R. I. P. Don McKnight

In 1998, Don McKnight was elected as Baseball Ontario’s third vice-president and rose from their through the ranks to become President of Baseball Ontario in November 2005, serving as such for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons.

As President, McKnight demonstrated great strength. He never shied away from making the difficult decisions, always standing up for what he believed to be right. He represented Baseball Ontario on the Baseball Canada board from 2006 through 2010.

One Ontario Youth coach attended the McKnight wake, told stories, listened to stories and on his way home stopped by the diamond in Newmarket named after McKnight to think of the man

David Huctwith had the honour to pay tribute to the memory of Donald Robert McKnight on behalf of Baseball Ontario on Saturday Jan. 11, 2020.

Don, you will be greatly missed and forever in our hearts. No one looks forward to speaking at a funeral. Death introduces an awkwardness, a sense of loss and longing.

However, it is more than just a time of mourning and sadness. It is a time to remember and celebrate how much the one who has passed meant to us while they were here with us and to record the impact that that life had on those it touched. Accordingly, it is my honour to pay tribute to the memory of Donald Robert McKnight on behalf of Baseball Ontario.

Don began playing baseball for Newmarket in 1948 … and this started a love affair with the game that lasted for the rest of his life. (There are rumors that he was even cremated in baseball clothes!) Over the 71-plus years that followed, the game was an enormous part of his life … and his life and involvement were an enormous part of baseball in Ontario.

There were many aspects to Donnie’s life: a devoted and loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, brother and uncle; a trusted friend; a successful business man and tax specialist, to name a few. However, it is his passion for baseball and how he touched and shaped the Ontario baseball community which I wish for us to remember this morning.

Don started out as a player … as many of us in the baseball world do. He played in Newmarket from 11-to-21 and then, because there was not a senior team in Newmarket, he and his teammates formed a fastball team and played men’s softball. Clearly, that speaks to not only Donnie’s love of ball, but his valuing the camaraderie inherent in being part of a team. I saw that frequently in my own interactions with Don as part of the board of Baseball Ontario.

As his family grew, he got into coaching his sons’ ball teams. From there, he took on a variety of other roles over time: he umpired; he coached and managed; he served as equipment manager. He moved on to President and eventually was granted a Life Membership. I am told that there wasn’t a job at Newmarket Baseball Association that he didn’t perform, officially or unofficially, at one time or another. In 2012, he was inducted, and deservedly so, into the Newmarket Sports Hall of Fame.

As a demonstration of his kind and generous heart, Don made sure that baseball was affordable, so that all kids who wanted to play, could play. At some point (I wasn’t able to determine the exact year), the main diamond at Newmarket Fairgrounds was renamed: Don McKnight Field. Quite a legacy and great reminder of all the work Donnie did in his community.

Don’s impact extended beyond Newmarket. He became active at the York Simcoe Baseball Association level. For those not involved in baseball, as its name implies, YSBA is the regional league covering York Region and Simcoe County. Don rose through the ranks of YSBA, ultimately becoming its President and a Life Member.

Being so involved at YSBA, led him inevitably to become the YSBA representative on the Baseball Ontario board of directors and ultimately to being an elected member of Baseball Ontario’s board. Donnie was an active member of Baseball Ontario’s board from 1990 until his health precluded his further involvement. He served as a series chair and chaperoned Bantam and Senior teams to Baseball Canada nationals.

Don was Technical Committee Chair organizing hearings to resolve disputes. His fair and impartial manner, along with his smile and humble attitude got him through many contentious matters. I particularly recall one hearing from 1995 that he and I were the panel members on. Given that the hearing was urgent (the matter involved a player’s eligibility for the eliminations that coming week-end) and neither Don nor myself had much available time in the middle of the season, we held the hearing at a diamond in Mississauga ... with an audience of sheep in the farm field behind us. It made for an interesting affidavit when the matter got challenged in court!

In 1998, Don was elected as Baseball Ontario’s third vice-president and rose from there through the ranks to become President of Baseball Ontario in November 2005, serving as such for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons. As President, Donnie demonstrated great strength. He never shied away from making the difficult decisions, always standing up for what he believed to be right. He represented Baseball Ontario on the Baseball Canada board from 2006 through 2010.

For many years, Don served as Ontario Youth Team General Manager winning gold at the Canada Cup in 2012 and 2018. Every Youth Team coach had … um interesting stories of Donnie’s driving while at these events to pick up food or run errands for the team. In Saskatchewan one year, the temperature for one of the evening games was quite cool and Donnie drove a vehicle into the bullpen so that pitchers down there had someplace out of the elements to watch the game and await their turn to pitch. He had such a big heart and truly cared for the kids on the team.

Don was a true volunteer, who wasn’t seeking the limelight, but rather what was best for the larger whole. We are running the 35th annual Best Ever Clinic this week-end. Donnie was a fixture at it doing whatever little jobs needed to be done to make the event a success. Whenever Dirk Drieberg asked him to help, his line was always: “I will do anything, just tell me what you need me to do to help.” I thought about him yesterday afternoon as we put up the Baseball Ontario display screen … a job Donnie usually helped me with every year.

At our annual general meetings, Donnie frequently served as the bartender for our hospitality suite. Just prior to our recent AGM in November, we had reached out to Don’s daughter, Brenda, to see if Donnie was up to attending our awards dinner and gala. Don’s response, in typical Don-style was: “Yes, I would like to go, but I don’t think I can be the bartender at the hospitality suite this year.”

We made Don McKnight an honorary member of Baseball Ontario at the AGM in Ottawa in 2018. He was very proud of that honour, but he was far prouder a couple of years earlier when his grandson, Taylor, won one of our Dick Willis Umpire of the Year awards. I remember him leaning over to me and saying, “That’s my grandson!”

Mary-Ann Smith, our Baseball Ontario Director of Operations, recalls an early conversation that she had with Don where he told her about caring for his wife Elaine, including carrying her to and from the car. While baseball was obviously important to him, even more so was his family.

I want to close off with two Jackie Robinson quotations. The first is: “Life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” Donnie had a huge impact on other lives. As I prepared this tribute to Don, I contacted many Baseball Ontario people to ask for their memories of him.

Without fail they would comment on his smile, his humility and say things like: “Donny was a kind soul. He was the sweetest man I have ever known. Always had time to stop and chat with you. You knew, just speaking with him, that his passion for baseball ran deep in his blood.”

The second quote from Jackie Robinson is: “Life is not a spectator sport. If you are going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.” Donald Robert McKnight did not spend his life just watching from the grandstand … he got out on that field of life and played, and raked, and managed, and umpired, and administrated so that thousands of others could too.

As I conclude, I just want to say to the family, on behalf of Baseball Ontario: thank you for sharing Donnie with us these past 71 years. He was a great man and we too will miss him deeply.

At the recent AGM, we implemented a recognition program to acknowledge the lengthy contributions of our many Baseball Ontario volunteers. We were intending to present Don with a certificate to recognize his contribution. On behalf of Don’s Baseball Ontario family,

I would like give this certificate to his real family to express our gratitude and to honour Don's service to us.

Thank you