Leaside baseball donating for lefty
Memories of mentor Breitner leads to pitching in for a happy holiday
There’s something of a parallel between Proudfoot Corner and the Leaside Baseball Association.
Both are pillars of the community, and both date their origins to 1946.
The association has also maintained a constant connection to the Corner, forwarding donations on a regular basis, though it does so with a heavy heart this year.
That’s because Leaside — and baseball in Ontario in general — lost a legend when former lefty and longtime Etobicoke Rangers coach Steve Breitner passed away earlier this year.
Breitner was known as “Whitey” and for 25 years he coached for the Rangers, teaching kids the game and putting many of them on the right track to the top local levels of competition in the sport and to scholarships.
Some even went to the major leagues.
In fact, when the Cincinnati Reds were in town to face the Blue Jays in May 2017, Breitner threw out the first pitch at one of the games and was able to catch up with former Ranger and current Reds first baseman Joey Votto, one of the greatest hitters and competitors in the majors.
For those with longer memories, there were times when Breitner was a major-leaguequality lefty, pitching for the Leaside Maple Leafs and for other teams around Toronto. Breitner had all the tools — size, “great stuff” — in his heyday as a staff ace in the 1970s and ’80s. Breitner had one of the more unhittable breaking pitches Leaside has ever seen, and the friendships he forged over the years remained strong over his lifetime.
The Leaside Baseball Association sent $50 to the Proudfoot Corner this year in memory of Breitner. A donation also arrived from another Leaside legend: Howard Birnie, who carried the association on his shoulders as president for more than 50 years. Birnie has $50 in memory of Dalton Templeton.
Whether it be from local sports strongholds, such as the Leaside Baseball Association, or from old-timer hockey players, or from office staff passing the hat around to support the Proudfoot Corner, the aim is always to support the kids.
The Star’s Santa Fund dates the Proudfoot Corner back to 1946, through archives, but the Santa Fund itself has been around since 1906.
Every year since, the Fund relies on the generosity of readers to reach its goal: this year it’s $1.7 million, and it helps the Star administer another year where 45,000 gift boxes are sent to kids whose families have a tough time making Christmas as special as it is for most of us.
That box is really a box combining fun and utility — the kids get clothing, stuff to keep them warm, toys and hygiene products.
But it doesn’t get done without your help … so here we go, saluting this week’s donors, and always remembering the thread that binds good fortune is giving back to others.
Around the corner: Here’s Mr. and Mrs. Spittel of Bobcaygeon, with $100, “in memory of Roger Neilson from the Spittel Family” … Robert and Barba
ra Martin of Wasaga Beach send $50 in memory of Maple Leaf Billy Harris and Roy Gandy … Brampton’s Antonio
and Maria Macchia send $125 … Mike and Kelly Buchanan of Newmarket send $100 each for the following memories: 1: “Every year since his passing on November 10, 2009, I have donated to Proudfoot Corner in memory of my wife’s Godfather ‘Big’ Mike Rodwell. A wonderful man that had no children of his own but made sure the kids in his life always had a gift at Christmas;” and 2: “Sadly this year I am adding to the donation in memory of another great man. Mike Kemp passed away on June 9, leaving behind an amazing wife and two young kids. He was a truly wonderful man and all who knew him miss him dearly.” … Jim and Keiko
Alsop of Toronto send $50 in memory of the late, great Mort
Greenberg: “a character, outspoken, and a truly wonderful person who I have shared many wonderful moments. God Bless Mort and Jim (Proudfoot) for their outstanding work” … Viv
ian Young of Scarborough sends $20 … Globe and Mail sports desker Philip King of Toronto has $100 in memory of sports writer James Christie … Here’s someone who knows what its like to receive one of those gift boxes: William Bar
nett of Markham, who sends $100 with this note: “As a former recipient of the Santa Claus Fund in the 1940s please accept my annual donation to the Santa Claus Fund in the sum of $100 on behalf of the kids of the 50’s who attended Jesse Ketchum school” … Ste
phen Montgomery of Toronto is here with $100 in memory of
June Montgomery … Sheila Ryan of Toronto has $150 in memory of her father … Doug
las Palmateer of Toronto sends $100 … Aurora’s Steve Proniuk has $250, “in memory of Lorraine Lacroix, a great lady!” … Oakville’s Vincent Se
vo has $100 in honour of Sandra … Ewout Heersink of Toronto sends $500 in memory of Alex
Melvin … Unionville’s Duncan and Elaine Durham have $150 “in memory of our son Chris
Durham who passed away 10 years ago” ... And here’s Lance and Barbara Ridehalgh, also from Unionville, with $100, in memory of Bill Archibald ... Here’s one of many hockey-related donations: Referee Brian
Coles from Whitby with $250 ... Toronto’s Peter Thomas has $50 in honour of “the 4-yearold girl killed at the Halifax Santa Claus parade” ... Mike Coul
ter of Toronto sends $25 in honour of Mike Duggan, while
William McDonnell of Coburg offered up $50, also in honour of Duggan, “who took me with his brother to St. Mike’s for my first day of high school” (Duggan, a well-known referee in the Toronto area, graced our pages with his story last week) ...
