With sports on COVID-19 hiatus it is still possible to stay in contact with our favourites by reading books that delve into the teams and players we follow.
One great example is Bob Elliott’s recent release If These Walls Could Talk: Toronto Blue Jays: Stories from the Toronto Blue Jays Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box.
The book is a rather light-vision of the Jays in the years they won it all, or at least were in the playoff mix.
That is not to say there aren’t some really good insights and fun elements thanks to the author’s long-time connection to the team, players and sport.
Bob Elliott is a former sports columnist, who covered baseball starting in 1978 as a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen, covering the Montreal Expos, before leaving in late 1986 to cover the Toronto Blue Jays for the Toronto Sun. He only retired June 1, 2016, and has written various books, including Hard Ball about George Bell, in 1990; The Ultimate Blue Jays Trivia Book, in 1993; and The Northern Game: Baseball The Canadian Way, in 2005.
“I’m one dimensional,” he told me in a quick telephone interview, noting he follows baseball and no other sports.
The book is one of a series of ‘If the Walls Could Talk’ books covering the highlights of various teams best years across a range of sports.
Having Elliott write about Joe Carter’s fabled catch, or the Jose Bautista bat flip, does take you about as close to the events as you can get.
But, interestingly when I asked his personal favourite moment Elliott paused to consider.
“That’s a good question,” he replied, then paused before continuing. “My moment I guess would be the last day I worked, June 1, 2016.” His broadcast career over Bautista made it a point to stop and say a good bye, something a superstar doesn’t have to do.
For me as reader I found a Bautista story, when still in the minors’ stuck out. He was handed a nickname ‘Hoser’ by Jordan Keller who hails from Melville, and has played for the Millionaires against the Yorkton Cardinals in the Western Major Baseball League days.
Passing reference to a guy named Clark Gillies being drafted into baseball at one time was intriguing too, given his follow-up hockey career that carried him to the Hall of Fame.
Elliott’s passion for the game certainly comes through in this fun read.
“They say Toronto’s a hockey town,” he said in the interview, but he said fans follow winners. When the Jays won on home soil Elliott said “we could not leave Skydome until about 4 a.m. The streets were just jammed ... Toronto was a baseball town that day.”
While not specific to the book, I had to ask Elliott about whether the Jays were ready to contend if the majors restart this year.
“I don’t think so,” he said, adding he even questions the offseason signing of Hyun-Jin Ryu. He said Ryu is a guy you sign “when you’re one pitcher away.” As the team stands he suggested the Jays “are three or four starters away. They’ve got some holes there.”
As we await a chance to see how good the staff might be, check out the book, it’s perfect for a lazy summer day of reading.
