Martinez, Hentgen head list for Canadian baseball honours
It was as if Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame voters attempted to trace the history of the game when it came to selection time.
Six men will be inducted June 18 in St. Marys and the lineup looks like this:
Dennis Martinez, who pitched 23 seasons, including eight with the Montreal Expos, retiring in 1998.
“I was so grateful to be traded to the Expos (from the Baltimore Orioles), to a different country, a different culture,’’ said Martinez, who credited pitching coach Larry Bearnarth for his success. “That was my second chance. They treated me so good in Montreal. I was so happy to play there. People took me under their wing.’’
Pat Hentgen, an anchor of Blue Jays glory days rotation, and a club employee for 26 years.
Hentgen grew up watching the Jays from Fraser, Mich.
“I remember growing up and remembering pitching battles between Dave Stieb and Jack Morris,” said Hentgen, who as a high schooler cheered for the Tigers, but after Don Wilkie selected him in the fifth round in 1986 he switched rooting interests.
He became the first Jays pitcher to win a Cy Young Award.
The late William Shuttleworth who was born in Brantford, Ont., and is considered the father of Canadian baseball, starting the Young Canadians in 1854.
Wayne Norton, of Winnipeg, created Baseball BC in 1975. He came up with the idea of a Canadian junior national team and formed the National Baseball Institute before turning to scouting.
Howard Starkman, former public relations man with the Jays and now a vice-president, was hired in 1976.
Tony Kubek, the CTV broadcaster who educated Canadian fans for the first 13 years of the franchise’s existence.
So the timeline goes from 1854 to the 1960s, to Exhibition Stadium in 1977, to Dodger Stadium in 1991 for a perfect afternoon and to the SkyDome in 1993.
Norton was signed by the Yankees and assigned to Class D St. Petersburg in 1961. The Yanks were in St. Pete’s at the start of the year and finished it at Candlestick Park with Kubek at shortstop as Willie McCovey made the final out.
Norton retired in 1971 and became involved in amateur ball. He said baseball, like other sports, has seen athletes improve over the years. He thanked his friend Pat Gillick for spearheading his nomination.
Kubek was doing the Saturday NBC Game of the Week when Jays president Peter Bavasi called asking if he wanted extra work.
The former Yankee shortstop said Elston Howard, Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams and everyone else he spoke to had high praise for Toronto.
Starkman said he “never thought of being in (the) Hall of Fame,” since he “never swung a bat or pitched a ball.” He was happy and humbled to be recognized.
Asked about his most memorable time, Starkman picked 1976, before a game had been played or the team had been named as one of the most interesting times.
“We had 34,000 entries in (a) name-the-team contest,” Starkman said.
“We sent the list to media members, brought the number to 10 and the names went on to the board of directors.
“There were 144 submissions of the name Blue Jays.”