Stubby Clapp (Windsor, Ont.) has been a part of all three Canadian national teams that have won gold at international competitions. He played for the Junior National Team that won gold at the World Junior Baseball Championship tournament in Brandon, Man., in 1991 and was a coach on the 2011 and 2015 Senior National Teams that captured gold at the Pan Am Games. Photo: Baseball Canada

*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on April 3. You can read it here.

April 4, 2025

By Ian Wilson

Alberta Dugout Stories

It was all about winning and Stubby Clapp didn’t want it any other way.

The versatile infielder and outfielder from Windsor, Ontario had played at the NCAA Division 1 level. He had rode the buses in the minor leagues. Clapp even made it to The Show in 2001, when he suited up for the St. Louis Cardinals for 23 games.

He also earned a reputation as a gutsy ball player during his performances for Canada internationally.

In 1991, Clapp helped Canada win its first World Junior Championship in Brandon, Man. That team was later inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

In addition, he delivered a bases-loaded, game-winning hit in extra innings at the 1999 Pan-American Games in Winnipeg that secured a 7-6 upset victory for Canada over the United States. Canada won a bronze medal at that tournament.

Appearances at the summer Olympics in Athens and Beijing followed, and Clapp also represented Canada at a pair of World Baseball Classic tournaments in 2006 and 2009.

Wedged into that full and varied playing career was a stop in Edmonton, where the 5-foot-8 sparkplug took to Telus Field as a member of the Cracker-Cats of the independent Northern League.

“Here’s the difference with independent ball. Independent ball is a lot like international baseball. You’re there to win, so I think that’s the fun of it that I loved about independent ball over org ball,” said Clapp during a recent interview on Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast.

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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories interview Stubby Clapp here.

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“Org ball” refers to the minor-league, affiliated baseball structure that Major League Baseball teams use to advance prospects, ushering them from rookie level through Single-A, Double-A, Triple-A and ultimately – hopefully – to an MLB roster.

“Org ball, you’re there to win, but you’re more there to develop to get to the big leagues. Sometimes winning takes a back seat. If I’m stepping on a baseball field, I’m playing to win. I think that’s what the draw for me was for Edmonton.”

In Alberta’s capital at that time, the city was still coping with the loss of the Trappers, a Pacific Coast League Triple-A club that had offered Edmonton high-calibre baseball for more than two decades. Their final season occurred in 2004 and an indy league team entered the fray to help fill the void the following year.

The Cracker-Cats of the 12-team Northern League circuit needed a respected figure to help prove they were a worthy addition to the city’s sports scene. Clapp was the face of the franchise that the Cracker-Cats called upon. Already familiar with playing in Edmonton during his time with the Memphis Redbirds, he was up for the task.

When news broke of Clapp joining the Cracker-Cats in March of 2005, he was praised as an “Olympic hero” and for his “on-field intensity and hustle” on the front page of the Edmonton Journal sports section.

“We had so much fun. It was a good group of guys. That whole group of guys in that two years, we wanted to win and we played like it. We didn’t necessarily win every game but we had a lot of fun trying,” recalled Clapp, who played 166 games for the Cracker-Cats over two seasons, registering 121 runs, 48 doubles and 46 stolen bases in that time.

Playing in the Northern League also presented some unique opportunities to the lefty batter.

SCRAPPY CLAPP

Clapp and his teammates were involved in one of the biggest brawls in Alberta’s baseball history on June 13, 2006 when the Cracker-Cats faced the Calgary Vipers at Foothills Stadium.

“Mike Busch was the (Calgary) manager and I’ll put it this way, I don’t have anything against Mike Busch now,” recalled Clapp, who is now in his seventh season as the first base coach of the St. Louis Cardinals.

“But back then the rumour is – and I say rumour because it was hearsay – but if somebody on Calgary got plunked, it was automatic that somebody on the other team got plunked and that was Mike’s rule and that was to protect his players or whatever.”

The fracas erupted after Greg Morrison, a first baseman with the Vipers in 2005 who was released by the club and picked up by the Cracker-Cats for the 2006 season, was the target of numerous beanballs thrown by Calgary pitchers.

