With the latest class announcement for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, Scott Crawford thinks one of the great aspects of the process is the uncertainty of it all. Sure, there are some that are without a doubt going to wind up enshrined eventually, but when you mix in all the candidates you can never be sure what a class is going to look like.
Crawford, the Hall’s director of operations, was sure he gave the selection committee the credit for this year’s inductees.
“You obviously need a great majority of votes to get into the Hall of Fame, but you never know how the class is going to break out,” he said on February 12 shortly after the 2025 class was announced. “But it was great to see José Bautista bring the Blue Jay, and then you had Gerry Snyder, who sort of brought the Expos to Montreal. You don’t hear about the importance of him very much, but when you look deep into his story it’s safe to say he helped earn Montreal that club so he’s important. And you go back further to the All-American GIrls Professional Baseball League with Arlene Noga where she was one out of only 10 Canadian women in that league, and she was considered one of the best defensively to play there.”
Crawford’s enthusiasm for this year’s class showed how pleased he was with its diversity, both in terms of generational representation and their impact on the game in Canada. Whether it was recognizing the talent and dedication of the late Amanda Asay or the accomplishments of Éric Bédard as a major leaguer, Crawford said there was one common thread that bound each of the inductees together.
“They all have a love for the game, plain and simple,” he said. “José grew up in the Dominican Republic where baseball is just the sport and everyone who plays is just dying to get to the majors. And Éric Bédard was just a small-town high school lefty pitcher who couldn’t throw very hard, but he developed into a guy who played 11 years in the big leagues. Look at Greg (Hamilton) and Amanda on the amateur side of the game – there were no million-dollar contracts handed out to those types of individuals. The same with Arlene. They just went and played and were involved because they loved it and wanted to be around the game.”
The 2025 inductions will take place Saturday, June 7, and Crawford said the weekend’s events will formally kick off June 5 when they have their Opening Pitch event at the Blue Jays game that night. The annual golf tournament is scheduled for June 6, followed by the big day at the Hall of Fame – a day for people who just love the game, Crawford said.
“There’s a huge crowd under our ceremonial tent and it’s just an easy-going day where you’re surrounded by thousands of people who love baseball,” he said. “We’ll have autograph sessions after the ceremony and the Hall will be open for tours, so it’ll just be one of those days where you can come and out talk baseball with the person standing beside you.”