John Upham

Through one lens, John Upham’s baseball career was brief and injury-riddled. Through another, he was a super athlete who excelled in three sports in school and was a rare talent who could hit, run, field, and pitch at the major-league level. He came to the plate 13 times over 21 games and batted .308 for the Chicago Cubs in 1967 and 1968. He pitched seven games (8 1/3 innings) and finished with an 0-1 record and a 5.40 ERA.

Upham’s journey was both charmed and notable in many ways. He was signed by one of the most successful talent scouts in the business. He collected four base hits off some of the best pitchers in the game and struck out four major-league All-Stars. Twice he played on teams alongside three future major-league managers.1 And when he made it to the Cubs, he played alongside four future Hall of Famers.

Upham was a cancer survivor who instilled his values of education and hard work in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of students and athletes. He coached numerous amateur teams in his native Ontario, including one year as the head coach of Canada’s national senior baseball team. He was a Baseball Ontario and Baseball Canada master clinician who taught other coaches how to coach. For his accomplishments, Upham was inducted into the Windsor-Essex County Sports Hall of Fame in 1995; the Windsor-Essex Slo-Pitch Hall of Fame in its inaugural year, 2015; and the Ontario Baseball Association Hall of Fame in 2021.

John Leslie Upham was born on December 29, 1940, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.2 He was the oldest of four children – his younger sisters were Joan, Janet, and Joyce – born to James Wilbert (“Bert”) and Stephanie (“Faye”) Upham (née Genga), who married on October 14, 1939. His father worked at the Ford Motor Company in Windsor for 41 years; he drove the assembled cars off the line and served as the union steward. Upham’s paternal grandfather, Leslie F. Upham, an immigrant from England, also worked at Ford in Windsor.  Upham’s mother was a part-time secretary at an insurance company and at the unemployment office in Windsor, and at a law firm in Detroit, just across the Detroit River. She occasionally sang at the Ottawa Tavern, where Upham’s father tended the bar on weekends.3

When Upham was born, he, his parents, his maternal grandparents – Ukrainian immigrants John and Minniedora (née Maikowski) Genga – and uncles Al and Emil (“Flash”) all lived together on Pierre Avenue in Windsor. Upham lived in Windsor his whole life, and at the time of his death, he and his wife Carol owned and lived in the Pierre Avenue home in which he grew up.

Upham’s best friends growing up were his Grandpa Genga and his Uncle Flash. They played catch every chance they got. Uncle Flash and Upham’s father were inducted in the Windsor Fastpitch Softball Hall of Fame.

The three individuals most responsible for Upham’s journey from Mic Mac Park in Windsor to Wrigley Field in Chicago were Ronald Cullen, Gene Dziadura, and Pete Reiser. Upham was an all-around athlete as a boy, but his father insisted that if he wanted to play baseball, he should go to Assumption High School, where Father Ronald Cullen coached. Cullen was later inducted in both the Windsor-Essex County Sports Hall of Fame (Upham delivered the induction speech) and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. “Fr. Cullen brought baseball to a world that had none,” wrote sportswriter David Hanneman.4 Upham transferred from Kennedy Collegiate to Assumption, an all-boys Catholic school, and Grandpa Genga paid his tuition.

“Uppy” (his nickname since youth sports) played baseball, hockey, and basketball at Assumption. His mother insisted he not play football, so he was on the cheerleading squad instead.5 He was the pitcher for Assumption in 1957, 1958, and 1959; he also played for the Lundquist Insurance team in the Detroit Amateur Baseball Federation (“DABF”), a collection of competitive sandlot youth leagues, in 1958 and 1959. On August 9, 1958, he pitched the Detroit All-Stars to a 3-1 win over the Out-State All-Stars in the Times-Hearst Tournament. He pitched six shutout innings, scattering three hits.6 One of Upham’s catchers in 1959 was future major-league All-Star Bill Freehan.

