Glew - BWDIK: Caissie, Clarke, Easter, Hicks, Orr, Romano, Sabrowski
Toronto Mets alum Liam Hicks (Toronto, Ont.) is off to a historic start with the Miami Marlins. Photo: Miami Marlins, Instagram
April 5, 2026
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
Happy Easter to those who celebrate!
Some Canadian baseball news and notes:
Remembering Luke Easter
It has become an Easter tradition in this column to pay tribute to ex-big league slugger Luke Easter on Easter Sunday.
“Luscious Luke” was a hulking, 6-foot-4, 240-pound slugger who became the 11th Black player to compete in the big leagues when he debuted with Cleveland on August 11, 1949.
Known for clubbing tape-measure homers – including a 477-foot blast that was the longest ever recorded at Municipal Stadium – Easter, due to segregation, didn’t make his big league debut until he was 34. After three seasons in which he never socked less than 27 homers for Cleveland, Easter, hobbled by knee and ankle injuries, was released, but he continued to belt moonshot round-trippers in the International League (IL) for the Ottawa Athletics in 1954. Later he starred with the IL’s Buffalo Bisons and Rochester Red Wings.
A jovial, easygoing man who rarely refused an autograph request, Easter was once approached by a fan who told him that he saw him hit his longest home run, to which Easter responded, “If it came down, it wasn’t my longest.”
Sadly, Easter was murdered in a bank parking lot in Euclid, Ohio on March 29, 1979.
Hicks’ historic start
In his first five games with the Miami Marlins this season, Liam Hicks (Toronto, Ont.) went 7-for-15 (.467 batting average) with three home runs and 12 RBIs.
Those 12 RBIs set a record for most RBIs by a Canadian in their first five games of a major league season, surpassing the 11 Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) accumulated in 1997.
Hicks also became the first Marlins player to collect 12 RBIs in the team’s first five games.
The Toronto Mets grad’s hot start even earned him airtime on the MLB Network on Friday to explain the changes he made to his swing this off-season.
The 26-year-old added a single and a walk on Saturday and is currently batting an even .400.
Caissie right behind Hicks
And if you looked at the MLB RBI leaderboard after five games, you would’ve seen Hicks’ Marlins teammate and fellow Canuck Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) right behind him, tied for second with eight RBIs.
Caissie has gone 8-for-25 (.320 batting average) with two home runs and two doubles in the Marlins’ first eight games. The 23-year-old right fielder has been hitting sixth in the lineup behind Canadians Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que) and Hicks.
The Fieldhouse Pirates grad’s strong start comes after his outstanding performance for Canada at the World Baseball Classic in which he went 7-for-17 (.412 batting average) with a home run, three doubles and five RBIs in five games.
Caissie is in his first season with the Marlins after being acquired from the Cubs as part of the package for right-hander Edward Cabrera on January 7.
Peters records first walk-off hit
It was a week of firsts for Chicago White Sox outfielder Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.).
Just two days after collecting his first MLB hit last Saturday, Peters had his first two-hit game on Monday. The Okotoks Dawgs alum had two singles in three at bats in the Sox 9-4 victory over the Marlins.
Then on Friday, in the White Sox home opener, Peters hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning off Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman to give the Sox a 5-4 win. It was not only his first walk-off hit, but his first MLB RBI.
As the White Sox noted on X on Saturday, the only other White Sox player to have their first MLB RBI be a walk-off hit was Canadian Joe Erautt (Vibank, Sask.). Erautt recorded his walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning against Boston Red Sox left-hander Mel Parnell on August 4, 1950 to give the White Sox a 3-2 win.
Anniversary of Walker’s first three-homer game
Twenty-nine years ago today, Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) returned to Olympic Stadium and socked three home runs for the Colorado Rockies against the Montreal Expos to lead his club to a 15-3 win.
It was the first of three, three-home run games Walker would have in his career. None of them came at hitter friendly Coors Field.
You can watch footage of Walker’s first three-home run performance in the video below.
Pivetta rebounds with strong start
After giving up six runs in three innings in his Opening Day start for the San Diego Padres, Nick Pivetta (Victoria, B.C.) rebounded to permit just one hit, while striking out eight, in five scoreless innings to earn the win against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.
