Four Peterborough connections on Team Canada at WBC
Canada’s entry in the World Baseball Classic has four Peterborough connections.
The two obvious connections are Canada’s head coach and director of national teams Greg Hamilton and Toronto Blue Jays catching prospect Mike Reeves.
But Atlanta Braves all-star first baseman Freddie Freeman and Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Eric Wood also have a local tie.
Freeman’s mother, the late Rosemary McDonald Freeman, lived the first four years of her life in Peterborough in the 1950s. Her grandfather Archibald McDonald was a fire captain in Peterborough.
Her father Bud McDonald returned from serving in the Second World War to become a police officer in Peterborough but in 1952 took a job with General Electric. He and his wife Irene adopted Rosemary, who was born in Toronto, on the second day of her life.
The family moved to Oshawa in 1957 when Bud got a job with General Motors which later transferred them to Windsor where she met her future husband Fred Freeman. The couple moved to California where their children were born and raised. Rosemary’s family burial plot is in Omemee, said Fred Freeman.
Freddie was born and raised in the U.S. but because his parents are Canadian he is eligible to play for Canada. He turned down an invitation to play for Team USA to play for Canada to honour his mother’s memory. Rosemary lost a battle with cancer in 2000 at age 47 when Freddie, now 27, was 10.
Wood, who played for the Pirates AA affiliate last season, is from Oshawa but his father Peter grew up in Fraserville where Eric’s grandparents Don and Pat Wood have run a cattle farm for 45 years.
Hamilton, who has held his Baseball Canada post since 1998, and Reeves were born in Peterborough and started baseball in the Peterborough Baseball Association.
“Rarely do you see at this level four people, three players and a coach, connected to a community of 60,000 to 70,000,” said Hamilton, “especially in the sport of baseball. In hockey that might be a more reasonable possibility but in baseball it’s a unique circumstance.”
The acquisition of Freeman was a real boost for Canada who have lost the services of MLB players such as Joey Votto, Russell Martin, Brett Lawrie, Michael Saunders, James Paxton and Jameson Taillon.
“When you can add that type of player when you’re losing a Joey Votto you at least feel like you’re bringing in someone of that level,” Hamilton said. “That’s not easy to do when you’re talking the level of a Joey Votto.
“Freddie is a class act,” Hamilton said. “He was very passionate about doing this. We communicated for a long period of time about that passion.”
Wood had a breakout season last year with the Altoona Curve hitting 16 home runs with 50 RBI and 63 runs while hitting .249 in 402 at-bats.
“Last year was a year where he was able to put up some offensive numbers which at a corner position, he’s a third baseman, he’s going to have to do,” Hamilton said.
“He had a real good Arizona fall league this year which is a real good league full of future Major League prospects. He’s in (Pirates) camp this year and this is a transitional type of year.”
He’ll likely come off the bench for Canada.
“He’s a right-handed bat, which is a plus for us, is a very good defender and plays a couple of positions, which is valuable,” Hamilton said. “We have the ability from a leftright perspective to use his bat and from a positional perspective some flexibility.”
Reeves says Peterborough has a deep baseball tradition with guys such as Steve (Trout) Terry and Bob Davidson helping groom young players. Before Reeves played winter ball in Australia Terry threw him batting practice at Riverside Park.
“He threw me BP every day for about three hours a day,” Reeves said. “He’s trying to help everybody get better. Same with Bob Davidson. Those two guys, I feel, are the Peterborough Show. They don’t ask for anything back. That’s what is amazing about those guys. Trouter is getting a little older and BP is getting a little slower but, my god, it’s good BP.”
Canada plays pre-tournament games Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays and Wednesday against the New York Yankees in Dunedin, Fla. They kick off tournament play in Miami on Thursday against the Dominican Republic. They round out pool play Saturday against Colombia and Sunday against the U.S.