Upham recounted several of his achievements from those years in the William J. Weiss Players’ Questionnaires that he filled out for Major League Baseball years later. He wrote: “Won 12-inning game, 4-3 actually, it was 4-1, struck out 23” and “Won pitching crown at 16 (won 10, lost 2) and same at 18 (won 13, lost 1).” In the DABF, he pitched 67 consecutive scoreless innings to help Lundquist secure their second consecutive championship in the summer of 1959.7

Not to leave out basketball, Upham entered this: “Scored 5 points in last 55 seconds to win the game in [the all-Ontario] basketball tournament.” That game was in his junior year at Assumption and the victory advanced the Purple Raiders to the title game, which they won. In his senior year, the dynamic guard and team captain scored 104 points (fifth-best in the league) and was selected to the Windsor Daily Star’s All-City First Team.8

One of Upham’s baseball coaches was Gene Dziadura, also an outstanding multi-sport athlete from Windsor. A back injury halted Dziadura’s playing career in 1958. In 1959 he became an Ontario-area “bird dog” for scout Tony Lucadello.9 It was Dziadura who discovered Ferguson Jenkins, the best Canadian-born pitcher since Russ Ford.

Before he found Jenkins, Dziadura found Upham and arranged for Lucadello to try out the 6-foot, 155-pound pitcher-outfielder, who threw and batted from the left side. Because he had pitched nine innings the night before he attended the Phillies mini-camp, Upham’s tryout came in the outfield instead. Philadelphia actually preferred Upham as an outfielder, with his natural hitting ability, his elite running speed, and his strong arm.

Upham turned down baseball scholarships from four colleges10 and signed with the Phillies on July 6, 1959. In the spring of 1960, Upham was assigned to Tampa in the Florida State League (Class D) and batted .277. A promotion followed to Bakersfield in the California League (Class C) in 1961, where his .356 batting average was second-best in the league. The speedy center fielder led all outfielders with 26 assists and his 24 stolen bases were fifth-best. He was named to the California League All-Star team.11 “I just had one of those dream years,” Upham said.12

In the offseasons, Uppy attended the University of Windsor, worked in an office job at Ford, and played basketball for local club teams.13

Upham skipped several levels in the Phillies’ farm system and landed with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons in the International League in 1962. The energetic 20-year-old, who was the team’s best defensive outfielder, injured his wrist diving for a ball in practice before the season started. Although he recovered quickly, he suffered torn ligaments in his right knee sliding into second on April 29. His recovery from that injury took longer – he spent the entire summer in a cast. Upham never stole more than nine bases in a season after that and he had no stolen bases in the majors.

At about this time, Upham met his future wife. As he and his friend Eddie drove their dates home after a dance, their sporty yellow convertible paused at the stoplight alongside Carol Robinson and her friend Pat – girls from town whom the boys knew – in their 1948 Pontiac. Uppy and Eddie dropped off their dates and circled back to meet Carol and Pat at the Big Boy Diner.

The next day, Upham stationed himself outside the building where the Bell Telephone switchboard operators worked. While he waited, a boy pulled up and asked, “Is this where Carol Robinson works?” Upham said, “No,” so the guy drove away. Upham married Carol on October 6, 1962; he did not confess his white lie to Carol until years later. The couple spent their honeymoon visiting Cooperstown, New York, and New York City, where they attended a World Series game between the Giants and the Yankees.14

In 1963 Upham was assigned to Triple-A once again, but in the team’s new location, Little Rock, Arkansas. He played center field next to 21-year-old Phillie phenom Dick Allen in left; as in Buffalo, he was behind lifelong friend Lee Elia at short. The Travelers’ skipper was Frank Lucchesi, who managed in the minors and majors for 30 years.

Upham was among the team’s top five at Arkansas in games played, at-bats, hits, and steals, but that was not enough to prevent him from being demoted to the Chattanooga Lookouts, the Phillies’ Double-A club in the Southern League. While Upham labored in the minors, his first daughter, Tracey, was born in November 1963.

Despite his pitching success in amateur ball, Upham had yet to toe the rubber in the Phillies’ organization. That changed on June 19, 1964. Chattanooga trailed first-place Lynchburg in the sixth inning, 8-4. With two men on base, Lookouts manager Andy Seminick, a former NL All-Star catcher, called on Upham to put out the fire. Fred Loesekam doubled home the two runners (both runs were charged to the previous pitcher) before Upham settled his jitters and held the White Sox scoreless for the final 2 1/3 innings.

