During 75 seasons of baseball (1946-2020), 71 teams in 21 minor leagues represented 35 Canadian cities, playing either under the aegis of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (called Minor League Baseball since 1999) or independently. Sixteen teams operated for less than a year, including the eight teams of the Canadian Baseball League of 2003. Another 14 lasted three seasons or less. Seven have played continuously for 20 years or more, among them the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent Northern League and American Association, with 27 consecutive seasons since 1994. Chronicling their year-by-year fortunes, this history includes accounts of individual award winners, former Negro League players and future Hall-of-Famers, and traces of the rise and fall of independent league teams and the exodus of Canadian teams to the U.S.
Baseball may not be Canada's national game, but its long history, its diffusion throughout the nation, and its play among widely diverse communities and by all ages of men and women suggests that it is a worthy claimant. Humber uncovers a multitude of previously unpublished reports of baseball-type games across present day Canada, long before the game's formal adoption in New York City in the mid-19th century. He explores baseball's major league quality in 1870s Ontario, why Quebecois came to play the game, how the Gold Rush brought baseball to the west coast, women's baseball in Saskatchewan after World War I, how their baseball teams' success staked Saint John and Halifax a claim to urban status, and the story of Japanese Canadian, black, and native baseball players in Canada.
"Sport and Recreation in Canadian History is a comprehensive textbook which provides an examination of events, documents, and pivotal moments that contributed to the development of sport in Canada. Content ranges from indigenous recreation, and the integration of British culture. It moves to the emergence of organized sport and national sport organizations, and their impact on how sport is viewed across the country. Amateur and professional sport is covered in detail and finally the globalization of Canadian sport and its expansion and position on the international stage"--
The 2017 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Handbook updates all of the players in the Blue Jays' minor league system and adds profiles for all of the 2016 draftees as well as the newest players signed for the minor league system. Included in the 2017 edition are: Histories and profiles of all seven North American Blue Jays affiliates including the Buffalo Bisons, New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Dunedin Blue Jays, Lansing Lugnuts, Vancouver Canadians, Bluefield Blue Jays and Gulf Coast League Blue Jays Over 250 player profiles including every player anticipated to play in the Blue Jays' minor league system in 2015. The Handbook includes ticket, travel and city information to help you plan any trips to see the Baby Jays play, complete 2017 minor league schedules, broadcast information to help you follow along with the teams and players from wherever you are.
In an era when black baseball players had limited playing prospects in the United States, they found a more hospitable and level playing field in Canada. The entries in this dictionary contain biographical sketches, career highlights and statistics for hundreds of players, as well as information about their teams and leagues.
A Class C minor league during a turbulent 15 years: its stirring history reveals what minor league baseball–indeed, all of baseball–was experiencing. Begun in the Depression, this league saw the coming of night baseball, World War II, the prosperous postwar era, pioneering racial integration, a deadly competition with television, and a final demise. And here are the stories of stars in the making: Bob Lemon, Tommy Lasorda, Al Rosen, Lew Burdette, Frank Malzone, Vic Raschi, Gus Triandos, and "Spec" Shea. Future MLB pennant-winning managers Eddie Sawyer and Mayo Smith. One-armed outfielder Pete Gray. Future congressman (and JFK roommate and pal) Torby MacDonald. Mass murderer Conklyn Meriweather. A ball park that miraculously rose from its own ashes. The tragic war death of prospect Billy Southworth Jr. Plus its unique parish priest league president. This book–through groundbreaking research and dozens of personal interviews–captures the essence of minor league ball in a bygone but beloved era. “fascinating” — Sports Collectors Digest
Offering a fresh approach to the familiar concept of all-time baseball teams, this exhaustive work ranks more than 2,500 players by state of birth and includes both major league and Negro League athletes. Each chapter covers one state and opens with the all-time team, naming a top selection for each position followed by honorable mentions. Also included are all-time stat leaders in nine categories--games, hits, average, RBI, home runs, stolen bases, pitching wins, strikeouts and saves--a brief overview of the state's baseball history, notable player achievements, historic baseball places to see, potential future stars, a comprehensive list of player nicknames, and the state's all-time best player.
A look at the contribution of sport to the making of the Canadian nation, focusing on the gradual transition from rural sporting practices to the emphasis on team sports that accompanied the industrial and urban transition.
This edition of "The Canadian Encyclopedia is the largest, most comprehensive book ever published in Canada for the general reader. It is COMPLETE: every aspect of Canada, from its rock formations to its rock bands, is represented here. It is UNABRIDGED: all of the information in the four red volumes of the famous 1988 edition is contained here in this single volume. It has been EXPANDED: since 1988 teams of researchers have been diligently fleshing out old entries and recording new ones; as a result, the text from 1988 has grown by 50% to over 4,000,000 words. It has been UPDATED: the researchers and contributors worked hard to make the information as current as possible. Other words apply to this extraordinary work of scholarship: AUTHORITATIVE, RELIABLE and READABLE. Every entry is compiled by an expert. Equally important, every entry is written for a Canadian reader, from the Canadian point of view. The finished work - many years in the making, and the equivalent of forty average-sized books - is an extraordinary storehouse of information about our country. This book deserves pride of place on the bookshelf in every Canadian Home. It is no accident that the cover of this book is based on the Canadian flag. For the proud truth is that this volume represents a great national achievement. From its formal inception in 1979, this encyclopedia has always represented a vote of faith in Canada; in Canada as a separate place whose natural worlds and whose peoples and their achievements deserve to be recorded and celebrated. At the start of a new century and a new millennium, in an increasingly borderless corporate world that seems ever more hostile to nationaldistinctions and aspirations, this "Canadian Encyclopedia is offered in a spirit of defiance and of faith in our future. The statistics behind this volume are staggering. The opening sixty pages list the 250 Consultants, the roughly 4,000 Contributors (all experts in the field they describe) and the scores of researchers, editors, typesetters, proofreaders and others who contributed their skills to this massive project. The 2,640 pages incorporate over 10,000 articles and over 4,000,000 words, making it the largest - some might say the greatest - Canadian book ever published. There are, of course, many special features. These include a map of Canada, a special page comparing the key statistics of the 23 major Canadian cities, maps of our cities, a variety of tables and photographs, and finely detailed illustrations of our wildlife, not to mention the colourful, informative endpapers. But above all the book is "encyclopedic" - which the "Canadian Oxford Dictionary describes as "embracing all branches of learning." This means that (with rare exceptions) there is satisfaction for the reader who seeks information on any Canadian subject. From the first entry "A mari usque ad mare - "from sea to sea" (which is Canada's motto, and a good description of this volume's range) to the "Zouaves (who mustered in Quebec to fight for the beleaguered Papacy) there is the required summary of information, clearly and accurately presented. For the browser the constant variety of entries and the lure of regular cross-references will provide hours of fasination. The word "encyclopedia" derives from Greek expressions alluding to a grand "circle of knowledge." Our knowledge has expandedimmeasurably since the time that one mnd could encompass all that was known.Yet now Canada's finest scientists, academics and specialists have distilled their knowledge of our country between the covers of one volume. The result is a book for every Canadian who values learning, and values Canada.
