Gallagher: Canadian scout Morgan signed Jeff Kent for Jays

Canadian scout Wayne Morgan (Kindersley, Sask.) that signed Jeff Kent for the Toronto Blue Jays back in 1989.

December 9, 2025

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Scouts are diamonds in the rough, anonymous figures who don't get enough recognition or credit for what they do.

One such figure was Canadian Wayne (Pee Wee) Morgan, who scouted hundreds and hundreds of players for major-league teams over many decades.

A one-time Expos scout, he signed the likes of fellow Saskatchewan native Terry Puhl for the Houston Astros, Lloyd Moseby for the Blue Jays and Willie McGee for the Yankees but he's mighty proud of his discovery of Jeff Kent for Toronto because he's going to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

The ailing Morgan, 81, was emotional when a reporter told him Kent was headed to Cooperstown. He wasn't aware Kent was elected Sunday night. Kent is Morgan's first signee going to the fabled institution in New York.

"Wow, that's amazing. Thanks for telling me,'' Morgan told me. 

Speaking from a bed at an assisted-living facility in California where he's recovering from a leg injury incurred when he slipped on the kitchen floor while retrieving an item from the fridge, Morgan said he saw Kent, playing shortstop, only once but it was enough for him to convince the Jays' brass to draft him in the 20th round out of the University of California-Berkeley.

Morgan (Kindersley, Sask.) had driven 75 minutes from his home in Morgan Hill, Calif. to Berkeley to see another player.

"I'd never heard of Jeff Kent,'' Morgan said. "I went to the Berkeley game to see a pitcher, not Kent. Nobody else was interested in him. The other scouts were watching that pitcher, not Kent. Kent put on a great show with a lot of power to show what he was all about.

"Kent was a freshman and I was very impressed. He had a pretty good arm. I saw a lot of potential. He ran below average and had below average range so, to me, he profiled as a third baseman. He wasn't very big but he was athletic. He had a lot of ability.’’

Kent hailed from southern California, a surfer, beach bum and motocross rider, the son of Alan Kent, a motorcycle cop and as Morgan said, the "owner of a lumber yard.''

The younger Kent clashed with his baseball coach at Edison high school in Huntington Beach and had run-ins with his Berkeley coach, the late Bob Milano, who died recently at age 85. He was also known to have differences with teammates. He was a no-nonsense player, a hothead at that.

"It was funny -- a lot of Kent's teammates were surprised and shocked he was drafted because he was undisciplined. He was always complaining about something,'' Morgan told me, chuckling.

Morgan never saw Kent again other than the one time he ran across him. Once Kent was drafted, Morgan got on the phone with Kent and offered him $25,000 U.S. to sign. Morgan doesn't recall any attempt by Kent or his family to renegotiate his offer.

"He was cocky and excited,'' Morgan said when he called Kent. "I thought it was a lot of money for someone drafted down low. I had John Cole, a part-time scout for the Blue Jays, deliver the contract to Kent.'' Jays scout David Blume was also involved in evaluating Kent.

Although Morgan saw Kent playing short, Morgan felt he wasn't fast enough to play short but was more suited for third. Oddly enough, Kent played much of his career in the majors at second base. He hit 377 lifetime homers, 351 as a second baseman - the most by any second baseman in major league history.

Kent played 65 games for the Jays, all in 1992, before he was traded to the New York Mets in exchange for David Cone on Aug. 27 of that year.

“I was traded for one of the best pitchers in the game,’’ Kent told reporters during a conference call which I tuned into Sunday. “I was disappointed not to be on the Jays’ World Series team in ’92. It’s one of the biggest disappointments of my career.’’

I wanted to ask Kent about Morgan but I didn’t get the chance as the conference call wound down.

Morgan was a top-notch senior baseball player as a young man with the Kindersley Klippers in Saskatchewan, attended the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif. and obtained his Masters degree in physical education from San Francisco State University. He thus decided shortly after to stay in the U.S.

Morgan had been scouting for the Expos in their early years before future Jays guru Pat Gillick hired him as an Astros scout, leading him to his discovery of Puhl. Morgan later worked for the Yankees and joined Gillick with Toronto about 1978, staying there for many years.

Morgan underwent quadruple by-pass heart surgery a few years ago and has been laid up for two months, deciding to go to the assisted-living facility two weeks ago because one of his legs had no strength. He needs help getting in and out of bed.

"I have to wear a boot on one leg,'' he said.

Whether he gets to leave his current residence is questionable because he said his wife Karen "isn't strong enough'' to help him at home.

We wish him a speedy recovery. He's a darn-good man, who had eagle eyes to spot many great players. Kent will attest to that.