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Page 16 THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday March Sports Outlook Book profiles northern baseball stars Canadian boys of summer Funny thing about baseball the socalled national pastime of the US Some of the most outstanding players of the game have been and are Canadians yet the American controllers of the sport seem to regard them in much the same way that Harold Ballard regards Soviet hockey players just dont belong Heroes Bums and Ordinary Men Profiles In Canadian Baseball by Dan Turner Canada 280 pages is a collection of unrelated essays about living Canadians who have made a place for themselves in the history of the game that the Americans consider their own Turner an Ottawabased jour nalist ha travelled widely in the past couple of years to interview his subjects Breweries of Canada part owner of the Toronto Blue Jays helped to underwrite his travel expenses and the Blue Jays management provided some necessary introductions The date and place of each interview is displayed prominently at the beginning of each essay The result is a colorful highly anecdotal and impressionistic look at the game as it is remembered by some of those who have par ticipated prominently in it over the past years or so most of them Canadians but also several Americans who played in Canada TWO PITCHERS Here are some of the par ticipants who opened up and reminisced with Turner about their careers Ferguson Jenkins a farm boy from Blenheim Ont near Chatham an outstanding control pitcher who won majorleague games with the Chicago Cubs Taxas Rangers and Boston Red Sox in a career that ended in a career distinguished by his winn ing the Young award as the outstanding pitcher of Turner calls Jenkins the finest Canadian baseball player of all time but although he was nominated for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame this year he fell short of the required of votes in ballot- ting by baseball writers Baseball Salaries Top 19JB9 arbitration Player Club offer Oneyear deference Eric Davis Cincinnati Andy Van Slyke 1633000 Joe Carter Cleveland 1150000 Roger Clemens Boston Ron Darling New York Tony Fernandez Toronto Orel Hershiser Los Angeles New York Pete Texas John Franco Cincinnati 1300000 350000 Some cases were settled by the two sides before reaching an arbitrator NEA GRAPHICS GEORGETOWN BASEBALL ASSOC REGISTRATION HOUSE LEAGUES Ages 5 6 7 SQUIRT Ages pitched ball TYKES Ages 1 1 1 PEE WEE Ages 1 3 BANTAM MIDGET Ages 14 to 17 REP TEAMS TYKE PEE WEE BANTAM MIDGET JUNIOR HOLY CROSS SCHOOL Main Foyer 7 9 pm MARCH 7 9 22 Fees Baseball 5000 TBall Maximum 1 per family Extra Fee for Rep Ball Late Fee after March Contact President RICK HUME 8779693 Registration HAL RIDLEY 8776087 House League Rep Teams Depend on Registration predominantly American Ron Taylor of Toronto a relief pitcher who saved World Series games for two championship teams the St Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets without allowing an earned run Taylor developed his pitching skills as a boy in the highly regard ed baseball program in Leaside a Toronto community and played in the minors during the summers while doing a fouryear electrical engineering course at the Universi ty of Toronto graduating third in his class After hanging up his spikes at age 34 he returned to his alma mater and embarked on a long and gruelling course in medicine Today Ron Taylor func tions as the Toronto Blue Jays team physician and pitches at bat ting practice whenever time allows With careers in three demanding fields engineering majorleague baseball and medicine Ron Taylor is a modern- day Renaissance Man BRIEF CAREER Reno Bertoia of Windsor was an outstanding hitter for a time who like Ron Taylor was deter mined to complete his education He graduated from Assumption University while on the roster of the Detroit Tigers as an infielder His career peaked early in the 1957 season when for a few weeks he was hitting almost 400 well ahead of Bostons famed Ted Williams But his shining hour soon ended he was traded to Washington and before long released Now he heads the history department at Assumption High School Phil Marchildon originally from Ont was a pitcher with a fastball that propell ed him from a Sudburyarea team to the minorleague Toronto Maple Leafs and then in 1941 to the hapless Philadelphia Athletics of the American League where he shared the mound with Dick Fowler 19211972 a Torontoborn pitcher In 1943 Marchildon then 30 quit baseball to join the Royal Canadian Air Force becoming a tail gunner on Halifax bombers He was shot down and spent a year in a German prison camp Repatriated in was forced back into the Philadelphia lineup by 83yearold manager Connie Mack to boost the sagging attendance The crowds turned out all right and they saw the outofcondition pitcher injure himself almost immediately Mar childon never regained his form WOMENS LEAGUE Helen Callaghan now Helen St Aubin of California left Van couver in 1943 to become a leading hitter in the newly formed Ail- American Girls Baseball league with teams in Chicago and throughout its hinterland Turner tells us less about the teams she joined and the positions she played than he does about her unremarkable car but she seems to have been an outstanding player in a circuit that played high- calibre baseball Her son Casey made it to the National league with Montreal Expos and Houston Astros Jim McKean of Montreal is now rated as one of the best um pires in the American League after a notable career in the Cana dian Football League or at least as notable a career as a Canadian can have playing a position quarterback that the CFL virtual ly reserves for Americans Still only McKean has spent 16 years in the AL and he admits that the fun has gone out of baseball as far as participants are concerned those tirades by managers such as Billy Martin arent faked and um pires can tolerate only so much PERSONAL TOUCH Heroes Bums and Ordinary Men is rich in intriguing personal stories Its certainly not a reference book baseball already has plenty of those but one wishes that had supplied a little more background facts in order to put the reminiscences in some kind of context And since it was written about Canadian personalities in baseball it would have been interesting if the author had explained why the Americans who run Canadas two majorleague teams appear to have an aversion to using Cana dian players No effort was ever made to bring Jenkins for example or Houstons Terry Puhl of Melville Sask to the Canadian teams that they would undoubtedly have helped both on the field and at the gate Turner made a valid decision to limit his cast of characters to those whom he could interview and it is fascinating to get their views in their own words Readers in terested in delving into the more distant reaches of Canadas association with baseball might seek out William Humbers Cheer ing For The Home Team publish ed in by Boston Mills Press Erin Ont The Royal Ontario Museum Toronto is mounting a special historical exhibition entitled Lets Play Ball opening March 1 which highlights Canadas contribution as well as other aspects of baseball and its colorful history Vincent an avid baseball fan is the travel colum nist for Thomson News Service SAME DAY TAX RETURNS St Georgetown r BEARLY inc luRANTEErj USED Scrap Cars Bought 3 MONTH MONEY BACK GUARANTEE 6TH LINE HILLS 8776226 MORE CAR FOR YOUR MONEY 86 DODGE CARAVAN LE Air Auto SSCAS 84 HONDA CIVIC Door Hatchback Sp STCAS SR 84JETTAGL Turbo Diesel Sunroof STCAS Speed 85 GOLF 2 Dr 5 Speed Navy Blue Complementary Cloth Interior 82 JETTA DIESEL 5 Speed Sunroof Air Con Autohaus Georgetown Inc 199 Guelph St Hwy 7 at Halton Hills Georgetown 8775285 Tor 8460910