Music: {allcanada} Expos legends named to Canadian baseball HOF

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

{allcanada} Expos legends named to Canadian baseball HOF

Montreal Expos great Tim Wallach will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame this summer.

The former third baseman will be honoured June 21 in St. Mary’s, Ont., along with ex-GM Murray Cook, longtime Expos broadcaster Dave Van Horne and late scout and Canadian national team coach, Jim Ridley.

“Tim Wallach and Dave Van Horne are two names that have become synonymous with the Montreal Expos, and both have had a significant impact on baseball in this country, and Murray Cook and Jim Ridley helped blaze a trail for Canadians in the professional scouting and executive ranks,” said Scott Crawford, the hall’s director of operations.

“We’re proud and excited to celebrate their careers in St. Marys this June.”

Wallach is the Expos’ all-time leader in games played (1,767), hits (1,694) and RBI (905). The Hunting Beach, Calif., native and current Dodgers bench coach was a five-time all-star and won three Gold Glove Awards during his 13-year tenure in Montreal.

Cook became only the second Canadian GM in MLB history when he was promoted from scouting director by the New York Yankees midway through the 1983 season. The Sackville, N.B., native left the Yankees the following season and was hired shortly after by the Expos, where he spent the next three seasons.

Van Horne was behind the microphone for the Expos from their first game in 1969 until the franchise’s final out in 2000. The Easton, Pa., native, who currently does play-by-play for the Miami Marlins, is remembered most for his trademark home run call of “Up, up and away!” and his most famous call, “El Presidente, El Perfecto!,” following Dennis Martinez’s perfect game in 1991.

Ridley was a longtime scout who spent 26 years with the Toronto Blue Jays beginning in 1976. A Toronto native, Ridley coached the Canadian junior national team from 1983 to 1988. He also managed the Canadian Olympic baseball team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and the 1991 Pan Am Games. Ridley died of cancer in 2008. The Canadian Baseball Network created an award in his name that is presented annually to the country’s top scout.

Born In the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen