Posts in Minor leagues
McFarland: From batboy to Alberta Hall of Famer, Franchuk has had legendary career

“It could have been easy for Orv Franchuk to dislike or even hate baseball right from the very start.

Growing up on the farm near Wandering River, he remembers being six or seven years old when his older brother would drag him outside to play “catch.”

The youngster would get placed in front of the garage door while his hand-eye coordination developed, which made for some bruises on his shins and shoulders.

“I’d be crying and go into the house and get cleaned up by mom,” Franchuk told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast. “My dad would push me back out there.”

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Glew - Whicker's new Drysdale biography discusses legend's time in Montreal

It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that Don Drysdale’s career in professional baseball started and ended in Montreal.

As a fiery, fresh-faced teen, he pitched his first full pro season with the triple-A Montreal Royals in 1955.

And sadly, 38 years later, he suffered a fatal heart attack in a Montreal hotel room while he was part of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ broadcast team.

Both Drysdale’s season with the Royals and the night of his death are detailed thoroughly in Mark Whicker’s excellent new book, Don Drysdale: Up and In: The Life of a Dodgers Legend.

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Glew: Hawthorn hits home run with new book about Vancouver baseball history

Did you know that the first night baseball game in Canada was played in Vancouver in 1931?

Or that Jackie Robinson was rumoured to be the first manager of the Pacific Coast League’s Vancouver Mounties in 1956?

These are just two of the engrossing and little-told stories shared in an outstanding new book called, “Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years.”

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