Leaside’s Mr. Baseball, Howie Birnie, who will inducted into St. Marys

May 23, 2024

Howard Birnie: “The epitome of excellence”

By Scott Langdon

Canadian Baseball Network

Howard Birnie’s induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame next month is believed to be the first such honour for a snack bar attendant.

Known as Howie to his many diamond friends and associates, Birnie has spent innumerable hours over almost countless years serving cold drinks, doling out penny and nickel candy and making change in the small, red-brick snack bar sandwiched between the first base grandstand and the bottom of a high hill at Talbot Park, home of the Leaside Baseball Association (LBA) in east end Toronto.

He spent a similar amount of time dragging and watering the infield, pounding the sand around the mound and home plate, anchoring the bases and chalking the foul lines at the venerable sandlot often called “The Shrine” by some in the Toronto baseball community.

“There has never been a job too small for Howie to take on,” said Mary-Anne Smith, executive director, Ontario Baseball Association (OBA). Birnie was the first person Smith, also known as Madam President, met when she joined the OBA 25 years ago.

“You always know where you stand with Howie. He has always been kind, respectful and entertaining,” she added.

Neither has there been a job too big for Birnie during his more than 70 years of active participation in amateur ball in Toronto and across the Province of Ontario.

In addition to his often-daily duties at Talbot Park during the season, Birnie has found time to be:

_ A player for the first Leaside Maple Leafs senior team in 1968.

_ A multiple-time, championship-winning coach of Leaside teams.

_ A top umpire at the local, provincial, national and international levels as well as umpire instructor.

_ President, Leaside Association since 1973 as well as other executive functions.

_ Vice-president, treasurer, secretary, representative to the OBA and president, Toronto Baseball Association (TBA) from 1973 to 1985. He continues to serve as secretary-Treasurer and co-registrar (16U to Senior)

_ Board member, vice-president and president of the OBA where he still serves as registrar.

_ Member, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

Birnie … not far from where Leaside would sell penny candy at the snack bar.

“Howie has done it all for minor baseball. He is the epitome of excellence,” said Ed Quinlan, current OBA president. “He has always done whatever has needed to be done and he still is.”

* * *

Birnie was inducted into the TBA’s Carmen Bush Signature Club in 2004 in honour of his years of service to minor ball in Toronto. A commemorative booklet prepared by Andrew Bradley included quotations from some of Birnie’s friends and associates. Their thoughts are as valid now as they were then.

“I knew Howie first as a coach. His teams were always smart, sharp, well-coached with high standards and ambitions. His teams were always good.

“I knew Howie longer as convenor and organizer. I watched him preside night after night at Talbot Park, seeing that everything was in order so the kids could play. He was proud of his league, proud of his teams and proud of his park. I know Howie as someone who loves Leaside, who loves the game and who loves kids. Congratulations, Howie, on an honour that is totally deserved.”

_ Ken Dryden, then Minister of Social Development, Government of Canada, Hockey Hall of Famer.

* * *

Player and coach

The post-World War II years in the City of Toronto during the early 1950s would not be recognizable to today’s youngsters. There weren’t any computers, social media, online games or cell phones. Television didn’t exist in many Toronto homes. Even if available, many kids were not allowed to watch for hours on end over concern they would not read or do their daily chores.

Kids would get together to play, usually outdoors.

Baseball was one popular summer pastime for boys.

“Baseball is a most adaptable game,” Terry Vollum, a columnist for The Trentonian and west end Toronto boy from that era wrote recently. “I have vivid memories of slipping my glove through the handlebar of my CCM two-wheeler to head out to wherever the game was being organized and played that day. It might have been a large enough vacant lot or a schoolyard diamond often with an actual chain link backstop. We played on a variety of surfaces including asphalt, grass and dirt.”

But their baseball heroes weren’t Blue Jays. They were more than likely players such as INF Billy DeMars or stellar reliever Ray (Snacks) Shore of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the triple-A International League, farm club of the then-St. Louis Browns.

There were not any games to watch on TV. The NBC Game of the Week on American television didn’t begin until 1957. Television in Canada didn’t begin until the country’s first stations in Montreal and Toronto went online in 1952.

That year was also a key time for the Maple Leafs. After many years of faltering teams and attendance, the Leafs, under the direction of new owner Jack Kent Cooke, lead the International League in attendance for five consecutive years beginning in 1952. It was a period of growing popularity for minor league pro ball in the city.

And 1952 was a key year for Howie Birnie, then 14, as well. It was his first time playing organized ball for Pape Playground in the Toronto Playgrounds League.

Ted Schmidt, left, and Leaside legend Howie Birnie

“Organized, competitive baseball didn’t start until the age of 12 in those days,” recalled Ted Schmidt, a “dear friend” of Birnie’s for most of his 70 plus years in the game.

“For city kids, organized ball revolved around sandlots at locations such as Bickford Park and Christie Pitts. I played in the west end for St. Peter’s in the Catholic Youth Organization program run at the time by Carmen Bush. Howie played for Pape in the east end.

