Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, etc. with Murray

Former San Diego Padres veteran scout Murray Zuk (Souris, Man.) visiting the Canadian Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont. Chris Kemlo (Oshawa, Ont.) took over from Zuk and drafted Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) from the FieldHouse Pirates.

In 1969 Murray Zuk (Souris, Man.) filled out his first card on a player. In 2019 he filled out his last. Zuk was known as a scout who arrived before the first pitch of a Canada Cup tournament and stayed until after the last one. He scoured back fields, always on the look out for players.

Respected by his coworkers so much, when there was a pitching change a scout from another club would ask jokingly “Murray who won the 1942 midget nationals?”

Retired now, after working for the Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres, Zuk has been enjoying his grandchildren. The senior Canadian scout in terms of service took time out to keep us posted ... and we hope he’ll join us again.

By Murray Zuk

When one falls in love with a sport and stays involved for many years, one builds a cadre of friends that are like gold.

Sport has a way of enriching a life through the multitude and variety of people that you connect with as well as opening up great travel opportunities.

Growing up in a small town of Hamiota, Man., like I did, has many advantages over a city atmosphere. When you are looking at playing on a minor baseball or hockey team, there are zero tryouts to fret about. You show up to play for the one and only team in town.

No one is cut from the top team and then has to try out for the next best team and so on. Everyone is needed to make up the team. If you are as fortunate as I was, you find yourself among a group of good athletes and a dedicated coach who will work with individuals to bring their development along to fit the mix.

As a youngster, I grew up in Hamiota, a village of about 500 in rural western Manitoba. My peewee hockey coach, Lorne Caldwell, decided to start a ball team and we were all invited.

Most of us had played a little “scrub” softball at school but the introduction to a smaller ball and an organized game was intriguing. Following a summer of practices and a few intrasquad and exhibition games, we were all hooked.

Neighboring villages and towns also had similar teams, so before long we had leagues. We were fortunate to have a young school teacher move to our community who loved baseball, who was an accomplished senior player and who had a passion for coaching. Gladwyn Scott, a current member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, took over our group and soon turned us into a championship calibre group. Luckily, he remained in the community for a number of years and led us to three provincial championships.

These experiences sold me on small town living and coaching. Thus, after graduation from Brandon College, I accepted a teaching position in Souris, Man., a small town of 2,000, as a high school science and physical education teacher (Grades XI and XII) where I was also able to play ball with the local senior club, the Souris Cardinals. I was quickly recruited to coach a Little League team and became hooked on coaching baseball as well as many school sports.

The love of baseball stayed with me as I went on to be the head coach of the 1967 Western Canada juvenile champions and later as an assistant coach for a regional Bantam team that also won a Western Canada championship. I continued playing on the major senior team in town and accepted a position on the club executive.

At that time baseball was governed by five different organizations, all of which were vying for Provincial Government operating grants. The Provincial Director of Sport at the time, Al Miller, decided to call a meeting of representatives of all ball teams in the province with the purpose of forming one association to govern all of baseball. The president of our senior club asked me to represent Souris at that meeting.

The outcome was that a steering committee was struck to form a new Manitoba Baseball Association which would affiliate with the Canadian Federation of Amateur Baseball (now Baseball Canada). I agreed to sit on that committee and a nominating committee was struck to select an executive prior to the first meeting.

Well, I arrived at the first meeting about 10 minutes late and was quickly jumped on for my tardiness. I responded that it was no big deal to be 10 minutes late when I had to drive 100 miles to get there. “But you are the President” was the reply. The nominating committee had neglected to approach me prior to the meeting and they had no back up plan. So, with no one waiting in the wings, I started the first meeting of the Manitoba Baseball Association with no agenda, knowing very few of those in attendance and while flying by the seat of my pants. That meeting took place in April 1968 with leagues starting in a few weeks.

Without an overlying constitution or playoff format in place. We decided to operate utilizing each group’s old constitutions and spend the year drafting an all-inclusive governing framework. That first year was a bit of a zoo but with everyone’s cooperation, we got through it. To add to the mix, I had just been appointed principal of the local high school, was coaching a juvenile team and had recently become the father of two little girls (Shannon and Lindsay, born 13 months apart).

About that time (1969), the Cincinnati Reds decided to try scouting Canadian baseball. The Commissioner of our new association, Cornelius ‘Curly’ Hass, who had managed some minor pro ball in his younger years was approached by the Reds to become an associate scout (then called a recommending scout). Curly, who was getting up in years and owned a sporting goods store in Winnipeg suggested that if they would include me, he would accept as part of a team of two.

The Reds agreed and the next two years saw us inviting the better 16-17 year old players in Manitoba to a tryout camp which was run by one of the Reds full time scouts, Fred Goodman. The Canadian senior championships were hosted by Brandon in 1970 and the Reds director of scouting, Joe Bowen, came to cover the tournament. Since it was being played on three fields, he asked me if I would help cover the tournament. I agreed and after the tournament we sat down and talked about the players that I liked.

That winter I got a call from Mr. Bowen asking me if I would accept a part-time contract with the Reds. My response was that I really didn’t know anything about scouting. He responded that “we will train you”. So I said I’d try it. Then in the summer, he sent a new scout that he had hired to cover the Mid West states, to come up and work with me for two weeks and then the next summer I went with him into the U.S. for another two weeks. The two training sessions involved going to a few ball games plus many tryout camps. He taught me how to evaluate baseball fundamentals, how to write reports and how to make contacts.

The other part of my training was to travel across Western Canada to do TV and radio interviews, meet with coaches and to set up tryout camps, inviting in players to be evaluated. After setting up the tryout camps, I would go back across Western Canada a second time and run the camps in each province under the direction of Reds scouts coming north from their territories.

