OTTAWA – Longtime Men’s National Team pitching coach Denis Boucher will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum this June along with former Blue Jays outfielder Jesse Barfield, former Oakland A’s hurler Rich Harden (Victoria, BC) and legendary Manitoba baseball coach and executive Joe Wiwchar.
The ceremony is set to take place on the grounds of the hall of fame in St. Marys, Ontario on June 17th.
“It’s an incredible honour to be elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame,” said Boucher in statement. “I’m very humbled and proud to have my name amongst the best baseball players in the country.”
Boucher spent parts of four seasons in Toronto, Cleveland and is hometown of Montréal where he made his Expos debut in front of over 40,000 fans on September 6, 1993. With Windsor, Ontario, native Joe Siddall catching and Maple Ridge, B.C., native Larry Walker in right field, the contest represented the first time in modern baseball history that three Canucks have been in the starting lineup for the same team. Boucher held the Colorado Rockies to one run in six innings and the Expos prevailed 4-3. With that start, Boucher also became the first Canadian to have played for both the Blue Jays and Expos.
Following his playing career, Boucher joined the men’s national team as a pitching coach in 2003. Among the tournaments he has coached for Canada at are the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, all four World Baseball Classics and the 2011 and 2015 Pan Am Games when Canada captured gold medals.
To read the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s full press release including inductee bio, please click here.
