JESSE BARFIELD, DENIS BOUCHER, RICH HARDEN & JOE WIWCHAR

BY JOHN IABONI

The fledgling Toronto Blue Jays selected Jesse Barfield from Joliet Central High School in the ninth round of the 1977 MLB June Amateur Draft. Now he humbly enters the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as a proud member of this year’s class.

Jesse Barfield knew it was only a matter of time before he’d gain his place alongside George Bell and Lloyd (Shaker) Moseby in the Canadian Baseball of Fame

Together they formed one of the best and most exciting outfields in Major League Baseball during their days with the Toronto Blue Jays. Bell was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013; Moseby made it in 2018 After yet another five-year gap, the much-deserved call to Barfield completes the reunion

“I don’t worry about how I got there and how long it took,” Barfield said when The Class of 2023 was unveiled “We’re there, that’s the main thing.”

Barfield, Denis Boucher and Rich Harden receive the honour for their achievements in the Majors

Meanwhile, executive and coach Joe Wiwchar is recognized for his seven decades in the game not only for his home province of Manitoba but for Baseball Canada. The induction for The Class of 2023 is June 17 at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St Marys, Ontario

In addition to welcoming Barfield, Boucher, Harden and Wiwchar, this year ’ s event also officially recognizes two members from The Class of 2020: John Olerud, a big part of the two World Series titles for the Toronto Blue Jays, along with French-language broadcaster Jacques Doucet whose voice has long been synonymous with first the Montreal Expos and then the Blue Jays Montreal-born sportswriter Richard Milo is recipient of the Jack Graney Award for his significant contribution to the game of baseball in Canada

Barfield’s induction further emphasizes that special coming-of-age period for the 1980s Blue Jays They shed their “expansion team” tag, eclipsing the .500 level for the first in their seventh season (1983) and winning the AL East title in 1985

From 1984 through ’89, the Opening Day roster for the Blue Jays featured Barfield in right, Moseby in centre and Bell in left They offered as comprehensive a package as one

Barfield left 54 tickets for family and friends and despite Toronto’s 4-3 loss it was quite a momentous day for him It also provided the Blue Jays a glimpse of his enormous potential His first MLB hit came off Steve Trout in the fifth inning – a single to right-centre that scored Bell from second Barfield even pulled off his first MLB steal (off Trout and Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk)

His time with the Blue Jays from 1981 to ’89 spanned 1,032 regularseason in which he hit 179 home runs with 527 runs batted in along with an OPS of 817 He had career highs with 40 home runs and 108 RBI in 1986 when he gained his only All-Star and Silver Slugger honours Barfield also garnered Gold Glove awards in 1986 and ’87 would want in power, defence, speed –and determined spirit Aside from his potent bat, Barfield possessed a cannon arm

Reflecting on his career highlight Barfield quickly pointed to that 1985 squad that still has a franchise-best 99-62 before losing the seven-game heart-breaking ALCS to the Kansas City Royals.

“I didn’t know what a Jay was, ” Barfield once told me about being drafted by Toronto when he was four months shy of his 18th birthday “It worked out to be great for me because they didn’t have a whole lot of players that I had to leap-frog over. ”

Born in Joliet, Illinois, Barfield’s heart was more for the Cubs than the White Sox largely because he idolized “Mr Cub” Ernie Banks Barfield did go to many White Sox games in his youth with the Joliet Boys Club and even predicted one day he’d be playing right field in Comiskey Park As fate had it, his MLB debut on September 3, 1981 came at Comiskey Park.

“The first pennant in ’85 was a culmination of all the hard work we put into it,” Barfield said of the club’s first AL East title “A lot of people didn’t think we had a chance with the Yankees breathing down our necks

Jesse Barfield

place alongside George Bell and Lloyd (Shaker) Moseby in the Canadian Baseball of Fame

We held them off (by two games) and the rest is history ”

Barfield batted 280 with a homer and four RBI in the series which turned out to be the only playoffs he would taste in his MLB career He was traded to the Yankees for Al Leiter on April 30, 1989 and played for the Pinstripes until 1992.

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Boucher hails from Montreal and he was signed as an amateur free agent by the Blue Jays in 1987 He was on the mound at SkyDome on April 12, 1991 for his MLB debut, making the start against the talent-laden Milwaukee Brewers In his ‘Welcome to The Show’ moment, the 23-year-old Boucher retired the first three batters he faced: Future Hall of Famers Paul Molitor on a pop up and Robin Yount on a groundout along with nine-time AllStar Gary Sheffield on a flyout!

After going 0-3 in seven starts with the Blue Jays, Boucher was part of a package traded to Cleveland for pitcher Tom Candiotti and outfielder Turner Ward In two seasons with Cleveland, Boucher went 3-6 then was picked up by the expansion Colorado Rockies and traded to the San Diego

Padres His path back to the Majors came when the Padres traded him to the Montreal Expos on July 10, 1993

His strong play with the Triple-A Ottawa Lynx finally gained him a promotion with the Expos Olympic Stadium was rocking with a crowd of 40,066 on Labour Day 1993 when Boucher took to the hill for the first time with Montreal. And what a moment it was for many reasons

Firstly, he became the first Canadian-born player to suit up for the Blue Jays and the Expos Secondly, for the first time in the modern MLB era, three Canadians were in the starting lineup for the same team – Boucher, catcher Joe Siddall from Windsor and right-fielder Larry Walker from Maple Ridge, B.C. Siddall and Walker each went 1- for-3 with an RBI (Walker’s came on a home run) while Boucher was brilliant in a no-decision, allowing one earned run over six innings as the Expos won 4-3. He finished 3-2 in his two seasons with the Expos After retirement, he turned his attention to development and coaching with Baseball Canada including Olympics, World Baseball Classics and Pan Am Games.

Victoria-born Harden broke in with the Oakland A’s in 2003 and compiled a record of 59-38 over nine seasons He was 40-23 with Oakland, 14-10 with the Cubs and 5-5 with Texas There is little doubt with his nasty stuff, his career was destined for even more save for numerous injuries throughout

Still, he managed to strike out 949 over 928.1 innings pitched including incredible totals in 2008 with Oakland and the Cubs when he had 181 strikeouts in 148 innings pitched and 2009 with the Cubs (171 strikeouts in 141 innings pitched). He even notched an immaculate inning with Oakland using nine pitches for three strikeouts swinging in the top of the first against the Los Angeles Angels on June 8, 2008.

Congratulations the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023 l