December 12, 2021

Pitcher was one of the finest in the Upper Ottawa Valley

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Keith Kean was a microcosm of Chalk River, Ont., a microcosm of the famous Railroaders baseball team.

Kean was a gritty player like the gritty, small town of Chalk River and gritty like the Railroaders.

Kean died October 26 at the age of 82 at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and admirers praised him as one of the finest pitchers to ever fling a ball in the history of the North Renfrew Senior Baseball League in the Upper Ottawa Valley.

From 1961 to 1975 thereabouts, Kean was one of many leaders the Railroaders boasted as they garnered a few championships at the expense of the Pembroke Ponies, Pembroke Pirates, Petawawa Indians, Deep River Rockets and Renfrew Red Sox.

Kean came from good stock, built strong and sturdy just like his mother Belle and then there was his brother and teammate Syd, and his sisters Mabel and Vivian, both exceptional athletes and softball stars in Chalk River back in the day.

Keith Kean was a farmer by trade for years. His father Percy was a Chalk River area cattleman, who specialized in raising Herefords, and running a fox farm on his expansive, 500-acre Wylie Road property. Percy's father Fred, likewise, was a farmer.

Syd said he and Keith were known to "light'' the daily fire in the wood stove at the one-room school on Wylie Road. At the end of the day, they would sweep the floors before heading home. Syd wonders if any kids would do such chores today.

When he finished his farming for the day, Percy would be at the ball field in Chalk River or other towns, keeping his eyes on his sons. My father Ed would often have chats with him at these venues, not just about baseball but about cattle and farming.

"Keith was a tremendous pitcher, who had terrific control,'' Syd said in an interview at a Tim Hortons venue in Bowmanville, Ont. where he lives. "He was one of the top pitchers in the league. He had a lot of speed on the ball. He threw a lot of fastballs and some curves. He was probably a good pitcher for 10 years before he blew his arm out.''

Back on Aug. 27, 1958, as Ron Craig reported in the Pembroke Observer, Kean was exceptional in the Chalk's 5-0 loss to the Pirates.

"Young Keith Kean pitched the game of his life, striking out 14 and limiting the Bucs to a single hit in the eight innings he worked,'' Craig wrote. "Keith, a very talented hurler with a good variety of pitches, and Syd, a good, steady infielder, are particularly conspicuous on the field for their continuous hustle and constant chatter. Regardless of the score, they never recognize defeat until the last man is out.''

In another newspaper report, it pointed out Chalk River beat Petawawa 16-3 as Kean was praised by Indians coach Willard Mohns as "the best pitcher in the league.''

In another article, Kean was called a "strikeout master.'' He threw a heavy fastball and wasn’t averse to throwing chin music at batters.

“Keith, oh boy, he had a temper. He’d get mad at the umpires,’’ recalled Al Hudlin, one of his teammates.

“I remember him as a fierce competitor who had a very strong will to win, sometimes maybe a little too strong,’’ remembered Petawawa pitcher Laurie Dakin. “Maybe he had a little Bob Gibson in him. He loved baseball. He was a building force of the Railroaders.’’

According to old newspaper records obtained from Syd Kean, the Railroaders began their illustrious senior-ball franchise in 1928, capturing the league title over the Pembroke Holy Trinity squad in the final.

The Chalk also won the championship in 1929 and 1930 and yet, in a long famine that lasted close to 30 years, the Chalk fell short of a title until they finally won in 1961.

The Railroaders were much a part of the fabric of Chalk River as Atomic Energy Canada Ltd., Ontario Hydro and Canadian Pacific Railway, which had a rail line that ran adjacent to the diamond the team played on. Thus, the moniker Railroaders. Chalk River is a figment of its former self but in its heyday, was a thriving town.

Ironically, the Railroaders, AECL, Ontario Hydro and the CPR no longer have connections to Chalk River. According to online reports, the Chalk River library, the Rotary Club and the Legion are some organizations that still survive.

The Treetop Restaurant, a popular truckstop destination for years on Highway 17, was dealt a severe blow in early 2019 when its roof collapsed. Months later, the site was demolished.

Syd Kean said the key to the Railroaders success for many years stemmed from the input of coach Ken Hulley, who promoted small ball, the bunting game, the hit and run, stealing bases, how to position yourself on fly balls hit off the fence and other important fundamentals of the game.

"I improved 50% because of Ken. He was tremendous,'' said Syd, a second baseman and centre fielder with the Chalk. "He made us better ballplayers. Some players didn't like what he was teaching. They would say 'We don't need all that stuff.' Today, you see (on television) they don't how to bunt and they make good money.''

Yes, small ball like the Railroaders practiced, is rarely seen much anymore. I distinctly remember one game in 1971 when Keith Kean dropped a drag bunt in the Chalk on an suspecting third baseman for Renfrew -- me -- and beating my throw to first.

As a batter, I was lucky I never faced Keith Kean in the early-to-mid 1970s. By that time, Keith was reduced to infield duty after his pitching arm gave out. Whenever we played the Chalk, we knew it was going to be a tough battle.

My brothers Lawrence and Jim remember facing Kean in Douglas in 1966 when young Douglas star John O’Neill outdueled the established Kean in a 2-0 Douglas victory. That was the year Douglas ventured from the South Renfrew league to play in the North Renfrew loop.

Lawrence remembers one game in Douglas where Keith drew a walk and he was muttering in a bragging manner on his way to first base saying, "They are afraid to pitch to me."

As Syd pointed out, he wanted to make sure there were many others besides the Keans who helped make the Railroaders a formidable team. You couldn't count out the Donnellys, the Mussells, the McCarthys and the Chalk’s other players, including exceptional pitcher Paul Jay and Hudlin, a Nova Scotia native, who was a soldier at CFB Petawawa when not playing shortstop.

“To do what we did took a great effort from a lot of players to make us a good overall team,’’ Syd said.

Catcher Jack Mussell, whose wife Vivian was a sister of the Kean brothers, won a number of league batting championships..

After watching and playing against Hudlin, I figured he was one of the top five players I played against in my 27-season career in senior ball across Canada. He told me he was once given a tryout in Liverpool, N.S. by the San Francisco Giants.

“They had wanted me to go to San Francisco for spring training but coming from a small place in Nova Scotia that was like going to the other side of the world. That was when I had just joined the army,’’ Hudlin said in an interview.

Hudlin was the North Renfrew league MVP in 1962, batted over. 400 one season and won the home-run crown one year as he looked at his trophies at his home in Matlock, Man.

“One game, I hit the longest home run,’’ he said with a grin on his face. “The fence in right field (in Chalk River) was 325 feet away and I hit it 50 feet over the fence. It landed in a (moving) train car. They found it at the next stop in North Bay. That’s why it’s the longest home run.’’

Oh, the tales.

The Railroaders made most of their money from the traditional passing of the hat before and during games for donations to cover expenses and hotelman Conn Dover would also pitch in financially. Dover was known to cash players' employment cheques and in return, the players would stop in for drinks after each game.

It was the golden era of baseball in the Upper Ottawa Valley and Keith Kean was part of it. The Railroaders and the North Renfrew league are gone but the memories remain.

Keith Kean leaves his wife Sharon, daughter Wendy, son Terry, sister Vivian and brother Syd and numerous in-laws, relatives and friends. In memoriam donations can be made to the Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation.