St Marys - There have been a total of 21 Canadian hitters in Major League Baseball playoff history, and for the first time ever, three of them, Jason Bay, Russell Martin and Matt Stairs, are about to enter the second round of the post-season in the same year. From Trail, BC (Bay) to Fredericton, NB (Stairs), the whole country is watching. To cover the middle, Martin was born in Toronto and raised in Montreal!
While Stairs has seemingly for now been relegated to a power left-handed bat off the bench in late innings for Philadelphia, going hitless in two pinch-hit appearances versus the Milwaukee Brewers, Bay and Martin have been contributing big-time from the middle part of the order of the Red Sox and Dodgers, respectively.
\A pair of Bay's homeruns gave Boston the lead for good in its first two games against the Anaheim Angels in the ALDS, and then he doubled to lead off the bottom of the ninth in game four and dove head first into home plate to score the winning run on Jed Lowrie's game-winning single. Bay, 30, in the first post-season of his career, led the Red Sox with a .412 batting average, going seven for 17 including the two jacks, a pair of doubles, and five RBI.
Russell Martin, 25, hit an insurance homerun game one against the Chicago Cubs, broke open game two with a three-run double, and then chipped in with a pair of doubles and an RBI in the 3-1 game three victory that swept the Cubs. Martin finished four for 13, a .308 average, with a Canadian record three doubles in a series, a homerun and matched Bay's five RBI.
Tip O'Neill (Woodstock, ON) holds the playoff series RBI record by a Canadian with 11 RBI in the 1888 World Series, although that series was ten games long. George "Twinkletoes" Selkirk (Huntsville, ON) had six RBI in the 1937 World Series. The only other Canuck to knock in five runs or more was Anola, MB's Corey Koskie when he drove home five runs in the 2002 ALDS.
Canada's first position player to participate in the post-season was Toronto's Arthur "Foxy" Irwin in 1884. The first official World Series was in 1903, and thus the first Canadian to participate in a World Series was St. John, New Brunswick's Bill O'Neill in 1906 with the Chicago White Sox.
Other memorable offensive series performances by Canadians include Tip O'Neill in the 1886 World Series with the St. Louis Browns when he batted eight-for-20 (.400), two triples, two homeruns, five RBI and a pair of stolen bases. Larry McLean (Fredericton) with the New York Giants in the 1913 World Series went six-for-12 (.500) with two RBI. Selkirk, in the 1936 World Series with the New York Yankees, went eight-for-24 (.333) with a triple, homerun and three RBI. Terry Puhl (Melville, SK), in the 1980 NLCS with the Houston Astros, went ten-for-19 (.526 - a record at that time), with two doubles, three RBI and two stolen bases. In the 2004 NLDS, Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC), playing with the St. Louis Cardinals, went five-for-15 (.333), scoring six runs, and hitting a double, two homeruns and three RBI. In the 2004 World Series, Walker continued his torrid streak with a five-for-14 (.357) performance that included two doubles and two homeruns. Koskie, in the 2004 ALDS with the Minnesota Twins, went four-for-13 (.308), with a double and two RBI. In the 2006 ALDS, Justin Morneau (New Westminster, BC) with the Twins batted five-for-12 (.417) including a double, a homerun, along with three RBI. Martin, in the 2006 NLDS with the Dodgers, was four-for-12 and scored a pair of runs.
Tip O'Neill is the all-time Canadian leader in post-season games with 38, at bats (146), runs (23), hits (35), triples (3) and RBI (21). Walker is the leader in doubles (5), homeruns (7), and walks (16). Puhl leads in stolen bases (3), on-base percentage (.600), and batting average (.545). Bay leads in career post-season slugging percentage with the .882 clip that he is on right now.
The 21 Canadians who have participated in the MLB playoffs are: Irwin-1884, Tip O'Neill-1885-1888, Fred Lake (Cornwallis, NS) -1897, Bill O'Neill-1906, Jimmy Archer (Toronto, ON) -1907 & 1910, George Gibson (London, ON) -1909, McLean-1913, Jack Graney (St. Thomas, ON) -1920, Selkirk-1936-39, 41-42, Puhl-1980 & 86, Dave McKay (Vancouver B.C.) -1981, Rob Ducey (Cambridge, ON) -1991 & 1997, Rob Butler (east York, ON) -1993, Walker-1995, 2004 & 2005, Stairs-1995, 2000 & 2008, Nigel Wilson (Oshawa, ON) -1996, Koskie-2002-04, Morneau-2004 & 2006, Peter Orr (Richmond Hill, ON) -2005, Martin-2006 & 2008 and Bay-2008.
