Alomar, Quantrill inducted into Canadian Hall

By Todd Devlin June 23, 2010

It would be hard to argue that wasn’t the biggest draw at the Canadian Hall of Fame’s 2010 induction ceremony.

After all, Alomar, the greatest player to ever wear a Blue Jays uniform, was a huge reason why the organization gave its fans back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993. His home off in the 1992 ALCS is considered by many to be the most important in the club’s history.

Hundreds of fans showed they still appreciate the impact the former gold-glove had on baseball in , in the beautiful small town of St. Marys, Ont. And, according to Alomar, he still appreciates them.

“I’m excited to see all the fans,” Alomar said. “Canadians embraced us since Day 1 when I was here. We had a great team, we had a great bunch of guys. Baseball in those years was great, and I had a lot of fun here playing with the Blue Jays.”

While the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame does not strive to be identified as the Expos/Blue Jays Hall of Fame, Hall president and CEO Tom Valcke said there was little doubt Alomar was deserving of an induction.

“The calibre of player Alomar was during his time with the Jays penetrated every grass roots program from coast to coast,” Valcke said. “Being superb at his position made countless Canadian youth wish that they could play like Alomar, and that distinction is why we’re honouring him.”

Alomar was thrilled with the induction.

“It means the world to me,” he said. “Not being Canadian and being inducted to the Canadian Hall of Fame is an honour, and I feel real blessed about that.”

This was likely a warmup for the native of Puerto Rico, as he's expected to earn the necessary number of votes next year to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Players don’t get to choose which hat to wear when they get inducted. It’s almost certain Alomar will go in as a Blue Jay. But if given the choice, would he choose the Jays?

“You better believe it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Paul Quantrill

Admittedly, (Port Hope, Ont.) didn’t earn a spot in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame all by himself. It was a family effort, and the former Blue Jays paid tribute to the support of his parents, his wife, and his children on the day of his induction in St. Marys.

“This is a huge honour. But it’s not really for me because my baseball life truly revolved around my family,” Quantrill said. “They were very much a part of it.”

That support helped him to a highly successful 14-year career in the major leagues, including a six-year stretch with the Jays from 1996-2001, where he appeared in 386 games and compiled a 3.67 ERA.

Quantrill was the Blue Jays Pitcher of the Year in 2001, a year in which he was named to the All-Star team. He led the AL in games pitched that season (80), an honour he repeated in 2002 (86) and 2003 (89) in the , as well as 2004 (86) back in the AL with the .

“I don’t think I ever played a year of baseball where I didn’t do my damndest to contribute. And that’s generally why I pitched in more games than everyone all the time,” Quantrill said. “I wanted the ball. I wanted to have an impact on the game. And I loved doing it while I was doing it. I had fun playing baseball, which I’m proud of.”

Quantrill also took great pride in being a hard-working pitcher who didn’t get by on talent alone.

“I was a blue-collar guy. I had to work, and struggle, and battle to be the player I was,” he said. “I was around so many people that were better than me in the minor leagues, but I knew where I was, what I was good at, and I had a vision -- a direction that I took.”

That direction not only led Quantrill to have success in the major leagues, but also allowed him to play internationally, as he pitched for Team Canada during the inaugural in 2006. In 2009, he served on the coaching staff alongside fellow Canadians , and Bernie Soulliere .

Now, Quantrill is focused on giving back to the game of baseball in this country. He currently serves as an assistant for ’s Canadian Junior National Team. His goal is to follow in the footsteps of those people that had a positive impact on him as a younger player.

“ , Fergie Jenkins , Larry Walker , … and when I talk about these guys, I don’t even think about their baseball accomplishments. They’re huge, I know that. But I’m talking about them as human beings. They’re wonderful people that give back, and I hope to be able to do that too.”

Builders - and Allan Roth

The other two Hall inductees in 2010, Calvin Griffith (, Que.) and Allan Roth (Montreal, Que.), were recognized posthumously.