“It seems to me that Howie and I were similar players at the time,” he chuckled “outfielders and a bit yappy,”

* * *

“My relationship with Howie goes back what seems like a 1,000 years. We met at Pape Playground where he worked as a coach for the midget and junior teams for the late Matty Eckler. Later, around 1958, I was forming Norm’s Little League, now known as Toronto Greenwood.

“Howie offered his assistance as an umpire. Throughout the years I have found Howie to be honest, honourable and completely dedicated in every detail to the TBA, Toronto Greenwood and all the lucky children who have crossed his path.”

_ Norm Bryan, then President, Toronto Greenwood Baseball Association, TBA commemorative booklet, 2004.

* * *

Birnie, a righthander who batted lefthanded, played bantam to senior for Pape from 1952-1960, then moved to play in the Western City senior league until 1963. Five years later he played his final season during the inaugural year of the Leaside Maple Leafs senior team, along with legendary players like Alfie Payne, Bob (Flakey) Johnstone, Buck Reed and Robbie Stepens.

The Leaside team’s uniforms were purchased at auction following the demise of the IL’s Maple Leafs in 1967. He was wearing the uniform of the team he followed as a youngster.

In the TBA 2004 booklet, Birnie recalled climbing the rooftops of Little Norway, a wartime housing project at the foot of Bathurst Street, to watch the games at Maple Leaf Stadium, home of Cooke’s Maple Leafs.

“We’d be on the roof behind the right field fence watching the Maple Leafs through two stacks of signboards,” he said.

Schmidt, on the other hand, attended many Maple Leafs’ games in person. He and his friends would sneak into the stadium to watch games. “Nobody had a lot of money in those days,” he said, laughing at the memory.

* * *

“There is no one more deserving of this recognition for all of your commitment on behalf of Leaside, Toronto and Ontario Baseball Associations. You have come a long way in the game since dodging the ‘tires; thrown by kids on Christie Street at the left fielders’ at Christie Pits.”

_ Jack Wilson, High Park Baseball Association, 2004 TBA booklet.

* * *

Schmidt and Birnie had similarities other than playing style.

“Howie and I got to really know each other in our 20s as junior coaches,” Schmidt said. “I coached Columbus Boys’ Club for Carmen Bush and Howie was coaching that powerhouse Richardson’s for Sports in Leaside. Meeting and knowing Carmen was life-changing for me.”

Carmen Bush, inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys in 1985, was highly respected for his attitude, philosophy and integrity leading amateur ball in Toronto and Ontario for more than a half century. He passed in 2001.

“Carmen took to Howie, he respected his attitude and commitment to the game in the city. Really, he saw Howie as his successor. Howie took the mantle from Carmen,” Schmidt said.

David Black, past president of the TBA who served in the role for 16 years, says Bush and Birnie always “fought for the right values” in amateur ball.

“Howie to this day is the north star guiding us in the way we operate. But, you know, as involved as Howie has been and still is with the TBA, I think he would tell you his legacy is the Leaside Baseball Association. He has always had his local community as his focal point,” he said.

* * *

“Howie Birnie is Leaside baseball. Where they would be without him? I don’t know. He is a tremendous worker. He and Carmen Bush were like father and son.”

_ Tom Lawson, TBA life member, 2004 TBA booklet

* * *

Schmidt and Birnie were coaching rivals in the Leaside Junior League. Schmidt recalls the 1960s being a highly competitive time between Bush’s Columbus Boys’ Club and Birnie’s Leaside juniors.

Birnie always speaks softly and carries a big stick … and chirps old, grey-haired pitching coaches on the way to the mound.

“Howie’s teams were always well coached. The Richardsons in the early 1960s and later were a powerhouse. Then we had our turn. There was Primos, too. And then Perth Boys later in the decade. It was a wonderful time to be a coach,” Schmidt remembers.

Birnie-coached Leaside teams won seven city championships, one provincial championship and one national championship.

But Birnie’s time on a ball field over the past seven decades has involved more than playing, coaching and grounds keeping. He was an accomplished umpire, too. Jim Lutton would know.

Lutton (Oshawa, Ont.), is an amateur legend in his own right. Like his close friend, Birnie, Lutton was born in 1937 and has spent most of his life involved in various amateur roles. He has been called “Mr. Everything” for the Oshawa Legionnaires organization and is a lifetime member of the Oshawa Legion Minor Baseball Association, the Eastern Ontario Baseball Association and the OBA. Jim Lutton Legion Field at Lakeview Park in Oshawa is named in honour of his many contributions to sports in that community. He’s also a member of the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame, among other honours.

Like Birnie, Lutton was an accomplished umpire at local, provincial and national levels. He and Birnie were called on to umpire the annual Pearson Cup games between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos in 1982, 1984 and 1986.

Birnie umpired for 34 years, starting in the late 1950s at Toronto Greenwood. He worked games in the Leaside and North Toronto leagues. Between 1979 and 1989 he umpired six national championships, then three international championships in 1985, 1987, 1990 and two World Junior Championships in 1986 and 1987. His level 5 certification is the highest in the Baseball Canada umpiring program.

But Lutton recalls not all of their umpiring moments were perfect.