At first, I was a little reluctant about taking six weeks away from home in July/August as I had two pre-school daughters and didn’t feel I wanted to leave my family for the whole summer. The result was that I negotiated taking my family with me on the first trip, along with my camper. I would take my family to a lake, work the area, move on to another lake and so on. The Reds paid me a salary, mileage and a per diem for meals and hotels. Financially it turned out well and I learned a lot about scouting players.

The scout that was my initial trainer was from Columbia, Mo. who had umpired pro ball for a number of years and had previously scouted for Seattle and Pittsburgh. His name was Bill Clark, a man who would become a life-long friend and someone who would promote my scouting career for years to come.

In 1972, my second year in the field, I was invited, along with my wife Donni, to the World Series in Cincinnati. When we got to Cincinnati and Riverfront Stadium, I went into Mr. Bowen’s office to pick up my tickets to the games and to the club receptions. The secretary said that Mr. Bowen wanted to see me in his office and that Donni was to remain in the outer office.

As a “greenhorn” my thoughts were – “now what have I done?” When I got into Mr. Bowen’s office, he said to me “My son, you are just getting started in this business – never let baseball interfere with your family life. Enjoy the games.” Then I understood why I was permitted to take my wife and two small kids on the road at the Reds’ expense.

Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson during a pitching change with his Hall of Fame C Johnny Bench, recently voted one of the greatest living players along with Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax.

My favourite Reds player was Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench, who had the best arm in baseball. And my No. 1 memory came in the third inning of Game 1 when Oakland A’s infielder Bert Campaneris tried to steal second and Bench threw him out. The best arm in baseball against the best base runner in the game. And Bench won. The A’s took the first two games in Cincinnati 3-2 and 2-1, the Reds fought back to even the series, but lost Game 7 3-2. I asked for two autographs during my time with the Reds: Pete Rose and Bench both signed 8-by-10 photos.

I remained with the Reds, covering Manitoba and Saskatchewan plus two pro leagues – the Prairie League out of Brandon and the Northern League out of Winnipeg until I retired from the school system in 1995. The Reds didn’t give out World Series rings to part timers when we won in 1975-76.

I’m not sure who made the final decision but know that Bob Szymkowski, my supervisor, went to bat for me when we swept Oakland in the 1990 World Series. They gave out only four, I was chosen to be one.

Bill Clark had long since left the Reds and became the Atlanta Braves International scouting director. However, we remained good friends and would break bread together whenever our paths would cross as he still spent time in Canada. In 1997, his Western Canada scout passed away and he needed a replacement. He knew that I had retired from the Principalship and now had more time. Thus, he offered me the Western Canada job which included covering from Thunder Bay to the Pacific Ocean, North Dakota and spending March in Florida covering college spring training games.

Clark later moved on and took a similar position with the San Diego Padres. He persuaded me to join him in 2002, again responsible for Western Canada. After a few years, I was asked by the Padres to cover all of Canada, a position I held until my retirement at the end of the 2019 season.

Baseball has been very good to me. From my first practice as a nine-year old to an old fart at 80, the memories are unbelievable. As a player and coach on championship teams, as a pro scout and a World Series ring from the Reds and the opportunity to represent the Padres at the amateur draft (in Secaucus, NJ) in 2013, the memories are truly cherished.

However, most cherished are the people that I have met over the years:

Coaches like Greg Hamilton (Ottawa, Ont.), Chris Robinson (Dorchester, Ont.), Terry McKaig (Vancouver, BC) and Dan Bleiwas (Thornhill, Ont.) ...

Colleagues in scouting, both through the organizations for which I worked -- Mark Connor and Pete DeYoung of the Padres; Marco Patty of the Braves -- and those whom I became friends with from other organizations -- Don Cowan (Delta, BC) of the Blue Jays, Don Archer (White Rock, BC) of the Angels and Claude Pelletier (Ste-Lezare, Que.) of the Dodgers and Mets.

And the players and their families -- the Naylors (Mississauga, Ont.), Josh, Noah and their parents, Jenice and Chris; the Mateychuks (Dominion City, Man.) Maddux and his parents, Keela and Jason; the Wicks (North Vancouver, BC), Rowan, who pitched for the Padres and his parents Elaine and Clayton.

There are so many more names whether they be coaches, scouts, players or families. I am certain you know who you are.

The one group of people that became very close to my heart was the umpires. In the early years, when we had to include a player’s height and weight on all reports, it was difficult to find that information. There was no internet to search and that information was not included on team rosters or on game programs. I thus decided to introduce myself to the plate umpire and would ask him his height. Thus, as the batter came to the plate, I would estimate a comparison to that of the plate umpire.

I made many good friends doing this and learned to pay more attention to the umpires. There was an umpire in Saskatoon, Ace Corbin, who was a real entertainer. He would chase down a wild pitch during warm up and pretend that he couldn’t put his hand on the ball – as if he were blind. One game he was announcing a pitching change but got the wrong team making the change. Of course, the crowd jumped all over him.

Then when the warm up was completed, he dusted the plate and went back to the screen to make the correction and completed the announcement with “and that is the first mistake I’ve made tonight.” The crowd had a good laugh and were on his side for the rest of the game.

One additional incident that sticks in my mind was when Bill Clark was trying to convince me to leave a club and join him elsewhere and I had declined the move. We later went for dinner at a Chinese restaurant and when I opened my fortune cookie it read “you will soon be working for a new employer.”

I have never figured out how he set me up on that one but it was one omen to which I could not turn a blind eye.