Griffith was involved in the game virtually his entire life. He played at Staunton Military Academy from 1928-33, and at George Washington University beginning in 1933. Griffith managed in the minor leagues in Chattanooga and Charlotte, and served in many roles within the Washington Senators’ organization before eventually running the day- to-day operations of the ballclub in the early 1950’s. When his uncle-turned-adoptive father, , passed away in 1955, Calvin was handed ownership of the team.

He was instrumental in moving the ballclub from Washington to Minnesota in 1961, and served 24 years as president and principal owner of the Twins. Minnesota won three AL West titles during that span (1965, 1969 and 1970), and Calvin himself was named American League Executive of the Year in 1965. He was inducted into the Twins’ Hall of Fame in 2000, and the organization named the team MVP award after Griffith, which Canadian won in both 2006 and 2008. Griffith passed away at age 87 on October 20, 1999 in Florida.

“To be remembered a full decade after his death is a true honour for my father,” Calvin’s son, Clark Griffith II , told the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. “This is just fantastic news, and all of us are very proud that his legacy remains strong and will carry forward in St. Marys.”

Roth has been referred to as the “Father of .” A pioneer of statistical analysis in baseball, Roth approached in 1944 and was hired by the innovative Brooklyn Dodgers’ general in 1947 to become the first full-time statistician in baseball history. Roth kept all sorts of new statistics to rate players, including an early form of on-base percentage, batting average with runners in scoring position, and hitters’ performances in different counts. He did stats and analysis for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and until 1964.

Roth also worked the NBC and ABC Games of the Week until 1990, providing broadcasters such as Al Michaels with relevant and pertinent information. Today, there is still a Los Angeles chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) named after Allan Roth.

“It’s very exciting for him to be recognized,” said Roth’s son, Michael, who made the trip from California to St. Marys, to accept the honour on behalf of his father. “I think, up to the 1970s or so, my dad was very well known in the baseball world. I think there are still a few old-timers that remember who he was, but a lot of people don’t. The kind of statistical analysis that he pioneered is now commonplace, but his name is not remembered very much.”

Before joining the Dodgers, Roth had kept statistics for the minor league Montreal Royals, as well as hockey statistics for the and the . Though he lived in the for 45 years, Canadian was always home for the Montrealer.

“He was Canadian, and he never stopped being Canadian his whole life,” Michael said. “It always meant a lot to him. To be recognized by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame is phenomenal. My mother was thrilled, and for our whole family it’s a huge honour.”

Michael was admittedly surprised at the tradition of baseball north of the border.

“There’s a lot of history of Canadian baseball,” he said. “It’s exciting to see the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame foster that awareness. I think it’s fantastic. He [Allan] would have just loved that. I got the chance to walk through the museum, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘he’d love this place.’”

Allan Roth passed away at age 74 on March 3, 1992.

Jack Graney Award

Apart from the inductees Saturday, the Canadian Hall also acknowledged Ian MacDonald as the 2009 winner of the Award, an honour given to a member of the media who has made a significant contribution to throughout his career.

“It was a big surprise,” MacDonald said of the honour. “You do the job, and you don’t think of anything like this. But it’s great fun.”

MacDonald, who became the first recipient of the Graney Award since 2005, was a longtime ball scribe at the . After 20 years covering collegiate and amateur sports, as well as the CFL’s Alouettes for the Montreal Herald and Montreal Star, MacDonald was hired as the beat writer at the Gazette in 1970. He covered Canada’s first major-league baseball team, the , for 27 years before retiring as a full-time employee in 1997.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it,” MacDonald said of his lengthy sports journalism career. “I had a lot of fun.”

Though the longtime president of the Montreal chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) officially “retired” several years ago, he’s still a familiar name to readers of the Gazette, as he continues to contribute columns on a part-time basis, including a ‘Where are they Now’ feature.

Jack Graney (St. Thomas, Ont.), the man whose name adorns the prestigious Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame media award, was a major-league who played 14 seasons -- all with the . Graney then became the first former major- leaguer to become a broadcaster in the United States. He was a Canadian Hall inductee himself in 1984.