Glew - BWDIK: Henderson, Hicks, Jenkins, Marchildon, Siddall, Smith
Toronto Mets alum Liam Hicks (Toronto, Ont.) belted a two-run home run for the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday. This made him the first Canadian-born catcher ever to go deep in the World Series.
October 25, 2026
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
Some Canadian baseball news and notes:
Hicks makes Canadian World Series history
With his two-run home run in the first inning for the Tampa Bay Rays last night, Liam Hicks (Toronto, Ont.) became the first Canadian catcher ever to hit a home run in the World Series.
This came a day after he became the first Canadian-born catcher to start a World Series game since Larry McLean (Fredericton, N.B.) started behind the plate for the New York Giants on October 11, 1913.
On Friday, in his Game 1 start, Hicks drove in both Rays’ runs in their 3-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. When he knocked in a run on a ground out in the fourth inning, Hicks became the first Canadian catcher to record an RBI in the World Series since McLean did it for the Giants against the Philadelphia A’s on October 11, 1913.
With four RBIs in the first two World Series games, Hicks, a Toronto Mets alum, now has eight this postseason, which leads the Rays.
For the record, Russell Martin (Montreal, Que.) played in the postseason 10 times during his major league career, but he never competed in a World Series.
Henderson born just after Brewers’ last WS appearance
Milwaukee Brewers pitching coordinator Jim Henderson (Calgary, Alta.) was born on October 21, 1982.
I’m not sure what this means (other than I like fun baseball trivia), but that was one day after the Brewers lost Game 7 of the 1982 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.
That was also the last World Series game the Brewers had played until their Game 1 victory on Friday night.
This is Henderson’s fifth season on the Brewers’ big league staff. He was initially hired as the club’s bullpen coach in 2022. Last season, he served as the team’s assistant pitching and strategy coach.
Henderson was promoted to the Brewers’ big league staff after he served as the pitching coach of the triple-A Nashville Sounds in 2021. Prior to that, he had been a pitching coach in the Brewers’ organization for four seasons, beginning as bullpen coach with the Rookie-ball Helena Brewers in 2018 before being promoted to the class-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2019.
Prior to his coaching career, Henderson pitched parts of three major league seasons with the Brewers from 2012 to 2014. The Canuck right-hander, who honed his skills with the Okotoks Dawgs, also toed the rubber for the Canadian national team on multiple occasions, including for the gold medal-winning squad at the 2011 Pan Am Games.
15 years ago, Canada won gold at Pan Am Games
It was 15 years ago today that the Canadian senior national team captured its first gold medal at the Pan Am Games.
In the championship contest in Guadalajara, Mexico, veterans Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Sask.) and Scott Richmond (Vancouver, B.C.) combined to strike out 11 batters, while Jimmy Van Ostrand (Vancouver, B.C.) knocked in both of the team’s runs with a sixth-inning double, in Canada’s 2-1 victory over the United States.
The entire team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., the following year.
Happy Birthday to Joe Siddall!
Happy 59th Birthday to former Montreal Expos catcher and current Toronto Blue Jays Sportsnet analyst Joe Siddall!
He was born in Windsor, Ont., and honed his skills there before signing as an amateur free agent with the Expos on August 5, 1987. He proceeded to play 13 professional seasons and enjoyed big league tenures with the Expos, Florida Marlins and Detroit Tigers.
In 2014, he began his broadcasting career as a radio analyst for the Blue Jays alongside Jerry Howarth before transitioning to a role as analyst on Blue Jays Central in 2018. He was inducted into the Baseball Ontario Hall of Fame that same year.
Siddall became a full-time analyst on Sportsnet’s Blue Jays broadcasts this season after splitting the previous three campaigns between the broadcast booth and Blue Jays Central.
In 2022, he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Sports Analysis or Commentary.
Cubs traded Jenkins 53 years ago
Fifty-three years ago today, the Chicago Cubs traded ace right-hander Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) to the Texas Rangers for third baseman Bill Madlock and utility player Vic Harris.