It was his 70th big league win, which moves him to within one of Rheal Cormier (Cap-Pele, N.B.) and Erik Bedard (Napan, Ont.) for 10th most by a Canadian. Sitting just above them is Jeff Francis (North Delta, B.C.) with 72 MLB victories.
Sabrowski: four relief appearances, four holds
Left-hander Erik Sabrowski (Edmonton, Alta.) has been near-perfect out of the bullpen for the Cleveland Guardians this season. He has a major league-leading four holds in four appearances.
His most recent hold came on Wednesday when he was summoned into the game with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to face Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani with runners on second and third and the Guardians leading 4-0. Sabrowski promptly fanned Ohtani on three pitches.
Sabrowski has not surrendered a hit or a run and has struck out six in 3 2/3 innings this season.
Stieb’s first Opening Day start
Forty-three years ago today, Dave Stieb made his first Opening Day start for the Blue Jays.
Facing off against Boston Red Sox right-hander Dennis Eckersley, Stieb allowed just one run on three hits, while striking out seven batters, in six innings in the Blue Jays’ 7-1 win at Fenway Park.
Rance Mulliniks and Willie Upshaw homered for the Jays, while Ernie Whitt had a two-run single in the second inning.
Roy Lee Jackson took over for Stieb in the seventh and didn’t allow a hit in three scoreless innings to record the save.
Romano has three saves
I know it’s early but Los Angeles Angels closer Jordan Romano (Markham, Ont.) ranks second in the American League with three saves.
He picked up his third save of the season on Saturday when he hurled a scoreless ninth in the Angels’ 1-0 win over the Seattle Mariners.
The 32-year-old Canadian has looked strong this season. He has yet to yield a hit or a run in five appearances and has struck out seven in 4 2/3 innings.
The Ontario Blue Jays and Junior National Team grad is in his eighth major league campaign.
Orr made MLB debut on this date in 2005
Twenty-one years ago today, Pete Orr (Newmarket, Ont.) made his MLB debut with the Atlanta Braves.
The then 26-year-old Canuck entered the game as a defensive replacement for second baseman Marcus Giles in the sixth inning in the Braves’ 9-0 loss to the Marlins.
Orr grounded out in his first at bat in the eighth.
The left-handed hitting infielder collected his first two MLB hits the next day when he started at second base in the Braves’ 2-1, 13-inning win over the Marlins.
Clarke makes first home run robbing catch of the year
Oakland A’s centre fielder Denzel Clarke made his first home run robbing catch of the year in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Braves on Wednesday. Braves catcher Drake Baldwin led off the frame and launched a ball to left centre that look like a certain home run until Clarke made a leaping catch at the wall to bring it back.
You can watch it here:
If you have followed Clark since his MLB debut last year, you won’t be surprised by the play. After his promotion in late May 2025, he made several highlight reel catches in centre field for the A’s, which made him the first player to win the MLB Electric Play of the Week award in three consecutive weeks and earned him the Capital One Premier Play of the year at the MLB Awards.
Sixteen years ago, Stairs played for 12th MLB team
Sixteen years ago today, Matt Stairs (Fredericton, N.B.) pinch-hit for Padres pitcher Tim Stauffer in the top of the eighth inning and flied out to centre field against Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Aaron Heilman. With this at bat, Stairs had played in a regular season game for his 12th different MLB team, which set a new record for position players. He shared the previous record of 11 with Todd Zeile and Deacon McGuire.
Expos dealt Staub to Mets 54 years ago
It was 54 years ago today that the Expos traded Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Rusty Staub to the New York Mets for Ken Singleton, Tim Foli and Mike Jorgensen.
Staub, who had been the Expos’ first superstar, went on to enjoy four decent seasons with the Mets, including registering 105 RBIs for them in 1975.
But the Expos also fared well in the deal. Singleton had three strong years with the Expos. In 1973, he topped the National League with a .425 on-base percentage (OBP). Foli would be the Expos’ starting shortstop for six seasons, and though he was primarily known for his glove, he also became the first Expo to hit for the cycle when he accomplished the feat on April 21, 1976. Jorgensen also stayed with the Expos for parts of six seasons and posted career-highs in batting average (.310) and OBP (.444) in 1974. He also became the first Expo to win a Gold Glove Award when he was honoured for his work at the first base position in 1973.
Who hit the most home runs at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium?
Codify Baseball has the answer (I saw this on X):
