Glew - BWDIK - Father's Day/Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame edition

The late Jim Baba’s children (from left to right), Jamie, Mitch and Melani, gathered on stage on Saturday to deliver an induction speech for their father. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

June 21, 2026

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

Happy Father’s Day to my dad!

Up until my mid-teens, he channeled his inner Mickey Mantle to hit me countless fly balls down Thames Crescent in Dorchester, Ont. And I chased them pretending to be Chet Lemon. He’s a kind, quiet, patient, gentle and responsible man who has literally given me the shoes off his feet on more than one occasion. He’s my accountant, my Major League Baseball co-analyst and most importantly, a tremendously supportive dad. I’m blessed to have Ralph Glew as my father and I’m grateful that I not only was able to spend time with him at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in St. Marys, Ont., yesterday but that I will be able to watch the Blue Jays game with him this afternoon.

Hazel Mae pays tribute to her dad in Graney speech

I don’t think there was a dry eye under the tent at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony on Saturday when Sportsnet’s Blue Jays in-game reporter Hazel Mae spoke about her late father, Tito, while giving her Jack Graney Award acceptance speech. This award is handed out annually to a member of the media who has made significant contributions to baseball in Canada through their life’s work. “I’m thinking of my late father today,” said an emotional Mae. “It’s so fitting that you’re honouring me on Father’s Day weekend. Dad would’ve thought it was such a cool thing that I was here with Lloyd Moseby and Devon White. He would’ve thought this was so cool, but I know he’s looking down on me and thinking I did OK and I hope she doesn’t mess up the ending of her speech.”

You can listen to Mae’s wonderful speech here (Scroll down to find it).

Lessons Stubby Clapp‘s dad taught him

National team legend and St. Louis Cardinals first base coach Stubby Clapp (Windsor, Ont.) spoke about his late father, Keith (also nicknamed Stubby), during his induction speech on Saturday. He recalled how they used to play a very competitive game of pepper in the backyard.

“He used to stand me up against the fence in between the two poles. We’d call it pepper. And if l let the ball hit the fence, it was a point for him. And if I was able to make a play, it was a point for me. That’s how I learned how to play defence. I took a lot of bad hops, but I won. I wasn’t going to let the ball hit the fence.”

Clapp also shared that he followed his father around to all of the softball parks in Windsor.

“That’s where I learned to have fun and love the game. They let me stand in the outfield and shag BP. I would shag BP for as long as they could hit. And then if there was a little bit of time left at the end, they would let me take a couple of swings,” said Clapp.

The new Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer also spoke about when he was cut by fellow 2026 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Jim Baba at a national team tryout camp in Windsor in 1992.

“My dreams were kind of crushed and the toughest part was calling my dad,” recounted Clapp. “I told my dad, ‘Come get me. I didn’t make the team.’ . . . I was crushed, and of course there were tears coming down, so he pulls up and I get in the car . . . and my dad just kind of looks at me and says, ‘Well, are you going to quit or are you going to get better?’ No sympathy . . . just the truth . . . and it was at that moment that I decided I was going to get better. I was going to figure out a way to make the next team . . . And that was the beginning of me learning about adversity.”

Jim Baba’s children pay tribute to their father

Another very moving speech at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday was delivered by Mitch Baba, the son of the late Jim Baba, with his sisters, Jamie and Melani, at his side. Mitch spoke of what it was like to have Baba, a longtime and universally loved Baseball Canada executive director and WBSC technical official who passed away in September, as his father.

Mitch said the joke around the house was that baseball was his father’s first love and family was second. To which his father used to reply, “That’s not true, but it’s pretty close.”

“But we never felt second,” said Mitch, “because his love of baseball spilled over into everything he did . . . Baseball to him was people. It was community. It was Saskatchewan towns. It was summer nights and sunflower seeds and kids getting their first taste of what might shape the fabric of their whole lives. It was the fabric of his life, too, right up to the end.”

Psota’s dad helped her excel

Canadian national women’s team legend Kate Psota (Burlington, Ont.) spoke of her father, Ed, during her inspiring Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech on Saturday.

“My dad spent countless hours helping me hone my skills on a baseball diamond behind our house . . . I used to wait for him at the end our driveway with my glove and his glove. He worked shiftwork and he always made the time. I didn’t give him a choice, but he always made the time. He also logged some serious miles to diamonds all across the GTA and to Toronto Pearson Airport. Thank you, dad.”

