Zach Pop (Brampton, Ont.) has been called up by the Toronto Blue Jays. Photo: Toronto Blue Jays April 30, 2024 By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada The Toronto Blue Jays have recalled reliever Zach Pop. He will replace right-hander Yariel Rodriguez on the roster who has been placed on the 15-day injured list with thoracic spine inflammation. The 27-year-old Pop (Brampton, Ont.) returns to the Blue Jays’ big league staff for the first time since last May. In nine relief appearances with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons this season, he has posted a 1.86 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings. Pop ..read more

April 30, 2024 By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Canadian Tyler Black has been called up by the Milwaukee Brewers. Matt Betts, of the Canadian Baseball Network, was the first to report this earlier today. Black (Stouffville, Ont.) owns a .303/.393/.525 slash line with five home runs, three triples and 18 RBIs in 25 games for the triple-A Nashville Sounds this season. He spent spring training in the Brewers’ big league camp. The 23-year-old infielder split 2023 between the double-A Biloxi Shuckers and the triple-A Sounds, batting a combined .284 with a .417 on-base percentage (OBP) in 123 ..read more

Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame April 29, 2024 Official Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame News Release The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will open for the season on Wednesday, May 1.  “On behalf of our board of directors and our staff, I’m excited to open our doors for our 27th season in St. Marys,” said Scott Crawford, the Hall’s director of operations. “We are committed to celebrating the rich history of baseball in Canada and I’m looking forward to sharing our new artifacts with our visitors.”   Some of the new artifacts on display will include:  -The unif ..read more

John Cerutti would’ve turned 64 today. April 28, 2024 By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Some Canadian baseball news and notes from the past week: –Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C.) was activated from the 7-day injured list by the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday. He had been sidelined by a concussion since April 15. Yesterday, he belted his ninth home run of the season and he is now tied with Baltimore Orioles slugger Gunnar Henderson for second place in the American League (Mike Trout leads with 10 home runs). O’Neill’s nine homers represent a personal-best for him in the first month of the reg ..read more

Former Montreal Royals pitcher Joe Carbonaro passed away on April 15 at the age of 93. (Photo: Courtesy of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame) April 26, 2024 By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Former Montreal Royals pitcher Joe Carbonaro passed away on April 15 at the age of 93. Carbonaro’s son, Mark, emailed me to share this sad news. Carbonaro pitched four seasons in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ organization between 1949 and 1954. He spent his final campaign with the Montreal Royals in 1954. “It was a very colourful town,” he recalled about the city of Montreal in my 2014 phone interview with h ..read more

April 24, 2024 By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada It seems fitting that the greatest Canadian pitcher in major league history was the first to toss a shutout against the Toronto Blue Jays. On April 24, 1977, 47 years ago today, Fergie Jenkins, toeing the rubber for the Boston Red Sox, dominated the Blue Jays for nine innings in front of 29,303 fans at Exhibition Stadium. The Chatham, Ont., native limited the Blue Jays to three hits in a 9-0 win. “This is a super city and a good sports town and I always enjoy coming here,” the 34-year-old Jenkins told Toronto Star reporter Neil MacCarl aft ..read more

April 23, 2024 By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Jordan Romano registered his 100th major league save in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 5-3 win over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Monday night. With that, Romano (Markham, Ont.) became the fourth Canadian to reach that milestone, joining Eric Gagne (Mascouche, Que., 187 saves), John Axford (Port Dover, Ont., 144 saves) and John Hiller (Toronto, Ont., 125 saves). Romano entered last night’s game in the ninth inning with the Blue Jays’ ahead 5-2. He retired Nelson Velázquez on a fly out to right field and struck out Adam Frazier bef ..read more

April 22, 2024 By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Who is the most underrated player in Toronto Blue Jays’ history? If you asked a seasoned Canadian baseball fan this question, Jimmy Key would be one of the most popular answers. Just how underappreciated is the longtime Blue Jays lefty? Put it this way: For the 10 seasons spanning from 1985 to 1994, Key had 147 wins – that’s more than any other left-hander in the majors during that period and second only to Roger Clemens (163) among all big leaguers. And if you start looking at where he ranks in Blue Jays’ all-time statistical categories ..read more

April 21, 2024 By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Some Canadian baseball news and notes from the past week: –Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) belted his sixth home run of the season for the Cleveland Guardians in their 6-3 win over the Oakland A’s yesterday. That number represents the most he has hit in the season’s first month during his big league career (His previous high was three in 2023). The Ontario Blue Jays and Junior National Team grad is leading the Guardians in on-base percentage (OBP) (.400), slugging percentage (.630) and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) (1.030) this se ..read more

By Kevin Glew Cooperstowners in Canada Some notes about Canadian big leaguers from the past few days: O’Neill placed on seven-day IL Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C.) has been placed on the seven-day injured list by the Boston Red Sox, retroactive to April 16. O’Neill suffered a concussion after colliding with Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers while they were pursuing a short fly ball hit by Cleveland Guardians outfielder Estevan Florial in the seventh inning of Monday’s game. O’Neill also required eight stitches for a cut over his left eye. He hasn’t played since the collision. By placin ..read more