Former Toronto Blue Jays' star Jesse Barfield headlines Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
Barfield, Bell and Moseby are together again.
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Barfield, Bell and Moseby are together again.
Years after sharing the Exhibition Stadium turf, where they formed one of baseball’s iconic outfields in the 1980s, each Blue Jays’ star will have been inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame once Barfield is enshrined in June.
“I knew eventually I’d have a chance to get in,” Barfield said Wednesday during a conference call. “It worked out great.”
The 1986 all-star, known for his big bat and rocket arm, will join Canadian pitchers Rich Harden and Denis Boucher and longtime Manitoba baseball coach and executive Joe Wiwchar in the class of 2023. The four new inductees will be honoured June 17 in St. Marys alongside former Blue Jays first baseman John Olerud and legendary Montreal Expos broadcaster Jacques Doucet, who were elected in 2020 but have not been able to attend the ceremony.
Bell, the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1987, was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013. Moseby, the first Jays’ outfielder to win a Silver Slugger award, joined him five years later.
That left Barfield, the Blue Jays’ ninth-round pick in 1977. He spent parts of nine seasons in Toronto and led the American League with 40 home runs in 1986, which was a franchise record at the time.
With Barfield in right-field, where he won two Gold Gloves, Moseby in centre and Bell in left, the Jays won their first AL East title in 1985 and became perennial contenders. Barfield was dealt in 1989 to the New York Yankees for Al Leiter.
“The hard work we put into it individually didn’t go unnoticed,” Barfield said. “We worked hard at it and helped solidify one of those great teams in Toronto.”
Harden spent most of his nine major league campaigns in Oakland. The Victoria, B.C., righty made his debut in 2001 and slid seamlessly into a rotation fronted by established stars Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito.
“There was a feeling of camaraderie,” he said. “They took me under their wing and made me feel like I belonged there. Being a part of that was a cool experience and special and something I won’t forget. I feel like we fed off each other and helped us play well.”
Boucher was signed as an amateur free agent by the Blue Jays in 1987 and started his first MLB game four years later. He made seven starts with Toronto before a trade to Cleveland later in 1991.
Boucher’s signature MLB moment came in 1993. After a trade to his hometown Expos, Boucher held the Colorado Rockies to one run over seven innings in his Montreal debut in front of more than 40,000 fans at Olympic Stadium. With Joe Siddall catching and Larry Walker in right-field, it was the first time in modern baseball history that three Canadians were in the starting lineup for the same team.
“It would have been hard to have that game at 7 (p.m.) and think about it all day,” Boucher said. “I think that’s why I had a good game. I didn’t have time to think about it too much. The ovations I got … it was just incredible.”
Wiwchar helped form the Manitoba Baseball Association in 1968 and later served as its president for two years. As a coach, he was an assistant on Manitoba’s silver-medal squad at the 1977 Canada Summer Games and led the provincial juvenile team to a Western Canada championship that same year.
On a national level, Wiwchar served on the Baseball Canada executive in 1974 and 1975.
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