Roger Neilson was a success coaching baseball — it didn’t matter he age group — from peewee to juvenile as the troops would pile into a van and go….
(Originally published Nov. 30, 2002)
By Howie Birnie
Last June a special evening was held in Toronto to honour Roger Neilson for his lifetime of coaching. Later that month he received the ultimate tribute from hockey: being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Although Roger has achieved fame and success for his innovative exploits in hockey, surprisingly many of those present at the dinner knew him better as a baseball coach.
Before moving into pro hockey Roger spent many summers coaching baseball teams starting out in North Toronto where he also served several years as President of the association.
His record of success with clubs from peewee to midget is unparalleled in the TBA. For example, his midget teams won seven TBA championships in nine years between 1960 and 1968. He coached a peewee squad to the CNE-Toronto Star peewee tournament championship and his bantams captured the first Scarborough bantam tournament. Along the way were many, many other titles.-
When he moved to Peterborough to coach the Petes (perennial scout, Norm Bryan), he continued in baseball guiding the Keene Expos to an OBA juvenile championship.
Some of his former players, such as current Baseball Ontario Executive Director, Bob McKillop, remember helping Roger with his massive Globe & Mail route, risking life and limb in his Volkswagon van as they traveled North Toronto streets in the early morning. Then they were off to Pears (Eglinton) Park for practice where they became the best bunters and base stealers around. Many of us saw the double squeeze play for the first time with those teams and stealing home was a common occurrence.
There were a few rules implemented in hockey because of Neilson’s imaginative ideas due to loopholes that he discovered. In baseball our TBA minimum player requirement of 12 per team resulted from Roger’s situation. He was coaching peewee, bantam and midget teams simultaneously, each with nine or 10 kids. Of course, he relied on calling up players at times to have enough. Then, when it came to playoffs, scheduling problems ensued.
So Carmen Bush, TBA’s godfather, proposed the 12 player minimum rule. It’s not recalled now whether the North Toronto clubs actually signed 12 flesh and blood players in the ensuing years. There were often accusations of players being stolen from other teams, but invariably it was a parent who learned of Roger’s great coaching ability and wanted his child to get that advantage.
The writer coached with and against Roger (“with” was much more fun) and umpired many games involving his clubs. Since I came to know his signals, I was never surprised by a runner on third base hightailing it for the plate with the pitch and maybe got the call right!
Jacques, Roger’s first “great” dog, worked his way into a few team photos, here with the 1966 Richardson’s Midget team (courtesy Roger Neilson Estate).
In 1964 Roger took a team of Junior players from Toronto to Montreal to a tournament that was the forerunner of today’s national championships. He asked me to go along to help coach, although having a car and being available probably were the most likely reasons.
During the final game I was ejected by some misguided umpire and was banished to the runway at Jarry Park behind the dugout. When our team won the tourney, I sprinted toward the diamond but didn’t see Roger. When I turned to look for him, he was busily entering in the final entries on his scoresheet rather than celebrating.
That epitomized Roger Neilson. He expected to win and wasn’t excited or surprised when it happened. It then became time to plan for the next game.
Oh yeah, during that tournament, he returned to Toronto to coach his midgets in the final game of the Leaside tournament. They won.
Meanwhile, I coached the Juniors in a game in Montreal. We lost.
Now, of course, Roger is an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators contributing to their great success while he fights a valiant battle against cancer, always sustained by his unwavering faith.
His legions of friends from sport pray for him and are thankful for the opportunity to have known such a talented, delightful man, a coach for life.