Short Hops is a new, weekly look at news and information that is of interest to the Canadian baseball community from the pros to the local sandlots!
Baseball Canada remembers Tommy Lasorda – The baseball world lost a true legend on January 7th as Baseball Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda passed away at the age of 93. Lasorda is best remembered as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers where he led the club to two World Series titles in 1981 and 1988 and spent 71 years with the franchise in various roles. Lasorda also had strong ties to Canada as he pitched for the minor league Montreal Royals for nine seasons and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in St. Marys, Ontario in 2006. He also impacted the game internationally as he led the United States to a gold medal in baseball at the Olympics in Sydney, Australia in 2000.
BEST EVER CLINIC set for January 15-17 – Baseball Ontario’s signature event, the Best Ever Clinic, will take place virtually from January 15-17 and features an impressive group of presenters including Brent Strom (Pitching Coach – Houston Astros), Trey Hannam (Minor League Hitting Coach – New York Mets) and Rachel Folden (Minor League Hitting Coach & Lead Hitting Lab Tech - Chicago Cubs). The Best Ever Clinic has something for coaches to learn from at all levels of the game and includes flexible registration options to meet your needs.
Registration info can be found here.
Dykxhoorn heading back to Taiwan – Three-time Canadian National Team member Brock Dykxhoorn re-signed with the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s (CPBL) Uni-President 7-ELEVEn Lions it was announced just before the holidays. The Goderich, Ontario native led the Lions to a seven-game series win over the CTBC Brothers in the Taiwan Series, the top prize of the CPBL where he was given the “Outstanding Player Award”. Dykxhoorn worked 17 innings in the Taiwan Series and allowed just one earned run including the series clinching save in the seventh and deciding game. The 26-year-old first represented Canada at the 2012 IBAF U18 World Cup in Seoul and helped Canada to a silver medal before being a member of the gold medal squad at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Ajax. He was also a member of Canada’s entry in the Premier12 in 2019.
10 Questions with Jamie Romak – Speaking of Canadian players having success in foreign leagues, the 2020 Tip O’Neill Award winner Jamie Romak will be a guest of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Academy in their upcoming “10 Questions With” segment. People are encouraged to submit their questions for Jamie their corresponding Twitter post.
Have a submission for Short Hops?! Be sure to send it to media@baseball.ca for consideration!