Runge regularly asked dad for advice

Anyone who attended the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend this year will tell you that one of the highlights was listening to legendary umpire and 2026 inductee Paul Runge‘s stories.

Born in St. Catharines, Ont., in 1940, Runge was the middle part of MLB’s only three-generation family of umpires. His father, Ed, was an American League umpire from 1954 to 1970 and his son, Brian, umpired in the National League from 1999 to 2012.

“My dad told me umpiring is the only profession where they expect you to be perfect on your first day and then get better,” quipped Runge from the stage on Saturday.

At the press conference prior to the induction ceremony, Runge told me that his father actually discouraged him from getting into umpiring.

“He didn’t think it was a good idea. He said I had a college education. I had my teaching credentials. I had a real estate license. I had a little money in my pocket. He said, ‘Why would you want to go umpire? It’s a tough job.’ There are only 24 umpires in each league, it’s tough position to get. But I didn’t take his advice which turned out real good for me.”

After he became an umpire, Runge’s father always generously shared his wisdom.

“I think I learned more from him at the breakfast table than some umpires would learn over a whole year,” said Runge. “I called him all the time (during my career).”

Runge’s father taught him to remain calm, especially when players or managers were yelling at him.

“We were real close and I called him a lot and whenever I was working locally, he would come to the games,” said Runge.

Johnny Mac’s Father’s Day homer

It’s without question the best Father’s Day moment in Blue Jays’ history. On Father’s Day 16 years ago, John McDonald returned to the Blue Jays with a heavy heart five days after delivering the eulogy at his father Jack’s funeral. As one of his final requests, McDonald’s father asked his son to point up to him after he touched home plate following his next home run. The Blue Jays’ smooth-fielding shortstop, who averaged less than two home runs a season, promised he would, but he cautioned his father that it could take a long time. Magically, in his first at bat after his father’s death, McDonald belted a pitch from San Francisco Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt over the left-field wall at Rogers Centre on Father’s Day. You can watch the home run below:

Thank you to Scott Crawford at the Canadian ball hall

A big thank you to Scott Crawford, the Hall’s director of operations, who devotes countless hours to organizing induction weekend each year. It was an outstanding event. Most don’t think about the long hours, anxiety, sleepless nights and time away from the family that goes into planning an event of this magnitude, but Scott has done an excellent for many years — and with the support of his wonderful family. On Saturday, his wife, Sam, and his two sons, Toby and Noah, were working the merchandise table at the induction ceremony. It’s obvious they love and respect their father very much. Also a big thank you to Lindsay Earle, the Hall’s care of collections and public engagement supervisor, who also put in countless hours to make induction weekend happen. Thank you also to the remaining Hall staff and all of the volunteers.

Trei Cruz makes MLB debut and I’m old

OK, I’m officially old.

Toronto-born Trei Cruz made his MLB debut with the Detroit Tigers on Friday. He played right field and went 0-for-3 in the Tigers’ 4-3 win over the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park.

So why does this make me feel old?

Well, this is the first instance where I can remember watching a player’s father and grandfather also play in the big leagues. The grandfather, Jose Cruz was an All-Star outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and New York Yankees for parts of 19 seasons from 1970 to 1988.

The father is Jose Cruz Jr., who had a 30-30 season with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2001 and played 12 major league seasons from 1997 to 2008.

The grandson, Trei, was selected in the third round of the 2021 MLB draft by the Tigers. After some early struggles, the youngest Cruz enjoyed a breakout game with triple-A Toledo last season when he batted .279 and had a .411 on-base percentage with 13 home runs, 17 stolen bases and 102 walks. Cruz was born in 1998 in Toronto when his father was a Blue Jay.

As Sarah Langs, of MLB.com, notes below, the Cruz family is the fifth to have three generations of big leaguers:

Go play catch with your dad

I can’t think of a better way to end a Father’s Day column than with this clip from Field of Dreams, the 1989 movie inspired by the book, Shoeless Joe, written by Canadian author and Jack Graney Award winner W.P. Kinsella. This scene (click on link below) is an emotional and heart-warming moment between Ray Kinsella and his father, John, who magically appears on the ball diamond that Ray has constructed in the field at his farm. Say, “Hey dad, you wanna have a catch?” when you’re in a crowd of people at almost any ball field in North America and someone will know this scene.