IF/OF Kent Williams e-mail
Bats: R
Throws: R
Born: Port Colborne, Ontario
Resides: Toronto
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Paul Molitor
Favourite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Player (current): Alex Rodriguez
Favourite Player (all-time): Willie Mays
Best Game Attended In Person: Newmarket 6, Erin Mills 5 in the Rookie Ball semi-finals of the 1995 Canadian Open Tournament at Kitchener. Our regular shortstop, too sick with the flu to play, crawled out from under his blankets to pinch-hit a double in the sixth, driving in the winning runs -- a real Kirk Gibson moment.
Baseball Book: Ball Four
Favourite Play in Baseball: Straight steal of home
Favourite Ballpark: Christie Pits
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: Neil Young guitar solos
When He's In Da Box: Coach
When He's Out of Da Box: Family guy, PC/LAN/Web consultant, coach
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: 1) You can observe a lot by watching; 2) Ninety percent of the game is half mental; 3) I believe in the Church of Baseball
RP Jordan Furlong e-mail
Bats: R
Throws: R
Born: St. John's, Newfoundland
Resides: Ottawa, Ontario
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Moonlight Graham
Favourite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Player (current): Vernon Wells
Favourite Player (all-time): Tom Henke
Best Game Attended In Person: Game 6, 1993 World Series, Philadelphia at Toronto. Touch 'em all, Joe.
Favourite Baseball Book: "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy", W.P. Kinsella
Favourite Play in Baseball: Inside-the-park home run
Favourite Ballpark: Vaters Collegiate Ball Field, St. John's (site of my first and only career round-tripper)
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: Can You Forgive Her?, Pet Shop Boys; Standing on Higher Ground, The Alan Parsons Project
When He's In Da Box: Winning-streak pessimist, losing-streak optimist, Fisher Cats correspondent, kibbitzer
When He's Out of Da Box: Husband, father, lawyers' magazine editor, blawgging aficionado
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: Walks tell you more about both pitchers and batters than any other single statistic; headfirst slides into first base are pointless and bush-league; chicks dig the long ball.
RP Craig Burley e-mail
Bats: R
Throws: R
Born: Halifax, NS
Resides: Hamilton, ON
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Doug Jones
Favourite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Player (current): Jose Vidro
Favourite Player (all-time): Monte Ward
Best Game Attended In Person: 22 innings of madness, August 23, 1989. Dodgers 1 Expos 0.
Baseball Book: The Glory of Their Times, Lawrence Ritter
Favourite Plays in Baseball: Triples, long balls, and six-four-three.
Favourite Ballpark: Run-down, greasy, crappy old Olympic Stadium -- the happiest place on earth.
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: "King of Rock", Run-DMC
When He's In Da Box: Smithers to Coach's Mr. Burns.
When He's Out of Da Box: Corporate tax attorney.
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: Baseball's past is an inexhaustible treasury of immeasurable value. Baseball's present is better than ever. Baseball's future is in the hands of the fans, and we must protect it. (Bonus: Favorite Quote : "Baseball is a sport. It's never been a business." -Ty Cobb, testifying before the U.S. Congress, 1951.)
2B Rob Pettapiece
Bats: From both sides, but hits from neither
Throws: Right
Born: Smiths Falls, ON
Resides: Waterloo, ON
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Either the official scorer or Billy Queen, depending on how you define "Little League".
Favourite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Player (current): Brandon League, with apologies to Roy Halladay
Favourite Player (all-time): Tony Fernandez
Best Game Attended In Person: Saturday, September 27, 2003 -- Roy Halladay's 22nd win, Vernon Wells' 215th hit of the season, Kevin Cash's first career homer, and even Mike Bordick's 1450th hit. Good stuff.
Favourite Baseball Book: Ball Four
Favourite Play in Baseball: Any play at the plate
Favourite Ballpark: Whatever they're calling the stadium at 1 Blue Jays Way this year
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: Sympathy for the Devil, The Rolling Stones. All 6 minutes and 18 seconds of it.