After that brief pitching excursion, Upham was back in the field. He batted .305, best among the Chattanooga starters. (That average would have put Upham within the top ten of the Southern League had he amassed the requisite number of at-bats for eligibility.15) His single in the 15th inning won the game for Chattanooga over Knoxville on August 23, and kicked off a hot streak that week that resulted in his callup to Little Rock to help Triple-A Arkansas, the winners in the Pacific Coast League’s East division, in their pennant quest.16 In the 1964 PCL playoff, the West division winners, the San Diego Padres, defeated Arkansas in seven games. Upham played four games in center field and went 3-for-15 with one RBI.

After the series, Upham returned to Double-A Chattanooga, but in early 1965, the Phillies organization assigned him to the Single-A Eugene (Oregon) Emeralds in the Northwest League with a purpose in mind. They wanted to try the 23-year-old at pitching again, which excited Upham.

He pitched in five games at Eugene, struck out 14 batters and allowed five earned runs in 13 innings, good for a 3.46 ERA. But when he injured his elbow, Upham was back in the outfield again. Although he beefed up to 175 pounds, Upham was still a singles hitter. The fourth – and final – homer he hit in his career at any level was on June 6, 1964, when he was with Chattanooga.

The Phillies assigned Upham to Bakersfield in the California League (Class A) for the 1966 season. “Single–A again!” thought the discouraged Upham. He considered returning to Windsor to finish school and get on with his life.

However, on November 29, 1965, Upham was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the minor league player draft. He was assigned to the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs, the Cubs’ Double-A team in the Texas League, for the 1966 season. On May 28, former major-league outfielder Pete Reiser was named manager of the Spurs.

Cut from the same cloth as Reiser, the gritty Upham became an immediate favorite of his new manager. About one month into Reiser’s term, Upham got the opportunity he had been hoping for. With pitchers Fred Norman and Jim Ellis being groomed for promotions, Upham pressed Reiser to give him a chance on the mound. Reiser pitched the idea to upper management and on June 22, 1966, Reiser told Upham that the Cubs approved the idea.17

“If I’d never gotten an honest chance to pitch,” Upham said, “I would have been wondering the rest of my life if I could have done it.”18

The force that seemed to be at play when Chicago agreed to let Upham pitch was the Cubs’ shortage of pitchers. One of the most infamous trades in the history of the organization was Lou Brock and two other players for Cardinals pitcher Ernie Broglio and two other players on June 15, 1964, a deal that happened because the Cubs needed pitching. That was still the case in 1966 – even more so. Chicago’s staff ERA was worse than the league average in 1964 and 1965, and in 1966, their ERA was last in the NL.

With Brock in mind, Cubs owner Phil Wrigley told the press, “We send them off somewhere else and then they get on the ball. We’d like to see them do that in Chicago.”19 That may be what interested Wrigley in Upham, the Phillie castoff.

So, on June 25, 1966, Upham strode out to the mound instead of jogging to center field in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Amarillo Sonics. He gave up singles to the first two batters he faced but then, cool under pressure, he got the next batter to pop up and the next to hit into a double play.

Upham pitched five innings in three appearances for Reiser that month, allowing two runs and striking out five. He provided value on two fronts, as he batted .284 with four triples, 35 RBIs, and 45 runs scored that season. Reiser had a super-utility guy who could play the outfield, pinch-hit, and pitch.

The organization continued to support Upham’s conversion to the mound by sending him to the Cubs’ Arizona Instructional League team at the end of the season. His manager was – again – Pete Reiser. Upham pitched 67 innings (most on the squad) with good results: 2.96 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and 37 strikeouts.

The Cubs invited Upham to spring training in 1967 as a non-roster pitcher, where he impressed manager Leo Durocher. Against Cleveland in a spring season game, Upham allowed only one hit and struck out four batters over three innings. “I wish some of my more experienced pitchers had the poise of that youngster,” Durocher said.20

Upham began the season in Triple-A Tacoma to fill the vacancy left by Dave Dowling, Tacoma’s ace in 1966, who was traded away. When Cubs’ hurler Bob Hendley developed a sore arm, Upham was promoted to the parent club on April 14, 1967 – a team with Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, and Ferguson Jenkins on its roster.

Durocher was hard on Upham.21 Durocher was hard on everybody. On April 16, the manager called on Upham in a tough spot against the Pittsburgh Pirates for his first big-league appearance. Cubs reliever Cal Koonce entered in the seventh to try and save the game for Jenkins. Entering the ninth with a 5-2 lead, Koonce loaded the bases with one out. When Durocher called for Upham, Bucs manager Harry Walker sent up pinch-hitter Manny Mota. On a 1-1 count, Mota singled to shortstop and a run scored. Durocher replaced Upham with Joe Niekro, who also made his big-league debut that day. Niekro allowed all three runners to score, which gave the Pirates the 6-5 win, and saddled Upham with the loss.

