Pedro Martinez and Lloyd Moseby will enter the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame this summer along with baseball historian William Humber.
Martinez capped off a four-year tenure in Montreal with the 1997 NL Cy Young Award, while Moseby anchored centre-field in Toronto for the decade of the 1980s. Humber has written and presented extensively about the history of baseball in Canada.
“Pedro Martinez and Lloyd Moseby are two of the most successful and beloved stars to have played for major-league teams in Canada,” said Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame director of operations Scott Crawford. “Bill Humber’s commitment to promoting the history of the game in this country has been unparalleled.”
Martinez, a 2015 inductee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, joined the Expos in the November 1993 trade that sent Delino DeShields to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Over the course of the next four seasons, he posted a 3.06 ERA while averaging just shy of 200 innings per season and earning two all-star berths.
Martinez posted a 1.90 ERA with 305 strikeouts during his 1997 Cy Young season, but afterwards the Expos traded him to Boston where he would go on to win two more Cy Young Awards and a World Series.
“I felt honoured, humbled and a bit surprised,” Martinez said of his upcoming induction. “I never expected, when I was playing the game, to be here today. I took each day like it was a dream. I was so proud to play baseball every day and was fortunate as a player to be welcomed with open arms in both Canada and the United States.”
Moseby, the Blue Jays’ second overall pick in the 1978 draft, hit .257/.333/.415 over the course of 10 years as the Blue Jays’ primary centre-fielder. He won a Silver Slugger in 1983, made the 1986 all-star team and helped the Blue Jays win their first two division titles in 1985 and 1989.
“I really appreciate this honour,” said Moseby. “It’s still sinking in, but I’m excited.”
Humber, who lives in Bowmanville, Ont., has written books about the history of Canadian baseball and been at the forefront of baseball research in Canada. He helped organize Toronto’s first Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) convention in 1981, founded a baseball course at Seneca College and led a Canadian baseball exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum.
“Researching the roots of Canadian baseball, sharing those stories, and celebrating long lost heroes, has been a lifelong passion for me,” Humber said. “So to join them in this special place is both an honour and a humbling experience.”
The trio will be inducted to the Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont. on June 16, 2018.
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