on first base at those Olympics. Bob Elliott told the story in 2016 of how they orchestrated a beautiful pickoff play by talking over the signs in their underwear the night before. You can read that story here.
Following his extensive baseball career, Heisler began teaching and coaching baseball at Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, as well as coaching Little League ball in his hometown of Moose Jaw.
In 2017, he was inducted into the city’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Heisler will be honoured at the 2024 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony which takes place on June 15. The event is free to attend for the public and will have ball games and autograph sessions throughout the day.