James Pearce of Mississauga sends $50 in memory of Maria ... Brampton’s Randy Ruiters has $100 in memory of Joe and Josy Ruiters ... Barbara and Doug Dixon of Oakville are here with $200 ... Toronto’s
Marco Drumonde sends $25 ... Tom Millius of Toronto has $100 ... R. Orrof Toronto comes in with $100 ... Janice Robin-
son of Mississauga, with $100, in honour of the late “Ivan Robinson, a lifelong Leaf fan who would be enjoying the team so much this year.” ... Craig and
Linda Schell of Stouffville send $150 ... Toronto’s Robert
Murakami sends $200 in memory of John and Phyllis Hampton of Montreal ... Here’s
Peter Weber of Orangeville with $200 in memory of Hilla
ry Virginia Twigg ... And here’s a name Star readers will enjoy hearing from: Jim Byers. The former Jays writer at the Star offered up $50 ... Another Star legend: Bob Burt, sending $200 from Belleville, “in honour of three friends who shared the city desk, Brad Henderson, Bill Harper, and Wayne Braun and one of my very good bosses, Gerry Hall” ... Mike Ara of Toronto sends $25 in honour of Jesus and
Heather Ara ... Rowena Filart of North York has $50 in memory of Steve Waters ... James and Patricia Aldcroft of Cobourg send in $100 ... The Etobicoke Hockey Club arrives with $790 ... Al and Edna Tower of Mississauga send $100 ... Brampton’s Michael Shook has $300 “on behalf of the three grandchildren: Riley, Lucas, and Theo” ... Steve Lancaster of Toronto sends $300 ... Chris
Wong of Ajax has $253 in memory of H.Y. Wong ... Colin
Wong of Scarborough comes in with $100 ... Toronto’s John
Grise sends $25 ... Linda Ryan of Whitby has $100 in memory of “dog lover and friend Marlene, never forgotten” ... Brian
Wright of Mississauga sends $1,000 “in memory of my oldtimer hockey buddies” ... Rick
Dominico of Uxbridge sends $100 “in memory of Tom Dom
inico, a past regular contributor” ... Here’s Marcus Day of Toronto with $50 in memory of
Elisabeth Day ... David Osborne of Grafton with $25 ... Scarborough’s John Samuel comes in with $25 ... Rodney
Minden of Toronto sends $50 ... And Pat Crowe from Toronto, with $200, and another tribute to the memory of Star editor Gerry Hall (he loved the Blue Jays) ... James Brown from Stayner, with $25, in memory of Joan and Neal Brown ... Cynthia and Mark Cawker of Oshawa have $100 “to my loving parents Alan and
Eleanor. Love Mark” ... Jim and Beth Cruickshank from Gravenhurst send in $100 ... De
bra Hanna of North York has $100 in memory of Beth Humniss ... Mark Hughes of Toronto with $200 ... David Plaskett of Toronto has $100 ... And we’d like to thank some friends of the Corner who made donations of $50, $50, $100, $100 and $500 but preferred to stay anonymous ... And one last thing, fixing an error on our part, thanks to John and Linda Weir of Stouffville who sent $100 “in memory of Bud Murchie.”