On April 20, the Cubs traveled to New York City to face rookie Tom Seaver, starting his second major-league game. Upham entered the game – his second major-league game as well – in the bottom of the eighth with the Mets leading, 6-1, and two runners on base. Upham walked relief pitcher Don Shaw and then struck out Cleon Jones to end the inning. Seaver collected the first victory of his Hall of Fame career.

In his next two relief appearances, a little over three weeks apart, Upham faced one batter and two batters, respectively, and allowed one inherited runner to score in each. In the former, his wild pitch let in the run before he struck out Rusty Staub.22

Upham made three appearances as a pinch-hitter in 1967, in which he collected two singles. (Upham had a total of four singles in the majors, off pitchers who were excellent or at least very good: Don Drysdale, Jim Maloney, Nelson Briles, and Juan Marichal.) But on June 10 his rookie season was over. He was released to Tacoma and appeared in three games. He was then assigned to Double-A Dallas-Fort Worth for the remainder of 1967. There Upham fared much better. He began by tossing a string of 35 2/3 scoreless innings and winning three games without a loss, all in relief. Manager Jo-Jo White needed Upham to start on August 12 but Arkansas ambushed him and got four runs in the first inning. That broke Upham’s scoreless streak 6 1/3 innings shy of the Texas League record set by Tom Gorman in 1951.

Upham came right back and rattled off 19 more innings with no earned runs allowed in his next two starts.23 In the second of those two starts, Upham left the game after 11 innings with the score tied, 1-1. He allowed only five hits and one unearned run, according to the box score.24 Upham helped his own cause with an RBI single in the fourth inning. The Spurs won the game for reliever Don Larsen, the former Yankee legend, with an unearned run in the 13th. Upham’s new string was broken in the first inning of his next start.

At season’s end, Upham sported a stellar 1.65 ERA (second best in the league), all but solidifying his chances of getting one more shot at pitching for the Cubs in 1968. However, he separated his left shoulder pitching against Amarillo on September 1 on three days’ rest, which killed that idea.

Upham began the 1968 season on the disabled list in Double-A. When he was reinstated on June 7, Upham was assigned to Triple-A Tacoma, but he struggled on the mound. He appeared in 13 games (24 innings) with an 0-1 record and 4.50 ERA. At the plate he batted .369 with a .398 OBP and struck out only five times in 84 at-bats.

Upham was recalled by the Cubs on July 31 for his second tour of duty, and he demonstrated how rare a talent he was. After his first three appearances, sportswriter Jerome Holtzman crowed in The Sporting News, “[He] has already done it all for the Cubs. Manager Leo Durocher used him as a pinch-batter vs. the Cardinals August 4, used him as a relief pitcher on August 5, and, two nights later, employed him as an outfield defensive replacement.”25 In August and September, Upham also played a complete game in center field, pinch-hit on five more occasions, pinch-ran three times, and pitched one more time. At the plate that season, he had two hits in 10 at-bats. On the mound, he threw a total of seven scoreless innings in two outings.

Yet, even with such versatility and an ERA of zero, when the season was over, the Cubs sent him down to Triple-A Tacoma one more time.

To sharpen his skills, Upham and his young family – wife Carol and their four-year-old daughter Tracey – moved to Venezuela so he could play for the Navegantes del Magallanes.26 However, he returned home in November when his sore shoulder prevented him from continuing.

Upham’s pitching arm was still not fully healed in the spring, but Tacoma’s manager, Whitey Lockman, urged him to stay and play center field. Upham declined, though, because Carol was expecting their second child. (She gave birth to another daughter, Heather, who was born on September 9, 1969.27) It was time for Upham to go home. He was released on April 8.

Windsor’s native son returned to his hometown and quickly got a job teaching English and math and coaching baseball and basketball at Assumption High School. He was basketball Coach of the Year twice. Upham said, “By being able to come home, go back to Assumption as a teacher, and help [Fr. Cullen], I said, ‘Hey, how much better could it possibly be?’”28 He earned his degree at the University of Windsor, keeping the promise he made to his parents when he signed with the Phillies in 1959.