When He's In Da Box: Minor league reporter; sometime Advance Scout; Mike Murphy fan
When He's Out of Da Box: Math student; understimulated cubicle monkey; unapologetic time-waster
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: (1) Real men don't wear batting gloves; (2) Interleague play needs to go; (3) Gary Sheffield will never get a hit against Brandon League.
DW (Designated Whiffer) Dave Till
Bats: R
Throws: R
Born: East York, Ontario
Resides: Toronto, Ontario
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Willie Canate
Favourite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Players (current): Vernon Wells, Reed Johnson, Gregg Zaun
Favourite Player (all-time): Tom Henke, Rance Mulliniks, John Olerud, Carlos Delgado
Best Game Attended In Person: First game of the showdown series between Baltimore and Toronto, the last weekend of the 1989 season. What a rush.
Favourite Baseball Book: Ball Four
Favourite Play in Baseball: Double play
Favourite Ballpark: Wherever the Jays are playing
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: If I had to face a major league pitcher, I'd want to psych myself up by listening to "Jesus Built My Hotrod" by Ministry. I'd still strike out, but I'd strike out with attitude.
When He's In Da Box: Designated ranter/rambler
When He's Out of Da Box: Technical writer; dabbler in various creative pursuits
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: Minor-league pitchers are worthless if they aren't striking out a lot of people; there's no point in acquiring a player if he doesn't want to play for your team (otherwise known as the Boomer Effect); Baseball is Good.
CF Scott Lucas
Bats: R
Throws: L
Born: Arlington, Texas
Resides: Austin, Texas
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Rickey Henderson (throws left, bats right) minus 99.9% of the talent.
Favourite Team: Texas Rangers
Favourite Player (current): Hank Blalock
Favourite Player (all-time): Bob Gibson
Best Game Attended In Person: August 28, 1993, Baltimore at Texas: My sister and I took my father to a game as a belated Father's Day present. It also was my 25th birthday and the final year of Arlington Stadium. Juan Gonzalez belted three homers as Texas routed Baltimore 11-1 and pulled to within 3.5 games of Chicago for the AL West lead.
Baseball Book: Ball Four, Jim Bouton
Favourite Play in Baseball: Bases-clearing triple
Favourite Ballpark: Coors Field
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: "Young Man Blues" by The Who, or "Light-Rail Coyote" by Sleater-Kinney.
When He's In Da Box: Fantasy guru, "outside of Toronto" perspectives
When He's Out of Da Box: Real estate appraiser, mostly of environmentally contaminated properties for litigation purposes
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: 1) Taxpayer subsidy of ballparks is an abomination. 2) Given the amount of money baseball generates, players are not overpaid. 3) The current level of play in Major League Baseball exceeds any previous era.
SS John Gizzi
Bats: Both
Throws: R
Born: San Rafael, CA
Resides: Seattle, WA
Major-league Comp to Little League Career: Jeff Cirillo (when he was good)
Major-league Comp to Rest of Career: A switch-hitting Rich Aurilia
Favourite Team: Oakland Athletics
Favourite Player (current): Miguel Tejada
Favourite Player (all-time): Dave Winfield/Eric Davis
Best Game Attended In Person: Oakland at Los Angeles, Game 1, 1988 World Series
Baseball Book: The Bronx Zoo
Favourite Play in Baseball: A shortstop diving to his left or right, making the play, and throwing out the batter
Favourite Ballpark: Wrigley Field (sans lights)
Striding-To-The-Plate-Music: "White Lines," Grandmaster Flash
When He's In Da Box: General malcontent, trouble maker, Jeremy Giambi/Ted Lilly basher
When He's Out Of Da Box: Writer, serious malcontent
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: Intangibles matter. Power pitchers rule. The A's won't advance to the second round of the playoffs until 2048.
