Glew: Remembering the Canadian baseball greats who died in 2025
Former Baseball Canada executive director and our good friend Jim Baba (Moose Jaw, Sask.) passed away on September 12 at the age of 69. We miss him. Photo: Baseball Canada
December 30, 2025
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
As the end of 2025 approaches, let’s pause to remember some of the Canadian baseball greats who passed away this year.
Jim Baba
Baba (Moose Jaw, Sask.) served as the executive director of Baseball Canada from 2000 to 2021. During his time in that post, he helped Baseball Canada strengthen domestic programming, make advances in high-performance development and enhance the organization’s reputation internationally. Baba was also one of the best baseball coaches in our country’s history. He coached and managed national teams at several international competitions, including at the 1991 Pan Am Games and at the 1994, 1998 and 2005 Baseball World Cups. Baba also worked as a technical official for the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) at numerous events, including Olympic qualifiers and the World Baseball Classic. He passed away on September 12 at the age of 69.
You can read my full obituary about him here.
Tim Harkness
Harkness (Lachine, Que.) played parts of four major league seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets from 1961 to 1964 before returning to Canada to become a legendary coach, scout and storyteller. As the Mets’ first baseman in 1964, he etched his name in the club’s history books when he singled to right field in the third inning of the team’s home opener to record the first hit by a Met at Shea Stadium. Following his playing career, Harkness managed the Intercounty Baseball League’s Toronto Maple Leafs and became a highly respected scout. In 1996, he was honoured with the Canadian Baseball Network’s Scout of the Year award. He passed away on November 27 at the age of 87.
You can read my full obituary about him here.
Bill Lankhof
Lankhof (Chatham, Ont.) spent more than four decades as a sports reporter, feature writer, editor and columnist. He started with the Toronto Sun in 1976 and wrote his farewell column for the paper in December 2016. He worked the Blue Jays beat for the Sun from 1989 to 1995. In his wide-ranging sportswriting career, he also covered the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Argonauts, horse racing, auto racing and soccer. He passed away on November 6 at the age of 72.
You can read Bob Elliott‘s obituary about him here.
Bob McKillop
McKillop (Toronto, Ont.) was an outstanding two-way player – a catcher and a right-handed pitcher – with the Intercounty Baseball League’s Kitchener Panthers starting in 1966. In all, McKillop suited up for 12 seasons with the Panthers and was an eight-time All-Star and four-time league MVP. He completed his IBL career with a .340 batting average and a 2.34 ERA. Those numbers earned him a spot on the IBL’s list of Top 100 players in 2018. McKillop also played for Canada at the 1967 Pan Am Games and would later serve as the executive director of Baseball Ontario. He passed away on August 16 at the age of 83.
You can read my full obituary about him here.
Claude Pelletier
While scouting for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pelletier (Saint-Lazare, Que.) recommended that the club sign future National League Cy Young Award winner Éric Gagné (Mascouche, Que.). After 13 years with the Dodgers, he moved on to the New York Mets. Among the players he either drafted or signed for the Mets were Canadian infielders Shawn Bowman (New Westminster, B.C.) and Jonathan Malo (Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan, Que.). Along the way, Pelletier garnered a reputation as one of the best Canadian scouts of all-time. In 2013, he was named the Canadian Baseball Network’s Scout of the Year. Five years later, he was inducted into the Quebec Baseball Hall of Fame. He passed away on December 14 at the age of 88.
You can read my full obituary about him here.
Bill Slack
During his parts of six decades in professional baseball as a player, coach and manager, Slack (Petrolia, Ont.) developed into one of the most respected and influential Canadians in the game. Signed by the Boston Red Sox as a left-handed pitcher in 1951, he’d toe the rubber for 10 minor league seasons before turning to coaching. Beginning as a manager in the Red Sox organization in 1961, Slack settled in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he would lead the Red Sox Class-A team for parts of 13 seasons. During that time, his teams captured four Carolina League titles. Slack finished his career with more wins than any other manager in Carolina League history. For his efforts, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. Slack passed away on November 9 at the age of 92.
You can read my full obituary about him here.
Ron Taylor
Signed out of Toronto’s Leaside Baseball Association by the Cleveland Indians, Taylor (Toronto, Ont.) hurled 11 scoreless innings against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on April 11, 1962 in his MLB debut. Later that year, Taylor was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he assumed a key bullpen role on the Cards’ 1964 World Series-winning squad. Five years later, he found himself in a crucial relief role again with the Mets in the 1969 World Series. With two outs and two men on base in the ninth inning of Game 2, Taylor was summoned to face Brooks Robinson, who grounded to third base to end the game. In helping the Mets emerge victorious in that Fall Classic, Taylor became the only Canadian to win a World Series with two different teams (Cardinals 1964, Mets 1969). Upon retiring from baseball, he returned to Toronto, where he earned a degree in medicine from the University of Toronto and eventually became the Toronto Blue Jays’ team doctor. Taylor passed away on June 16 at the age of 87.
You can read my full obituary about him here.
Ben Waghorn
A much loved and respected lawyer in St. Marys, Ont., Waghorn chaired a fundraising campaign for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame from 1998 to 2000. He was also a long-serving member of the Canadian ball hall’s board of directors and headed the board from 2001 to 2006. He was the recipient of the Hall’s Randy Echlin Lifetime Volunteer Award in 2015. Waghorn passed away on May 14 at the age of 57.
You can read my tribute to him in this column.