“Howie and I umpired our first senior nationals together in Sudbury. We were on different crews. Howie worked the morning game on the bases. At one point, a runner slid into second base and Howie called him out. People in the stands started screaming and pointing at the ball rolling into centre field. Howie had to reverse his call,” Lutton remembered.

“By that time Howie and I were great friends. I was chuckling at my friend having to reverse a call. But the tables turned that afternoon when I was behind the plate calling balls and strikes,” he said.

Lutton called time out at one point during the game and, carrying his face mask in an unusual position in front and slightly below his waist, approached one of the coaches.

“A group of women were seated near the plate, laughing. They took a collection. Soon, the coach came out as if to hand me a couple of game balls. There were some large safety pins so I could temporarily put my split pants together to get through the game. Howie had the last laugh,” he recalled.

The OBA’s Quinlan, a long-time, accomplished umpire who attended clinics run by Birnie, says he was always willing to teach and to listen.

“Howie really is unbelievable. When Howie speaks, people listen. His influence in Toronto and Ontario is everlasting,” Quinlan said.

Lutton, like Birnie, a former president of the OBA and a life member, calls Howie “one of the best people I have ever known.”

Perhaps he said it best in the TBA’s 2004 booklet:

“I am proud and honoured to include Howard Birnie as a friend, not just in baseball, but in everyday life as well. The many people who have been touched by Howie’s involvement in baseball would probably say the same thing.

“I first met Howie in 1964 when he was coaching Richardson’s juniors at Leaside and we have been very close friends since that first meeting. Toronto and the Toronto baseball community have been blessed over the years with great volunteer leadership and executive members from Carmen Bush to Tom Lawson, coaches Ted Schmidt and many others as well as umpires such as Archie French, Alex Stanley and on and on. In every category, Howie ranks right there with the elite gentlemen of Toronto baseball.”

Leaside Association executive member Dan Berlin, left, and president Birnie.

Awards and accolades

Lutton says he and Birnie share similar philosophies about kids and sport.

“When someone asks me if I had a good year in last season, I always answer the same way. I can’t tell until next spring when I see how many players come back for another year. You are successful if the kids return,” he explained. “And Howie feels exactly the same way.”

Birnie has said: “It’s all about having fun whether you are playing, coaching or umpiring. If you’re not having fun overall, don’t do it because life is too short.”

Both men have earned recognition for their contribution to the amateur game over many decades. Birnie’s awards and accomplishments include:

_ East York Service Award, 1985.

_ TBA life membership, 1987.

_ Canada 125 Medal awarded to Canadians deemed to have made a significant contribution to their fellow citizens, 1992.

_ OBA Volunteer of the Year, 1994.

_ OBA Executive of the Year, 1994.

_ Ontario Special Achievement Award, 1995.

_ OBA nominee for Baseball Canada Volunteer of the Year, 2003.

_ TBA Carmen Bush Signature Club inductee, 2004.

_ OBA President’s Award, 2007.

_ Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award for significant contributions to Canada, 2012.

_ Inaugural member, Leaside Sports Hall of Fame, 2013.

_ Inducted, Ontario Baseball Hall of Fame, 2017.

_ Elected to Toronto Sport Hall of Fame, 2019.

_ Inducted Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, 2024.

One long-time observer of amateur baseball in Toronto and a former player and coach who played against Leaside teams for more than a decade, wondered what other awards might be coming Birnie’s way:

“When you think of the number of people -- players, parents, coaches, umpires, administrators, fans -- who have been impacted directly or indirectly by Howie over more than 70 years devoted to amateur ball, it makes you wonder if an Order of Canada is on the horizon. He would get my vote if I had one.”

The Order of Canada, appointment made by the Governor General, is “how our country honours people who make extraordinary contributions to the nation.”

* * *

“Howard Birnie, as far as I am concerned, is Mr. Baseball in Toronto. There is nobody who has contributed as much as Howard over the years. Beginning as a young player in the Playgrounds League, whom I played against in the late 1950s, Howard went on to become an outstanding manager and umpire at Leaside and indeed around Toronto. Now, there’s a combination.

“Howard’s 45-year stint as a selfless promoter of minor ball is almost unparalleled in this city. Maybe there are one of two still coaching as long as Howard has been involved, but none bring the wide range of organizational expertise which extends into all of Ontario and even Canada. He should be in the Hall of Fame.”

_ Ted Schmidt, former manager Columbus Boys’ Club and High Park Braves, TBA booklet, 2004.

* * *

Schmidt’s 2004 exhortation for Hall of Fame recognition will come to fruition 20 years later when Birnie is inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame next month - Saturday, June 15 - in St. Marys.

Two Leaside teams will play Inauguration Day exhibition games on Cement Field in honor of Birnie’s almost lifelong commitment to the Leaside community.

Schmidt, Lutton and many other people who have met Birnie on ball fields, in boardrooms and at the Talbot Park snack bar will applaud his induction and say a well-deserved, “Thank you, Howie.”

***

Special thanks to the Toronto Baseball Association and Andrew Bradley for their contributions.

Langdon: Call him Howie (Hall of Fame bound) Birnie