Antonacci: Axford directs $50,000 JaysCare donation to Port Dover minor ball

Former Toronto Blue Jays reliever and Port Dover, Ont., native John Axford is shown here with his two sons, JB and Jameson, who wore Port Dover Sailors jerseys on the field at Rogers Centre during the Canada Day pregame ceremonies. Photo: Facebook (Port Dover Minor Baseball)

July 7, 2026

By J.P. Antonacci

Hamilton Spectator

Once a closer, always a closer.

Former Toronto Blue Jays reliever John Axford has not thrown a professional pitch since the 2023 World Baseball Classic, but last week he picked up a save for youth baseball in his hometown of Port Dover.

Axford was at Rogers Centre on Canada Day to close the deal on a $50,000 donation to Port Dover Minor Baseball from the Jays Care Foundation, part of a $300,000 gift to six youth baseball organizations championed by six Canadian-born former Blue Jays.

“We are beyond grateful that John chose Port Dover Minor Baseball as the recipient of this incredible gift,” PDMB executive Chris Dadds said in a statement. “What an incredible and unforgettable day for our baseball community.”

The league said the money “will go toward much-needed updates and improvements” at Harry Misner Field,” home to PDMB’s 10 teams and approximately 135 players.

That is the same field where Axford started a baseball journey that led to him pitching parts of 11 seasons in the major leagues, including a stint with the Blue Jays in 2018.

“I played with them all the way up until I was 18, until I went to school at Notre Dame,” Axford told Sportsnet of his early years at Harry Misner Field.

“So even when I was playing with Team Ontario and Team Canada, I would always come back to play in Port Dover. Really from when I was eight, I was there, and I played on the same diamond the entire time.”

The fireballer nicknamed “the Ax Man” started with Port Dover Minor Baseball as a 9U Rookie ball player, on a team that today is called the “Axmen” in his honour. He ended his minor baseball career by leading Port Dover’s 18U team to its first Ontario Baseball Association championship.

Greater heights followed, including being named the National League’s reliever of the year in 2011, when his 46 saves led the league.

Axford lives in the United States but still has family in Port Dover. His two sons, JB and Jameson, wore Port Dover Sailors jerseys on the field at Rogers Centre during the Canada Day pregame ceremonies.

John Axford posted this photo of his 13-year-old self to Facebook, taken when the future MLB all-star represented Port Dover at the Southern Counties All-Star Game at Harry Misner Field in 1996. Axford was named player of the game. Photo: Facebook (John Axford)

“This generous donation is more than just an investment in a ball field — it is an investment in our kids, our programs, and the future of baseball in Port Dover,” Dadds said.

“John, thank you for remembering where it all started and for giving back to the community that supported you from the very beginning. Your generosity and kindness mean so much to all of us.”

On Saturday, Axford came home to Norfolk to be inducted into the Norfolk County Sports Hall of Recognition.

Also joining the roll call of Norfolk’s sporting luminaries was minor league infielder and Pan Am gold medalist Sean Jamieson, who went to high school in Simcoe, Ont.

Primarily a shortstop, Jamieson was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 2011 and made it as high as triple-A in the Arizona farm system before retiring in 2017 due to injuries.

This story was originally published by the Hamilton Spectator.