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Top 12 of 2012: #4 – Bob Elliott given Baseball Hall of Fame’s JG Taylor Spink Award

As part of Baseball Canada’s year in review, we are counting down the Top 12 Stories of 2012. Many great stories have occurred over the course of the year and today we take a look at #4.

No other person has waved the flag for Canadian baseball, both on a professional and amateur level, more than Toronto Sun Baseball Writer Bob Elliott.

Elliott covered the Montréal Expos from 1979 to 1987 where he took his current job of covering the Toronto Blue Jays. During his career, Elliott has spent just as much time writing stories about and giving exposure to young Canadian ballplayers as he has with the professional game.

Last July in Cooperstown, Elliott was given the highest honour a baseball writer can receive as he was presented with the JG Taylor Spink Award given out by the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Elliott addressed the crowd at the Hall of Fame after receiving his award and had this to say about the many Canadian amateur players he has written about.

“A lot was said about how I helped young Canadian ball players get to the next level,” he said. “Yes, I wrote about Canadians. But they put in the work to be drafted or earn scholarships. They did it on their own. I have given a lot less to baseball that it has given to me.”

As much as people enjoy reading his stories in the Toronto Sun, he has an equally impressive audience that visit CanadianBaseballNetwork.com which is a website dedicated solely to Canadian Baseball.

The website has a list of every Canadian playing baseball at a US College or University and during the season you can find statistics of every Canadian playing in the minor leagues.

Throughout the past year Elliott has been honoured by many of the people and communities that he has had an impact on. Baseball Canada had the privilege of honouring him at the National Teams Awards Banquet and Fundraiser.

Baseball Canada President Ray Carter presented him with a National Team jacket and noted ‘that you’ve always been a part of our team and here’s a jacket to make it official’.

When asked by emcee and Blue Jays radio voice Jerry Howarth as to what his favourite baseball memory was, an emotional Elliott recalled when Canada defeated the United States at the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

Elliott could have went with the many World Series wins he has seen or some of the great historical moments in the game that he has witnessed, but instead went with one of the finest moments in Baseball Canada’s history.

Bob Elliott couldn’t be more deserving of the JG Taylor Spink Award and we’re proud that he’s a member of our team.

 

Top 12 Stories of 2012

12. Les Smeyers becomes 20,000th coach

11. Baseball Canada adopts Challenger Baseball

10. Eight umpires at International Events

9. 23 Canadians in MLB in 2012

8. Ontario repeats as Baseball Canada Cup champs

7. Baseball Canada named COPABE Federation of the Year for 2011

6. Women’s National Team wins World Cup bronze

5. 2011 Senior Team inducted into Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

4. Bob Elliott given Baseball Hall of Fame’s JG Taylor Spink Award

3. To be revealed Dec. 17


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