January 23, 2020

By Andy Lawrence

Former Montreal Expos minor leaguer

Tuesday was another great day for Canadian Baseball.

Three great Canadians now have their plaques or pictures hanging in Cooperstown, NY: Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) and now Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC), plus Bob Elliott (Kingston, Ont.). The news reports say two players, but don’t forget the greatest writer.

Congratulations to Larry, a true Canadian. Playing with OF Scott Mann (Oshawa, Ont.) , Walker and our fellow Hall of Famer Randy Johnston, we all played for the class-A West Palm Beach Expos under manager Felipe Alou in 1986 and the double-A Jacksonville Expos for manager Tommy Thompson in 1987.

The great Jim Fanning of the Expos put together three young Canadians players on one team. We called it the Canadian dream team. Larry went on to have an amazing career and we’re so proud of his accomplishments.

Now Canada needs to celebrate Larry as one of our greatest players who now joins an amazing fraternity that’s second to none ...

We’re are all so proud of you Larry.

This picture (above) sits on my son Jason’s dresser to remember and never forget those three Montreal Expos players living a dream.

Again, Congratulations Larry to you and your family!

See you in Cooperstown!!!!!

Best Regards,

Julie, Andy and Jason Lawrence

1B-OF Andy Lawrence (Mississauga, Ont.) signed with the New York Mets in 1982, spending seven seasons in the minors. He was with rookie-class Kingsport, class-A Columbia, class-A Little Falls and class-A Lynchburg and double-A Jackson in the Mets system. He then moved on to class-A West Palm Beach, double-A Jacksonville in the Expos system. For years, he coached his son RHP Jason Lawrence with the Mississauga North Bengals.