Future Blue Jays Newsletter

Hi all.

In case you are not on social media (and more power to you for that) and missed it, I will be writing about the Blue Jays farm system for the Toronto Star this season.

Other than playing centrefield and leading off for the Jays, this is a dream come true for me. The Star was the paper of record in my household (my Dad had a subscription for over 40 years). I grew up reading baseball writers like Neil McCarl, Dave Perkins, Allan Ryan, and John Robertson, as well as columnists Jim Proudfoot and Milt Dunnell, and hockey writers such as Frank Orr. They were tremendous influences.

I also have a book coming out soon! “The Howleyites: Toronto’s Changing City, a Stadium Rising, and the Champions of 1926,” celebrates the 100th anniversary of the opening of Maple Leaf Stadium, and the International League and Little World Series champion Toronto Maple Leafs. “The Howleyites” is brought to you by the good folks at August Publishing, publishers of baseball books and Baseball Digest magazine.

In addition, I’ve started work on another book, this one a collection of Toronto baseball stories to mark the Blue Jays 50th anniversary next year. Yes, I know - this is their 50th season, and the Jays are marketing it as such, but there are only so many hours in the day to write a book. These stories are about notable figures from Toronto’s baseball past like Cannonball Crane, Harry (the Conman) Decker, and Jack Kent Cooke, to name but a few. I hope to publish it a year from now.

So, given all that I have going on (not to mention the baseball season starts this week!), I have decided to take a break from the Future Blue Jays newsletter, at least for this season.

Thanks to all you subscribers. I hope you’ll consider a Toronto Star subscription to catch my work there.

Go Jays (and Bisons, Fisher Cats, Canadians, D-Jays, et. al.)!