Swing and a miss: Jays aren’t coming
MLB: Dunn rejects rumour about possible Toronto pre-season stop
SCENE & HEARD: The short answer according to Vancouver Canadians president Andy Dunn is “no.” He says there are not any plans on the table to have the Toronto Blue Jays play one or possibly two pre-season games at BC Place Stadium next spring.
“That is not to say it couldn’t happen or at least be given a serious look somewhere down the road,” Dunn adds, almost playfully. “For now, though, there is nothing in the works for next year.”
The suits at B.C. Pavilion Corporation (PavCo) will welcome Dunn’s silencing of the baseball rumour that won’t go away. PavCo officials have enough to deal with over the current turf war involving a group of elite soccer players filing a lawsuit challenging plans to play the 2015 Women’s World Cup on artificial grass in Canada. The final match has been booked for BC Place.
The Blue Jays’ affiliation with the Canadians has never been stronger. At last weekend’s R. Howard Webster Awards in Toronto recognizing most valuable players from each of the Jays’ minor league farm teams, the top six prospects recognized all had Vancouver connections. The lineup included former and present C’s Kevin Pillar, Jon Berti, Dwight Smith Jr., Mitch Nay, Franklin Barreto and Richard Urena.
HERE ‘N’ THERE: After covering numerous international sporting events the world over with celebrated television host Brian Williams, the last place on the planet retired Vancouver Sun columnist Jim Taylor figured they’d meet again would be in Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island, halfway between Victoria and Duncan. But that’s where Toronto-based TSN producer Paul Harrington will be travelling next week with Williams and a camera crew to interview Taylor, who lives at Shawnigan with wife Deb and son Chris.
It’s part of TSN’s master plan for the network’s coverage of this year’s Grey Cup telecast from Vancouver, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the B.C. Lions’ first national championship on Nov. 28, 1964 (a 34-24 win over the Hamilton TigerCats in Toronto). The Ticats had beaten the Lions the previous year at Empire Stadium, scene of the Angelo Mosca late hit on Willie Fleming. SHORT HOPS: A couple of special athletes in the limelight recently included Larry Popein being named to the Yorkton (Sask.) Sports Hall of Fame and Alvie Thompson receiving the PGA of B.C. Lifetime Achievement Award. Popein made his pro hockey debut with the Pacific Coast League Vancouver Canucks in 1961 and proceeded to star with the New York Rangers on a powerhouse NHL line with Andy Bathgate and Dean Prentice.
Popein wound down his career as director of player personnel for the NHL Canucks in the 1970s. Thompson won a PGA of Canada championship and spent 30 years as a popular teaching pro, more than half that time at McCleery.
END ZONE: Organizers of the 22nd annual JCC Sports Dinner hit a home run by acquiring guest speaker Frank Caliendo, comedian, actor, impressionist and commentator for their Feb. 4 date at the Hyatt Regency.