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This Day in Baseball Happy Ferg-day!
Canada's first baseball Hall of Famer, Ferguson Jenkins, turns 69 years old today. The Chatham, Ontario native  used pinpoint control and effectively changed speeds to win 284 big league games. Fergie is, I think we can all agree, the greatest (or at least most successful) native Canuck to ever play the game.
 
So today's two-part QOTD acknowledges the recipients of the unofficial Ferguson Jenkins Award ...
  1. Who is the second-greatest Canadian in MLB history? (Or, if you can make the argument, who surpasses Fergie as #1?)
  2. Who is the greatest active Canadian in the major leagues?

Ready? Set? Go, eh?

Posted by Mick Doherty on Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 12:08 PM EST.
Happy Ferg-day! | 11 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mick Doherty - Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 12:21 PM EST (#248602) #

I think the only player you can make an even reasonable case for is Jeff Heath, and he falls well short. Apologies to John HIller, and respectful nods to Terry Puhl, Paul Quantirll and Matt Stairs.

Fergie stands alone!

[ Reply to This ]
mathesond - Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 12:35 PM EST (#248605) #
Ya gotta go with George "Twinkletoes" Selkirk - he replaced the Babe in the NYY outfield
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Richard S.S. - Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 12:37 PM EST (#248606) #

Mick

The word with three 'e's doesn't need the middle one.

Second place is a big step down.   Current players are hard to compare.   IMO, Larry Walker is 2nd, with room for revision.

[ Reply to This ]
Mick Doherty - Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 01:03 PM EST (#248608) #

RSS, tyvm. Fixed it and caught and fixed two other typos as well.

How eembareeeessing!

I almost mentioned Walker, too, and should have given him a  nod in the sentence with Stairs and Quantrill ... oops.

What about actives?

[ Reply to This ]
James W - Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 01:12 PM EST (#248611) #
I'd agree that it's Larry Walker, and I don't think it's close.

For active players, Joey Votto beats a post-concussion Justin Morneau.
[ Reply to This ]
Mike Green - Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 01:41 PM EST (#248614) #
One day, Brett Lawrie may get a mention in one of these threads.  Anyways, I agree that Walker is 2nd and Votto is your best active Canadian.  The Canuck outfield is good; the corners and DH is covered, but we're weak down the middle of the diamond.  And alt those fine young pitching prospects of a few years ago- Loewen, Francis, Bedard et. al- have not developed as hoped, so the rotation is a bit thin behind Fergie.  John Hiller is a fine closer.
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Jevant - Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 02:45 PM EST (#248619) #
1. Larry Walker, by a wide, wide margin.  You could probably make a decent argument that Votto and Morneau are next up on the list.
2. Joey Votto, by a sizable margin now that Morneau has his injury issues.

[ Reply to This ]
Ozzieball - Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 05:48 PM EST (#248634) #
Matt Stairs is likely the greatest Canadian position player of all time, and would likely be in the HoF if Montreal hadn't burned his early years trying to make him stick in the middle infield. Or at least that's what Bill James said and BIll James is a master mathemagician.
[ Reply to This ]
Magpie - Tuesday, December 13 2011 @ 10:52 PM EST (#248659) #
Matt Stairs is likely the greatest Canadian position player of all time

Assuming, obviously, that British Columbia isn't part of Canada. I've lived there, I have my doubts.
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Super Bluto - Wednesday, December 14 2011 @ 01:13 AM EST (#248663) #
Tip O'Neill merits a vote.

His '87 season (1.180 OPS) speaks for itself.

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Richard S.S. - Wednesday, December 14 2011 @ 12:46 PM EST (#248695) #

How often do you look at a player, for example: Matt Stairs, and see a missused career.   Move him to OF early, and WOW.

You're not part of Canada.   BC is Alberta's Mountains and Alberta's Ocean.   You are just lucky to live in Alberta's back yard.

[ Reply to This ]
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