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May It 1977 BLUE JAY FEATURE Dave McKay baseball player DAVE Love affair Herald Sport is a popular mlscon currently making the rounds In the sports sections of Toronto met a In net Ihe National It con Dave McKay Jays third baseman Through no fault of his own McKay has been tanned with the Designated Canadian la bcl Make no mistake McKay Is proud or the fact that he Is Canadian but he would much rather make In the major leagues as a ballplayer than as a figurehead to tillage National Ills record fir Itself and there Is no itoubt In the minds of knowledgeable peo ple that with his ability re gardless of whether he had been a Tartar from Outer Mongolia he bound to be picked up when unprotected In the expansion draft McKay is years old and jealously guards the two loves of his life his family and baseball Dave and his wife Lena have a threeyearold son Cody and while the family part only came about recently tbc baseball lure has been with him for 10 years The Jays third basemen grew up In Vancouver British Co lumbia and throughout his youth stuck mainly to soccer rugby and basketball He didn play hockey simply because his pats were Into other sports and therefore the game didn Interest him He freely admitted how ever that given a second goround he would more than likely look Into the game of hockey seriously Although he went through Babe and Connie Mack baseball leagues in Bri Columbia McKays real Initiation Into the game of t come about until was offered a baseball scholarship to Columbia Rnsln Junior College in Wash McKay noon discoverd thai his Canadian baseball career hid left him sadly tacking In various capacities While he was wont to put the knock on his formative years baseball coaches hi found a vast difference in to the game InCanndi and the United Stales Ik felt that his Canadian coaches hud no concept of the development of players Dave eased this criticism by noting however They had nothing to relate to In terms of the future of their pliyers so It was mainly a recreational ty McKay fill that the Can ere particularly lax in the knowledge of the treatment of pitchers and would limply Go with their best for is long and as often as liny could He fell that this approach Ins mined many a young pitcher For the til ycirs McKay toiled in minors learning thi tint points of the game and it is in this respect that he questions nated role Over the 10 tars he pointed out I spent at the most four months of the year In The rest of the time of baseball I down South Itw isinirs that McKay got his thante In the majors when his parent organization the ruins elevated him bee use of an injury to their regulur third baseman It proved to be quite a debut as MrK homered m his Sports renewed comment By COLIN GIBSON Herald Sports I renewed an I love affair last week one that I thought had gone Oil way of most youthful Infatuations subsequently filed in the back of ones mind only to be retrieved when memories The i flame that I am referring to is baseball girls is about ready to commence in as is men fastball both the fntercounty and Indus variety Minor baseball teams will begin their sun week I decided to journe Toronto and investigate the latest Canadian sport nomenon the Toronto Blue Jays I Big Crab Apple reflected on my first i nces with the game of baseball in the game was aroused not only by the gl imerican publications on the newstands that the of the Great American i e but by two characters who entertained me on a youthful Saturday afternoon I m referring to Dizzy Dean and fee Wee who were the broadcasters for NBC Game of the Week thai was picked up by television every Saturday many ago At the time my family was living In Cochrane in Northern Ontario and the only television channel that was wis through television in Timm res roughly GO miles away Today wit hi idvonlof almost spin the dial vision roulette and pick up some channel at any hour of the d iy or night The majority of the major networks regurgit sports programs or in some cases what pisses as sports programs an If the athletic wis fast and sports over kill is becoming rcihty In the early 1900 In Northern Ontario the weekly sports fare was limited to Saturday afternoon baseball Saturday night hockey brought to you by Imperial Oil with fatherly Murray urging you Look to Imperial for the best and for the grunt and groan fanatics late night Saturday wrestling In those days the hockey game come on until nine clock lime only for period and a half of play There were occassional sports specials but for the most part fans up North were on a strict sporting diet I think this Is what mode those Saturday afternoon baseball games so special Dizzy Dean would announce the from ho me where under a 10 or gallon hat and you would know the gome was really underway when he would utter his first Dean and Reese brought something to the game of baseball tint Is somehow sadly lacking In the majority of today broadcasting crews Perhaps it was character and love of game Dizzy might play buffoon and Reese might play the straight man to some of Dean but they never upstaged the game at hand and it was that they had a deep love and respect for baseball In the early I960 b New York Yankees were everybody favorite team and admittedly I was no exception Unabashedly I loved Yanks You pick up a comic book but there was Mickey Mantle on the back cover the epitome of Ihe All American boy Jim revelations notwithstanding in his book Kill four Mantle s triumphs and tragedy were etched Into ll minds of a generation of youngsters He was and still If many people what a baseball player or perhaps an athlete was all I remember cheering Mickey and getting absolutely apoplectic when linger Marls lofted one over the fence Lucky shot would mutter How much are you paying the pitcher I would demand an Maris Image circled the base When Mantle and Mans were jointly chasing Babe Ruth single season home run record I decided to gel into the act I decided however In a fit of pique