Shushkewich: Love of baseball helps unite Earle family

Lucas Earle, a former left-hander in the U.S. college ranks, and his sister, Lindsay Earle, who’s the Care of Collections and Public Engagement Supervisor at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., have bonded over a love of baseball. Photo supplied.

June 27, 2025

By Tyson Shushkewich

Canadian Baseball Network

Ask any baseball player, and they will likely tell you one of their biggest supporters is their family.

It’s usually the glue that keeps the puzzle together, during the good times and even when things aren’t going your way.

This especially runs true for Lucas and Lindsay Earle (Oro-Medonte, Ont.), who have forged their paths within baseball, in their own distinct ways.

Lucas grew up playing baseball, suiting up for Twin Lakes High School before shifting to the Ontario Terriers program and eventually taking his talents south of the border.

Lindsay used her passion for museums, collections, and curations to find herself part of a tight-knit team down at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont.

“I think my path into baseball was unique compared to today’s standards, but on par with what many Canadians were going through at the time,” explained Lucas. “After high school and after playing with the Terriers, I was caught up in the COVID years and had to find a program to continue getting reps on the field while gaining the extra year of eligibility. I decided the JUCO route was the best way to go, and Allan Hancock College reached out to see if I wanted to play down in California. I wanted to play in a warm-weather state, and they had the program I was interested in (Criminal Justice), so it was a good match.”

Earlier, Lucas had focused on hockey, just like his father, Tom, who played for the likes of the Orillia Travelways (OJAHL), the Barrie Colts (COJHL), Dartmouth College (NCAA), and overseas in England with the Whitley Warriors in the British Hockey League before returning to Orillia to become a teacher and author. Even his older brother was in on the action, with Nicholas running track at the University of Guelph while working with the Guelph Storm (OHL) in various capacities.

However, as time went on and Lucas started to get a feel for the mound, the sport he played in the summer became his main focus around grade nine, and a decision was made.

“I remember telling my dad and my mom (Janet) that I wanted to put a lot of my focus on baseball instead of hockey, and they were incredibly supportive,” said Lucas. “My family has always been supportive of my athletic pursuits, with my parents and my brother and sister coming down to see me play in California over the years and helping me through the transfer portal process later in my college career. I could not have done this without them.”

Lucas spent three years at Allan Hancock College, suiting up for the Bulldogs 46 times – mostly in relief. The southpaw compiled a 3.96 ERA across 86 1/3 innings, striking out 72 batters. Following his three years in California, Lucas turned his attention to another program and was looking to make the jump to a new level.

That jump turned into a leap when the dust settled, with the Canuck being sent in a few different directions before landing at Fisher College for the 2025 season two years later.

“I had ‘D1 or bust’ in my head, and I had an offer from St. Peter’s University out in New Jersey,” said Lucas. “They were a program that had really struggled the year before, but it was a D1 offer, so I was going to head to the other side of the USA. However, at the last minute, I found out that my credits wouldn’t transfer, and I would be forced to redshirt that year. I was already 21, I didn’t really want to redshirt, so I went back into the portal and landed at Chico State (NCAA DII), where ironically, I was redshirted anyway. They had blown up the program and brought in a ton of arms to compete against.

“So I ended up sitting that year, which I don’t have any regrets about. I still had a ton of fun out there, but I had two years of eligibility left and one year left to get my degree, and I wanted to play. So, I put some feelers out there and talked to a few different folks and ended up landing at Fisher College in Boston.”

Lucas would make 14 appearances for the NAIA program, striking out 22 batters and walking just nine through 31 1/3 innings in his final year of post-secondary ball. It was an up-and-down process for the youngest Earle, who went from potentially playing D1 to having to find a new place to play in short order, but that family support was always in his back pocket to help along the way.

“My family has always supported everything I have wanted to do, right from my parents down to Nicholas and Lindsay,” said Lucas. “My parents drove me wherever I needed to go baseball-wise, and my siblings always supported my decisions or had my back when I needed them.”

While Lindsay shared the same passion for baseball, her path towards connecting this passion to her everyday life took her off the field compared to her younger brother.

“I have two extremely athletic brothers and sports came naturally to them,” explained Lindsay. “I had to work a bit harder to become good at a sport compared to them, except in softball, where I really fell in love with the game from a playing perspective. I never did play baseball, nor did I play softball at a super competitive level, but I love being on the diamond and love being around the sport, which is one of the big reasons I ended up at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.”

Lindsay stayed north of the border for her education, attending Brock University before heading to Fleming College to obtain a post-graduate degree in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management during the COVID years. With her new degree in hand, Lindsay was looking to put it to the test and reached out to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame when she saw a job posting online.

“I am fresh out of the door of Fleming, and I saw this job posting related to the collections department at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and I fired off a resume,” Lindsay said. “I’ll admit that I was pretty limited in my experience with just my program under my belt and some time spent as a tour guide, so I thought it might be a tall order. They were very kind to let me know that I was not considered this time around, which eventually led me back to Orillia.”

Back in Central Ontario, Lindsay landed a job at the Orillia Museum of Art & History as the history programming coordinator. It was there that Lindsay started to gain experience in museum collections and programming.

After a few years back in Orillia and with some changes needed on a personal front, another opportunity to tie her love of baseball to her full-time job was right around the corner in the form of an institution she had already applied to before.

“My job was three-fold in Orillia, I was doing the collections side of things, the programming/interacting with the public, and the exhibitions,” explained Lindsay. “But my real drive was in collections, that’s where my passion really was in that space. I was at the OMA for about three years, and I was ready for a change. I looked online at different job postings, and that same position at the Hall of Fame was up again from when I had applied before. I believe I got extremely lucky in landing this job to some extent, almost like the stars aligned just right. This position (Care of Collections and Public Engagement Supervisor) is available that I really want at this place that I have been keeping an eye on over the years, and this time around, I have the experience on my resume. It was a great match.”

It was a match that worked well for Lindsay and one that gained a ton of support and encouragement from her family as well.

“They were so thrilled that I landed this position at the Hall of Fame,” said Lindsay, “This is a national organization that focuses on such an important part of Canadian baseball history, and my family could not have been more thrilled to see me land there. Lucas was so excited to hear about it, and he came and visited me a few times, and I was able to walk him through the tour alongside my other family members. It was so much fun to see how excited they all were to see all this baseball history, and excited for me to know that every day I get to show up and combine these two passions of baseball and collections into one.”

Looking ahead, Lindsay continues to care for the collections and public engagement side of her duties at the Canadian ball hall while Lucas is back in Orillia, turning his attention to the next phase of his life/career, which involves getting his teaching degree and seeing where life takes him in the new year.

While the family connections will always be there, baseball has been a key part of the Earles’ life, especially for Lucas and Lindsay and where they are now.

They may have found the love of the game through different avenues and ventures. However, the game of baseball still brings them back together and shows what the support of family members can do to aid in these goals, even if you don’t have Addison Barger’s arm at third base during the weekly softball game.

“I really am trying to get that Barger arm strength going at the hot corner,” said Lindsay with a chuckle. “Even when I see Lucas and my family back up in Oro-Medonte, I am always bugging him to go and throw me batting practice, and then we end up watching the Blue Jays game later that night together. Those are the moments I cherish.”