Though Madlock would win two batting titles in three seasons with the Cubs, Jenkins put together arguably his most dominant big league season in his first year with the Rangers, setting career-highs with 25 wins and 328 1/3 innings pitched. He also topped the American League with 29 complete games. For his efforts, he finished second to Catfish Hunter in the AL Cy Young Award voting.
He added 17 wins in his second season with the Rangers before he was dealt to the Red Sox prior to the 1976 campaign. He later returned to the Rangers and was a key starter for them from 1978 to 1981.
Remembering Phil Marchildon
Please take a moment to remember Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Phil Marchildon who was born in Penetanguishene, Ont., on this date in 1913.
While working in the Creighton Mine in Sudbury and starring for the company ball team, Marchildon was convinced to try out for the International League’s Toronto Maple Leafs in 1938. The hard-throwing hurler would strike out seven of the nine batters he faced at the tryout and reported to the Leafs’ training camp the following spring.
After two seasons with the Leafs, Marchildon’s contract was purchased by the Philadelphia A’s. In his first big league season, he recorded 10 wins for the lowly A’s, managed by Connie Mack. The ensuing season, he recorded 17 wins and established himself as the team’s ace.
Poised to join the pitching elite, Marchildon was called for military duty and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1943 to 1945. In August 1944, his plane was shot down and he was taken as a prisoner of war. He spent nine months in a German prison camp.
Upon his release and return to North America, Marchildon almost immediately returned to the A’s rotation. Though still traumatized by the war, Marchildon registered 19 wins for the A’s in 1947.
In all, Marchildon won 68 big league games and completed 82 of his 162 major league starts. He passed away in 1997.
Trailblazing baseball executive Kent Cooke born on this date
Please also take a moment to remember Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Jack Kent Cooke who was born in Hamilton, Ont., on this date in 1912.
Kent Cooke moved with his family to The Beaches area in Toronto in 1921. By age 14, he was a successful door-to-door encyclopedia salesman, and after a string of prosperous business ventures, including owning radio stations and publications, Cooke purchased the International League’s Toronto Maple Leafs in 1951.
Under his flamboyant reign, the club drew more than 3.3 million fans to Maple Leaf Stadium from 1951 to 1963. Creative and sometimes off-the-wall, Cooke’s promotions made attending a game in Toronto an event. For his efforts, he was named minor league executive of the year by The Sporting News in 1952 when the Leafs drew 446,040 fans – an attendance mark that topped some major league clubs.
While Cooke was the owner, the Maple Leafs won pennants in 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1960. The ambitious owner passionately believed Toronto was worthy of a big league team and pressed local politicians to build a larger stadium. While in Toronto, Cooke made attempts to purchase the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers. But when his dream of bringing the big leagues to Toronto was thwarted, he moved to the U.S., where he would eventually own several pro sports franchises, including the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings.
He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985. He passed away 12 years later.
Blue Jays hired Montoyo as manager eight years ago
Eight years ago today, the Blue Jays hired Charlie Montoyo to be their field manager.
Montoyo had been the Rays’ bench coach and prior to that had been a minor league manager for almost two decades. This came after he enjoyed a 10-year professional playing career in the Brewers, Expos and Phillies organizations. He played his only four major league games with the Expos in 1993 and went 2-for-5 – good for a .400 batting average.
During his tenure as Blue Jays’ manager, he led the club to a 236-236 record in parts of four seasons. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, he guided the Blue Jays to a 32-28 record and a Wild-Card spot.
Smith sets Canadian postseason pitching records
The Cleveland Guardians lost the American League Championship Series in six games to the Rays, but not before their closer Cade Smith (Abbotsford, B.C.) set some all-time Canadian postseason records, according to Canadian Baseball Network statistician Neil Munro.
Smith appeared in nine of the Guardians’ 11 postseason contests this fall. This coupled with 12 previous postseason outings in 2024 and 2025 gave him a Canadian record of 21 career postseason pitching appearances.
The 6-foot-5 right-hander also had 14 strikeouts this postseason which gave him 34 for his career, moving him past Nick Pivetta (Victoria, B.C.), who has 27 postseason Ks, and into first place among Canucks.
For his MLB postseason career, Smith is 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA in 24 2/3 innings.