when Mans Started to pull ahead of Mantle in the home run Derby that would top them all to save face for my hero by wiping out Ruths all time home run record of in single Through pickup school yard and games anywhere some kind of baseball or game was going on I kept track of my home runs By May I had hit By June by July I had passed the GOO home run mark The momentous month was August when I passed old Suit in of Swat I recall circling the jumping for Joy when number got lost In the long grass and I knew my quest was over My enthusiasm dampened in the least when erstwhile fireballmg pitcher hid served last historic offering informed me that he hid logo home because It was time for his nap Three yeirolds I discovered find historic rather boring especially when they re tired My biggest thrill as a youngster came ibout as a result of biseball and the New York Yankees I remember I had just finished re a book entitled Bat Boy for Indians as it win early in the year I decided to write to the Yankees and offer If for that prestigious position with my heroes I sent the letter to Ralph the then the Yonks now with the Detroit Tigcri and addressed it lo Yankee Stadium somewhere In New York I I reallyexpecla reply but several week later my mother came Into my room with an fnvclope to me from the New York Yankees The letter was datelines Fort Florida the Yankees spring training site and It was from Ralph He explained tome as as he could thit Yankee bat boys were illy and that therefore there much chance I would gel the J ill In a sense I suppose I hail expected as much what I expect was large in mil envelop it arrived two days later hid to in autographed picture of the Yankees with rerun biographies on all tho players their si addresses in case J wanted to with them several souvenirs and a anon schedule Needless to say my Yankee irdour mere by leaps and bounds Baseball died out in Northern Ontario and from the odd pick up gome my energies wire into Softball The love affair Ihnt hail blossomed so began to whither on the vine las so happens from lack of attention I thought I had gotten over my puppy love until I came Into contact with the Toronto Blue Jay organization The stirrings began again r almost us soon as I entered clubhouse and was mailed by the sights sounds smelts and language hat are part of the game or baseball The youthful Irreverence of the locker room the cockiness ho obvious yet so ntlal for a young team surrounded the Blue Jays The rs and Blue Jay personnel that I spoke to were a man pie cooperative and above all The will take their knocks both on field ind from he media but there Is something about them hat suggests they will rise above tumult Call vitality call it aggressiveness ill It youth Whatever the Toronto Blue Jays have It and they also another supporter New York Is too far away anyway official bat only player in history of the majors to pull such a feat This proved to be the high llRht of his baseball career prior to being drafted by the Blue Jays Re won a starting spot with the Twins in the spring of last year hut then an ankle injury and assorted problems led to a than satisfying year The Twins left him In the draft he was subsequently picked up by tht Blue Jays but in truth McKiy wis to be rid of the Minnesota organization I is viry hippy when I was left unprotected minted McKay I wanted to leave Twins and believe me I w isn I the only one I every Twin Including Rod wanted out Dave cited of lion between the players and management as the main son for his discontent with the Twins organization Although he his got off to a slow start with the Jays Mc Kay only wish is to be able to help he team Although his hitting has been off he has more thin made up for this shortcoming by some brilliant fielding He is realistic about his baseball knowing that he will probably never rise to the stir st I ties but as long as he can make a contribution to his will continue playing the relatively young age of still has good many ahead of him fit won like to slay in game for mother 10 years In some then through his baseball contacts embark on a Although didn his degree stresses tin of I would any youngpemoalootUiidUnlver he stated Vu ill try and work bumbull Into your It might be rough at times but If you wan anything bad enough it work a chit He also advised young ball players Hint you have to be willing to llslen and learn the flnir polnls of Ihe ginit Tills can only come about with practice practice and more practice Similarly although it might be difficult at first a ball player has to be willing travel You go where you have to go to learn the game McKoy observed It difficult to tell how far Dave McKoy will go along the major league baseball route but one thing is certain he will take tilings in stride and strive even harder lo overcome what pitfalls may appear In his No Dave McKay is not Jays Designated Canadian he might not even survive the summer as the Jays regular third baseman One thing is certain however in every sense of the word he Is a professional forever blowing bubbles Blue Jay outfielder Woods much interested in the sports setlion is he gets some mileage of his chewing gum J Woods check the stats and Woods has a right to glow At press time his streak moved him into third plac League batting race Tony the sweet singing Twins star hose has been plagued by injuries When he was lilivii was premier hitter in the American It injuries have shunted him to the designated Otto lilt Pedro irtli find to sunk about is we illur 1 I in on SI idium mi k li Ins 1 a st for the III it is IIk inkee who w is Him In msii n draft wis wiled in iLjie of tht Month fur tin month of to tin Jijs Ik unshed ilu id of islibhslud mijorli stirs Joe of t iiidUnnioslUKMr m tin I Cinu Kaclng At 111 Beit At 0RANGEVILLE RACEWAY THURSDAY EVENING POST TIME SUNDAY AFTERNOON UL post TIME llfllll IIOUSI RYDERS TV HAS irTinW I I- TENNIS INSTRUCTION For Beginners And Intermediates fWD US A TRY about on page 5 79402OI if miles N of Hwy on Airport Road tt