1B Mike Denyszyn
Bats: R
Throws: R
Born: Mississauga, ON
Resides: New York, NY
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: A right-handed John Olerud
Favourite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Player (current): Vernon Wells
Favourite Player (all-time): Pee Wee Reese
Best Game Attended In Person: Oakland at Toronto, Game 2, 1992 ALCS; Baltimore at Toronto, September 1987 (10 homers for Blue Jays)
Baseball Book: The Boys of Summer, Roger Kahn
Favourite Play in Baseball: Scoring from first on a double
Favourite Ballpark: PNC Park, Pittsburgh
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire, although if I were striding to the mound out of the bullpen, I'd want "Pressure Point" by The Zutons.
When He's In Da Box: "Advance Scout" for Blue Jays regular season opponents, and occasionally long-winded baseball historian.
When He's Out of Da Box: Securities litigator for international law firm, and volunteer appellate defender.
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: Leadoff walks will score. The stolen base is not dead as an offensive weapon. Jose Hernandez strikes out too much.
3B Robert Dudek
Bats: R
Throws: R
Born: Toronto, ON
Resides: Etobicoke, ON
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Mark Grace - high walks, low strikeouts, doubles power; (young) Pat Hentgen - good (but not great) strikeout and walk rates, relies on high fastball
Favourite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Player (current): Vernon Wells
Favourite Player (all-time): George Brett
Best Game Attended In Person: Detroit's 3-2, 13-inning victory in Exhibition Stadium, the Jays' final home game of 1987. This was the game that turned the tide in the pennant race. The crowd was fired up as almost never before as "bete noir" Doyle Alexander was greeted with "Let's Foil Doyle" placards by the faithful. Doyle spun a gem: 10.2 innings, allowing 1 earned run. The Jays held a 1-0 lead into the 9th, but Kirk Gibson hit a leadoff homer off Tom Henke to tie it. Detroit scored in the 11th with another leadoff homerun (this time off Jeff Musselman), but the Jays tied it 2-2 in the bottom of the inning with the help of an error. Gibson singled home the eventual winning run in the 13th off Jose Nunez. The Jays were then swept in Milwaukee and again in Detroit to finish 2 games behind the Tigers.
Favourite Baseball Book: 1983 Baseball Abstract, Bill James - I can still see myself standing in that little W.H. Smith in a suburban shopping mall thumbing through a book with a white cover and a strange title. But for that book, I wouldn't be a Bauxite.
Favourite Play in Baseball: Tagging up and advancing from first on a flyball
Favourite Ballpark: Unqualified to judge
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: "Interstellar Overdrive", Pink Floyd - they have to play the whole song, though
When He's In Da Box: Analyst and occasional troublemaker
When He's Out of Da Box: Teacher; Family Man
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: 1) Joe Morgan and Mike Schmidt were the two best players of the '70s; 2) An abundance of payroll disparity is bad for baseball fans; 3) Time begins on Opening Day
SP Mike Moffatt
Bats: Not Very Well
Throws: R
Born: London, ON
Resides: London, ON
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Charlie Kerfeld
Favourite Team: Montreal Expos
Favourite Player (current): Eric Hinske
Favourite Player (all-time): Tim Raines
Best Game Attended In Person: April 6, 2001, Montreal 10 - Mets 6 at Olympic Stadium. Tim Raines goes 1 for 2 with a walk in his first home game as an Expo since 1990.
Baseball Book: Ball Four, Jim Bouton
Favourite Play in Baseball: Strikeout on a full-count change-up
Favourite Ballpark: Olympic Stadium, Montreal
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: Gathering: Fatal Gravity, Soul Calibur Soundtrack
When He's In Da Box: Pontificator, statistics, mathematics, and economics consultant, member of Her Majesty's Loyal Official Opposition against the majority position that baseball needs a salary cap.
When He's Out of Da Box: Completing a Ph.D. in Management Science at the Richard Ivey School of Business - University of Western Ontario. Formerly a Ph.D. student in Economics at the University of Rochester, but he moved to the dark side because it's far more profitable. His research uses game theoretic methods to price goods and financial assets in oligopolistic markets. He's currently helping the car rental industry figure out how to set prices for online sites like Expedia and not lose money. He also runs the Economics site for About.com, giving him the largest economics-related online readership of anyone not named Steven Landsburg.