“It got to the point where I got plunked, Greg got plunked, and we’re like, ‘OK, no more.’ We’d had it and when he got plunked it was time to take care of business,” recalled Clapp.

“I remember when I got plunked earlier in the game, I didn’t even get mad at the pitcher. I turned to their bench and I looked at Mike Busch and said, ‘OK, no more, we’re done. This is it. Clean it up. Let’s play some baseball.’ And, of course, Greg got plunked again after that and that’s when all hell broke loose.”

Following a retaliation against Viper outfielder Drew Miller, who was pegged in the back by a Reggie Rivard pitch, a pair of skirmishes erupted and the managers of both teams were right in the middle of the fisticuffs.

When the dust settled, the Northern League threw the book at both teams, dishing out 76 games in suspensions, along with several undisclosed fines. Clapp received three games for his involvement in the proceedings.

ALL-STAR HONOURS

A month after the donnybrook in Calgary, Clapp was named an All-Star for the second straight season.

The Northern League All-Star Game took place in Kansas City, Kansas and the league was honouring legendary Negro Leagues star Buck O’Neil by signing him to a one-day contract and allowing him to become the oldest man to ever play professional baseball.

O’Neil, who was 94 at the time, had two at bats in the game and Clapp came in as a pinch runner for him.

“Being able to be a small part of that history and have that little tie to that part of the game and it being Buck O’Neil, he was so awesome and so gracious and so fun to talk to. I’ll never forget just being able to have that opportunity,” said Clapp, who went 3-for-3 with four runs batted in and was named the MVP of the game.

“I tell my kids every time I see something about Buck O’Neil, I remind them. My kids are at the point where they’re like, ‘Dad, we know.'”

Clapp also worked as a hitting coach for the Cracker-Cats in his second season with the team, a move which helped set him on the path to his post-playing career.

He signed on as a hitting coach for the Greeneville Astros in the rookie-level Appalachian League in 2007, but admitted he contemplated staying in Edmonton as a player for another season.

“It was a good last two years of my career. If they could’ve kept paying me a decent amount, I’m not talking a lot, just something, I probably would’ve played longer,” said Clapp, who worked his way up the minors as a coach and a manager in the Astros and Blue Jays organizations before joining the Cardinals.

Clapp guided the Memphis Redbirds to back-to-back PCL championships in 2017 and 2018. He was named the PCL Manager of the Year both seasons. A promotion to the Cardinals followed.

PROUD CANADIAN

Through all his success as a player and a coach, Clapp has remained a staunch supporter of Canadian baseball.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s all the way back in 1991, or I think about 2003 trying to qualify for the 2004 Olympics or the team in 2007 trying to qualify for 2008 … every time you get to put Canada across your chest you feel like your chest grows about three inches,” he said.

“It’s something special, it’s something that is earned, it’s a privilege and to be able to do it once, twice, numerous times, it’s a God-given blessing and I’ll never forget any one of them.”

Clapp was named to Baseball Canada’s Wall of Excellence in January, a moment he was happy to share with his family.

“Obviously having my two boys there, they got to see some cool videos,” he said.

“They were amazed, they said, ‘You used to be able to do that?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I used to be able to play.’ They didn’t really get to see me play.”

Clapp first considered baseball as a job when he was 12 years old and working as a bat boy for the U.S. national team at a tournament in Windsor.

“I fell in love with it then – I was like, this is what I want to do,” he said.

“Fast forward to the 2004 Opening Ceremonies in Athens and walking through the gates and hearing your country’s name called and you hear the crowd erupt, cheering you on. It was one of the coolest moments.”

As for the current state of Canadian baseball, Clapp thinks it’s never been better.

“The exposure that these guys are getting now at such a young age is crucial to their development and how they’re able to compete. You look at the guys who are coming into the big leagues from our program, they’ve not only made the big leagues but they’re making a significant impact in the big leagues,” said Clapp.

That impact is expected to help Canadians win in the majors and at the international level.

And Clapp wouldn’t have it any other way.