June 16, 2019

J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

As a major league coach, Rob Thomson is used to working behind the scenes, quietly sharing words of wisdom with managers and imparting advice to young players. But for one day, the baseball lifer from the blue collar town of Corunna, Ont. was in the spotlight as a 2019 inductee into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, and I don’t know if it ever will. But I’m completely honoured, completely humbled,” Thomson said.

“Honestly, I think of Hall of Famers as players, front office – not so much coaches. Because good coaches are residue of great players, and also somebody has to get the great players.”

True to form, Thomson deflected the focus onto his fellow inductees, telling stories about Jason Bay launching home runs over the Green Monster to beat his Yankees when the Canadian slugger was with Boston, how tough Ryan Dempster was to face on the mound, and how it was always a challenge to take a series from the Blue Jays teams built by general manager Gord Ash.

“It’s a lot of pride. We’re all proud Canadians. I played on the first Canadian team to play in the Olympics, in 1984, and went on to have this professional career in coaching,” Thomson said.

“But to go in with these three guys is really exciting for me because I know how good they are at what they did, and I’m truly honoured not only to get in here, but especially to come in with these guys.”

Thomson earned his inclusion among Canada’s baseball greats by serving as a widely respected coach, minor league manager, field coordinator and director of player development for three decades and counting. He won five World Series with the New York Yankees, most visibly as third base coach and later bench coach for manager Joe Girardi. Now with the Philadelphia Phillies as bench coach and veteran sounding board for manager Gabe Kapler, Thomson continues to do what he loves best – helping his players succeed and reach their full potential.

Several teammates from that 1984 Canadian Olympic squad were in St Marys to celebrate Thomson’s induction.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun and a lot of happy times and tears,” Thomson said, adding that his Olympic experience looms even larger in hindsight.

“I really appreciated it, but I appreciate it more now than I did at the time,” he said. “Because as it turns out, that was the biggest moment of my playing career. So it means a lot more now than it did then.”

Also looking on with pride was Dick Groch, the scout who recruited Thomson from the Intercounty Baseball League Stratford Hillers to play for St. Clair Community College. He moved on to the University of Kansas before being drafted by the Detroit Tigers.

“It’s incredible,” Thomson said. “Dick Groch has meant so much to my life and my baseball career.”

His wife Michele and daughters Chrissy and Jacquie beamed with pride as they watched Thomson get his due.

“It means a great deal to them,” Thomson said. “I’ve got a lot of support.”

Michele Thomson said seeing her husband honoured by the Hall of Fame feels like a validation of his decades of dedication to the sport.

“I think it’s fantastic. I think he very much deserves it. He has worked really, really hard for a very long time, and he’s made lots of sacrifices,” she said.

“Especially with our girls, a lot of time away. When you do that, at the time, you’re very motivated. He’s always set goals for himself that he’s wanted to achieve, and he has. Then you get to the point where you’ve achieved all these wonderful things and you start wondering if that’s what you should have done. He’s starting to have a few regrets, but he shouldn’t, because the girls are so proud of him and they love him being in baseball, and the excitement that comes with that.

“But because he does sometimes question things, I think him being honoured today is perfect. I think it’s a good thing for him, because he’s always the last one to think that he deserves something like this. He’s so humble. But by doing this, I think he’s realizing that it is deserved.”

Michele can look back on a life spent in baseball and focus on the exciting opportunities it presented her family.

“I’m very proud of him, and I’ve loved the life, for the most part,” she said. “There’s difficulties, absolutely, but we barrelled through all that.”

After living in Florida for 13 years, the Thomsons now make their off-season home in Stratford, a short drive from the Hall of Fame in St Marys.

“We’re so, so happy to be back in Canada,” Michele said. “We love it, we love this area, and we feel very fortunate to be Canadian.”