Opening at the 2004 Olympic baseball tournament, where the unheralded Canadian team came within an errant throw of the gold medal game, the author recounts Canada's rich baseball history, from 1838 to 2004, when the top rookie in both major leagues hailed form the Great White North.
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Bob Elliott celebrates [the] long-standing Canadian fascination with baseball.... You're left cheering for more success to come... -- William Humber in The Globe and Mail (Toronto) on June 4, 2005
From the Inside Flap
Canadian baseball is different. Canadian baseball players are different. So argues Canada's most respected baseball writer, Bob Elliott, in "The Northern Game," as he traces a personal five-decade love-affair with the game to deliver the message that Canadian baseball is something special and unique.
Long before the Fathers of Confederation created a nation, Canadians were playing baseball. The first pitch was thrown in 1838 (if not before) and by the 1880s Canada's first slugger, Tip O'Neill, was challenging the first Prime Minister, John A. Mcdonald, as the nation's most famous figure. Today more Canadians than ever are participating in "America's pastime" and enjoying success at every level.
In "The Northern Game," the rich past and riveting present are explored in a lively, anecdotal account that captures the uniqueness of the Canadian baseball experience, notably in its relationship with hockey. Bolstered by Don Cherry's foreword, Elliott asserts that Canada's "hockey mentality" has shaped its approach to baseball. The values of team play, toughness and perseverance evident in hockey players are qualities baseball scouts have come to admire -- and covet -- in Canadian ballplayers, many of whom first excelled on frozen ponds.
Through the voices of current and former stars such as Larry Walker, Eric gagne, Corey Koskie, Ferguson Jenkins, terry Puhl and Ron Taylor, "The Northern Game" seamlessly weaves together the story of Canadians at the game's highest level. But it also celebrates less heralded players such as Danny Klassen and Stubby Clapp and, in the process, examines Canada's youth and national-team programs -- with a particular focus on the unheralded 2004 Olympic squad that narrowly missed a spot in the gold-medal game. A recurring theme, particularly in the stories of Gerry and Kevin Reimer and Jeff, Jordan and Bill Zimmerman, is the poignancy of the father-son bond that often begins with a simple back-yard game of catch.
For the record, also included are the career statistics of every Canadian -- all 218 of them -- who has played major league baseball since its inception in 1871, plus a list of each and every Canadian to wear the maple leaf in international competition.
By turns informative, celebratory, revealing and heartfelt, "The Northenr Game" stands as the ultimate tribute to baseball's distinct Canadian heritage.
Long before the Fathers of Confederation created a nation, Canadians were playing baseball. The first pitch was thrown in 1838 (if not before) and by the 1880s Canada's first slugger, Tip O'Neill, was challenging the first Prime Minister, John A. Mcdonald, as the nation's most famous figure. Today more Canadians than ever are participating in "America's pastime" and enjoying success at every level.
In "The Northern Game," the rich past and riveting present are explored in a lively, anecdotal account that captures the uniqueness of the Canadian baseball experience, notably in its relationship with hockey. Bolstered by Don Cherry's foreword, Elliott asserts that Canada's "hockey mentality" has shaped its approach to baseball. The values of team play, toughness and perseverance evident in hockey players are qualities baseball scouts have come to admire -- and covet -- in Canadian ballplayers, many of whom first excelled on frozen ponds.
Through the voices of current and former stars such as Larry Walker, Eric gagne, Corey Koskie, Ferguson Jenkins, terry Puhl and Ron Taylor, "The Northern Game" seamlessly weaves together the story of Canadians at the game's highest level. But it also celebrates less heralded players such as Danny Klassen and Stubby Clapp and, in the process, examines Canada's youth and national-team programs -- with a particular focus on the unheralded 2004 Olympic squad that narrowly missed a spot in the gold-medal game. A recurring theme, particularly in the stories of Gerry and Kevin Reimer and Jeff, Jordan and Bill Zimmerman, is the poignancy of the father-son bond that often begins with a simple back-yard game of catch.
For the record, also included are the career statistics of every Canadian -- all 218 of them -- who has played major league baseball since its inception in 1871, plus a list of each and every Canadian to wear the maple leaf in international competition.
By turns informative, celebratory, revealing and heartfelt, "The Northenr Game" stands as the ultimate tribute to baseball's distinct Canadian heritage.
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