Upham coached baseball for practically the rest of his life. He liked all of his managers – except maybe Durocher – and built his leadership style from what he learned from those men – even Durocher. He coached or managed all levels of youth teams in the province from tee ball to junior and senior all-stars. He brought home the gold medal for Baseball Ontario in the Canada Summer Games in 1981 and for the Windsor Chiefs in 1982 in their first year in the Detroit Federal League.29

In 1986 Jim Ridley, manager of Baseball Canada’s national youth team, needed a pitching coach and contacted Upham.30 Upham coached with Ridley for several years, including the World Junior Tournament in 1987-1990.31  He was also Ridley’s third base coach at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and his pitching coach at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana.

Upham experienced a scare during a game in Havana on August 8, 1991. In the sixth inning with Mexico leading Canada, 7-5, the benches emptied as a fight broke out between Canada’s catcher and a Mexican batter. When the melee ended, coach Upham was on the ground; he appeared to have suffered a heart attack. He spent the night in the hospital and was released the next morning. His wife told the press that her husband had suffered a similar stress-related episode in 1988 in Seoul.

When Ridley resigned as head coach of Canada’s national senior baseball team after the 1991 season, Upham took over. “I interviewed a lot of players and Uppy came out with flying colors,” said Canada’s director, Bernie Beckman.32 However, Upham resigned after one year, citing his health and other concerns.33 He focused on Windsor and coached locally well after he retired from teaching in 1998. Meanwhile, his wife Carol worked in human resources at Bendix Automotive until it closed in 1980, and then she worked at Hiram Walker & Sons Distillery until she retired in 2004.

To his family, friends, and players, Uppy seemed indomitable. He coached basketball and baseball and played slo-pitch softball into his seventies, even after he had both hips replaced – and even after he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He forced the cancer into remission but had to quit playing ball and golf because the surgery he underwent in 2010 to repair a detached retina robbed him of his depth perception.34 The Upham family went through a tough stretch in the 2010s, with Uppy’s ailments and with the passing of their daughter Heather, who succumbed to cancer in 2020 after a long battle. But the Upham legacy lives on in Ontario, a legacy that John Upham was very proud of.35

On May 22, 2024, at 83, John Upham died of complications following a broken hip and lung infection. He was buried in the Victoria Memorial Gardens near Windsor, next to Heather.

Sources and acknowledgments

Sincere special thanks to Tracey Lynne Kelly, John Upham’s daughter, who shared with the author her memories and research and heartfelt insights about her father: “I [discovered] so much I didn’t know about my Dad . . . reading all his scrapbooks and articles on the Newspapers.com website. I knew he was good at just about everything he did; I just didn’t truly appreciate how remarkable he was.”36

Also, to Cassidy Lent, manager of reference services at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, for supplying copies of news clippings from the files in Cooperstown.

In addition to the sources cited in the endnotes, the author relied on information published in:

John Upham Obituary, Families First Funeral Home and Tribute Centre Inc., https://www.familiesfirst.ca/memorials/john-upham/5436119

John Upham Obituary by Sam Gazdziak (SABR member), RIP Baseball, https://ripbaseball.com/2024/05/31/obituary-john-upham-1941-2024.

This biography was reviewed by Gregory H. Wolf and Rory Costello and checked for accuracy by SABR’s fact-checking team.

Photo Credits

John Upham baseball card: Trading Card Database.

John Upham later in life: Courtesy of Tracey Kelly.

Notes

1 The 1962 Buffalo Bisons (International League, Class AAA) had Jim Frey, Lee Elia, and Bobby Wine. The 1964 Arkansas Travelers (Pacific Coast League, Class AAA) had Elia, Pat Corrales, and Dallas Green.

2 Birth certificate provided to the author by the family of John Upham.

3 Tracey Kelly (Upham’s daughter), telephone interviews with Len Pasculli on June 6 and July 2, 2024, and several follow-up e-communications (hereafter Kelly-Pasculli Interview).

4 David V. Hanneman, Diamonds in the Rough: The Legend and Legacy of Tony Lucadello (Austin, TX: Diamond Books, 1989), 67. Hanneman went on to explain, “Few Canadian colleges offered the sport, but Fr. Cullen made sure they had it at Assumption High School,” Ibid. at 67.

