OTTAWA- Two former National Team players, a legendary Canadian baseball scribe, along with two individuals who spent significant parts of their careers in Canada will all be honoured tomorrow in St. Marys, Ontario as the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inducts its 2015 class.
Matt Stairs (Fredericton, NB) and Corey Koskie (Anola, MB) both donned the Maple Leaf at different points in their careers with Stairs suiting up with the Junior National Team in 1986 before representing Canada at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and later that year at the IBAF World Cup. Both players were members of World Baseball Classic clubs in 2006 and 2009. Stairs’ MLB career spanned 19 seasons with 13 different clubs and was highlighted by a World Series ring with the Phillies in 2008. Koskie’s nine-year career was spent primarily with the Minnesota Twins where he achieved career highs in home runs (26) and RBI (103) during the 2001 season. He spent 2005 with the Toronto Blue Jays before suffering a concussion in 2006, as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, which ultimately cut his career short.
One of Baseball Canada’s biggest supporters, Bob Elliott, has provided unrivalled coverage for our National Teams via his stories in the Toronto Sun and through the Canadian Baseball Network, a website he built that aims to promote the game and Canadian players from coast-to-coast. As it states on the website – “If you want to know anything and everything to do with the Major Leagues, Minor Leagues or amateur baseball in Canada - Bob is the man to talk to.”
This isn’t the first time the Kingston, Ontario native has been honoured by the Canadian ball hall as he was the recipient of the Jack Graney Award in 2010, and two years later was honoured by the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York receiving the JG Taylor Spink Award. He has also been inducted into the Ottawa-Nepean Canadians Hall of Fame (2009), the Kingston Sports Hall of Fame (2013) and the Okotoks Dawgs/Seaman Stadium Hall of Fame (2014).
Although Felipe Alou and Carlos Delgado were not born in Canada, their impact on the game north of the border was substantial. Alou managed the Montréal Expos from 1992-2001 and is the franchise leader in career victories with 691. Delgado established himself as one of the games premier power hitters in the late 90’s and is the Blue Jays’ all-time home run leader with 336.
The induction ceremony gets underway on the grounds of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame at 1pm ET and will be emceed by Canadian sports broadcasting icon, Rod Black.
For more information, please visit baseballhalloffame.ca.
