An ex-Toronto Blue Jays ace, a former Montreal Expos slugger, two grassroots leaders and a gold medal-winning national team were among those inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2017.
The ceremony took place at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 24th, at the Hall of Fame grounds in St. Marys, Ont. The Class of 2017 boasts Major League superstars Roy Halladay and Vladimir Guerrero, alongside long-time Baseball Canada president Ray Carter and legendary umpire Doug Hudlin. The 2015 gold-medal winning Pan Am Canadian Baseball team also makes this year’s induction list.
“Each member of this year’s class has had a tremendously positive impact on baseball in Canada,” said Scott Crawford, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s director of operations.
“I’m excited that we will not only be celebrating the careers of two of the greatest professional players ever to suit up for the Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos, but also two highly-respected grassroots leaders and a gold-medal-winning national team that made history on home soil.”
The induction ceremony is part of a larger event that took place over the course of the week. Earlier this week, the event was launched with The Opening Pitch – an exclusive reception to launch induction weekend, and the 21st Annual Celebrity Golf Classic and Banquet.
Former Blue Jays pitcher and inductee, Roy Halladay said in his speech how he overcame the struggles he faced early in his career.
“all those things that I learned, everything I took to practice, the extra work on and off the field, it was only because of the few special people that taught me those things. Had it not been for those people, I would still be stuck in A ball trying to get back to the big leagues.”
He adds what makes fellow inductee, Vladimir Guerrero, such a special player.
“We used to always talk about him in hitters meetings, and they said, ‘bounce it,’ he will hit, ‘throw two feet inside’,’ he will hit, if it was off the plate, he could hit it. They said that your best bet was to throw it down the middle, he might swing and miss.”
Next year will be the first year of eligibility to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for the nine-time All-star.
In addition to the ceremony, the Hall of Fame will be running a barbecue, paid museum tours and a silent auction on site. Baseball games will also be played on the diamonds starting at 10 a.m. and running all day.
For more information, you can visit http://www.baseballhalloffame.ca.
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