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: Getting hit by pitches is a highly underrated offensive weapon, a palmball can be just as effective as a knuckleball, always believe opposite of what Bud Selig says.
PH Aaron Reynolds
Bats: R
Throws: R
Born: North York, ON
Resides: Toronto, ON
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Ron Hunt
Favourite Team: The Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Player (current): Reed Johnson
Favourite Player (all-time): George Bell
Baseball Book: Wait Until Next Year, William Goldman and Mike Lupica
Favourite Plays in Baseball: intentional HBP
Favourite Ballpark: SkyDome, probably because I'm there so much
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: "The Laws Have Changed", The New Pornographers (or preferably their "The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism", if MLB would let me)
When He's In Da Box: Named For Hank — resident optimist, Cheer Club ringleader
When He's Out of Da Box: Photographer, home theatre enthusiast
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: leaving before the end of the ninth is idiotic; good things happen when you believe hard enough that they will; the Houston Astros will never have an attractive jersey.
Bats: L
Throws: R
Born: Toronto
Resides: Toronto
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Roy Thomas combined with Stan Hack, absolutely no power
Favourite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Player (current): Orlando Hudson
Favourite Player (all-time): Tim Raines Sr.
Best Game Attended In Person: Expos-Pirates doubleheader in Jarry Park in the early 70s; Willie Stargell was at his peak and hit 3 homers.
Baseball Book: 1983 Baseball Abstract
Favourite Play in Baseball: Triple to left-center, the perfectly executed hit and run
Favourite Ballpark: The park in West Palm Beach; there's nothing like the intimacy of a spring training game. The Metrodome is my favourite of the big league parks not because it is an architectural wonder, but because Minnesotans are so friendly.
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: Fire, Jimi Hendrix
When He's In Da Box: Minor league aficionado
When He's Out of Da Box: Lawyer, works like he bats not like he throws, family man, passable chef
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: 1) Baseball is 50% offence, 2) Good teams do better in blowouts than in close games and 3) Timing is everything.
CF/1B Pistol
Bats: R
Throws: R
Born: Albion, NY
Resides: Westborough, MA
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: A right handed Darin Erstad - great range, occasional high BA, little power. This is also my current softball profile.
Favorite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favorite Player (current): Roy Halladay
Favorite Player (all-time): Juan Guzman
Most Memorable Game Attended In Person: October 7, 1989 ALCS Game 4 - Canseco hits a HR into the 5th deck
Baseball Book: Moneyball
Favourite Plays in Baseball: Triples, knee buckling strike 3s, outfield assists
Favourite Ballpark: PNC Park
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey (aka Ric Flair's entrance music)
When He's In Da Box: Poster / Pretend Draft Guru
When He's Out of Da Box: Credit Analyst
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: Bunting is overrated by traditional fans and underrated by statheads. Questec is good for baseball. Players need to change the music that they use when coming to the plate every month.
1B/OF Leigh Sprague
Bats: R
Throws: R
Born: Tracy, NB
Resides: Fredericton, NB
Major-League Comp to Little League Career: Rob Deer
Favourite Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Favourite Player (current): Matt Stairs
Favourite Player (all-time): John McLean/Dave Stieb
Best Game Attended In Person: Game 3, 2003 ALDS at Fenway between the Red Sox and A's. Lilly Pitches a gem; Nixon hits a walk-off in extra innings.
Baseball Book: Big Book of Baseball Lineups, Rob Neyer
Favourite Plays in Baseball: Inside the park homerun, brushback pitch, two the hard way (3-6-1).
Favourite Ballpark: Fenway.
Striding-To-The-Plate Music: "Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Bob Dylan
When He's In Da Box: Jayscentric blind optimist.
When He's Out of Da Box: Lawyer
Three Unshakable Baseball Beliefs: the unbalanced schedule is a problem; until Barry out-homers entire teams and becomes an ace pitcher, comparing him to the Babe is a futile, apples-n-oranges venture; the most comforting and greatest voice in the entire universe belongs to John Chancellor, narrator of Ken Burns' Baseball.
Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
https://www.battersbox.ca/staticpages/index.php?page=retiredroster