St. Marys – A Diamond In The Rough

Posted by Tom Locke on April 29th, 2016 filed in Education, History, Life, Sports ... All Sorts

My trip back east this April was again a memorable one.  Even though the Blue Jays lost their 5th straight opener at home, it didn’t damper the spirits of my long time friends and colleagues who join me each year to celebrate the beginning of yet another MLB season.  We have been doing this ever since the Toronto Blue Jays played their inaugural game on April 7, 1977.  This was their 40th opener and I and my buddy, Terry Elder, have been to them all.

Subsequent to the game, my wife, Cindy, and I decided that we would spend our remaining time back east exploring Southern Ontario and embracing the tagline found on Ontario license plates:  “Yours To Discover”.

Our meanderings took us to Niagara Falls; to the wineries around Niagara-on-the-Lake, Grimsby and Beamsville; to cottage country & Sauble Beach on the eastern shores of Lake Huron; to Wiarton, home of Wiarton Willie, groundhog and soothsayer extraordinaire; and, St Marys, home of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Our time in St. Marys was very special on three fronts.  First,  Scott Crawford, Director of Operations of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, was kind enough to give us a personal tour of the Hall.  Secondly, we were able to share this experience with our dear friend, Leasa, and her husband, Paul, who drove 2+ hours from Leamington (northwestern shores of Lake Erie) to be with us. And to top it off, Cindy and I stayed at the Riverside Retreat, a beautiful B&B run by an old fastball teammate of mine, John Stevens and his lovely wife, Marie.  I had not seen John in almost 30 years.

It just doesn’t get any better than this.  St. Marys will always be more than a fond memory as I plan on returning, staying at John and Marie’s B&B, hooking up with Leasa & Paul again and monitoring the expansion plans of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

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