5 Kelly-Pasculli Interview.

6 George Maskin, “Pick Barr for Hearst Star Team,” Detroit Times, August 10, 1958: D-1.

7 Frank Luksa, “Spurs Swap Bat for Arm,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 23, 1966: sec.3, p.1.

8 “Top Five Scorers Picked,” Windsor Daily Star, March 6, 1959: 21.

9 For a recap of all the prospects Lucadello signed that played in the majors, see Len Pasculli, “Tony Lucadello,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/tony-lucadello (accessed August 20, 2024).

10 “OBA Mourns the Loss of John Upham,” Ontario Baseball Association, May 29, 2024. https://www.playoba.ca/news/oba-mourns-the-loss-of-john-upham (accessed August 20, 2024).

11 “Two Reds Are on Cal Loop All Star Team,” Modesto Bee, July 13, 1961: C-2.

12 John Upham, n.d. video recording, Windsor Essex-County Sports Hall of Fame. https://www.wecshof.com/team-1/upham-john [hereafter, “Upham WECSHOF Video”] @ 2:56 (accessed July 22, 2024).

13 Kelly-Pasculli Interview.

14 Kelly-Pasculli Interview.

15 Friend News Service, “Final Averages – Southern League,” The Sporting News, September 26, 1964: 34.

16 “Futch Leads Yank Assault on Lookouts,” Columbus (Georgia) Enquirer, August 29, 1964: 7.

17 Frank Luksa, “Spur Shuffling Continues,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 22, 1966: sec.3, p.1.

18 Luksa, “Spurs Swap Bat for Arm,” sec.3, p.1.

19 Pete Turco, “Leo’s Take Charge Attitude Won Job,” The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey), October 26, 1965: 34.

20 Edward Prell, “Upham Gets into Cubs’ Picture,” Chicago Tribune, March 30, 1967: sec 3, p.1,2.

21 Tracey Kelly, personal communications [via e-mail], July 8, 2024.

22 In a game against the champion St. Louis Cardinals on August 15 the following season, Upham struck out Julián Javier and Johnny Edwards, which gave him a grand total of four strikeouts in the majors.

23 “Sonics Nip Spurs on Unearned Runs,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 19, 1967: 1-C; and, Harold McKinney, “Spurs Edge Travs 2-1,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 24, 1967: 1-C.

24 In the sixth inning, Paterson of the Travelers led off with a double, went to third on an Upham wild pitch, and scored on a fielder’s choice.

25 Jerome Holtzman, “Wide-Awake Don Lit Bomb Under Long Snooze,” The Sporting News, August 24, 1968: 5, 20.

26 Eduardo Moncado, “Valencia Is Missing, But Venezuela Loop Will Field Six Clubs,” The Sporting News, October 12, 1968: 32.

27 Heather, a natural athlete, would become a city and provincial champion in swimming. According to her sister Tracey, Heather lost only one race in her scholastic career.

28 Upham WECSHOF Video @ 7:12.

29 Lloyd McLachlan, “Glory in Competing,” Windsor Star, August 24, 1981: 17; The Canadian Press, “Chiefs End Finals With 9-3 Victory,” North Bay (Ontario, Canada) Nugget, August 30, 1982: 15; and “Windsor Chiefs Baseball Team: National Champion Team Recognition Award – 2007 [Special Award],” Windsor Essex-County Sports Hall of Fame. https://www.wecshof.com/post/windsor-chiefs-baseball-team (accessed August 31, 2024).

30 Baseball Canada is the colloquial name for the Canadian Federation of Amateur Baseball which governs Canada’s national competitions at all levels. Colin Howell, “Canada: Internationalizing America’s National Pastime.” In George Gmelch and Daniel A. Nathan (Eds.), Baseball Beyond Our Borders: An International Pastime (Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press, 2017), 70.

31 In 1991, the year Upham moved up to coach the national senior team, the national junior team managed by Canadian Hall of Famer John Haar won the gold medal in the World Youth Baseball Championship Tournament. The 1991 World Youth Team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.

32 Jim Parker, “Upham to Coach National Baseball Team,” Windsor Star, November 6, 1991: B2.

33 “Upham Quits National Team,” Windsor Star, February 24, 1993: D-1.

34 Kelly-Pasculli Interview.

35 Tracey Kelly, personal communications [via e-mail], August 5, 2024.

36 Tracey Kelly, personal communications [via e-mail], July 8, 2024.