Ceremony slated prior to Chicago Cubs @ NY Mets game
New York – Jason Bay will be awarded his 2009 Tip O’Neill Award in a brief pre-game ceremony at Citi Field prior to the Chicago Cubs v. New York Mets game on Tuesday, April 20th at 7:00pm EST. Bay, who also won the Tip in 2004 and 2005, becomes the second Canuck to win the award more than twice, joining nine-timer Larry Walker. Justin Morneau and Eric Gagné won it twice each.
For the sixth consecutive year, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame president and CEO Tom Valcke, along with Director of Operations Scott Crawford, past Chair John Starzynski, volunteers Paul Podsadecki, Tim Murphy, Mike Valcke, and Town of St. Marys Mayor Jamie Hahn will make a road trip for the annual award given to the Canadian judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals.
Bay, a native of Trail, British Columbia, won his first Silver Slugger Award in 2009 and played in the All-Star Game for the third time. His 36 homeruns and 119 RBI led the Boston Red Sox to the playoffs. He scored 103 runs and had 142 hits, including 29 doubles, and stole 13 bases. Jason batted. 267, compiling an on-base percentage of .384 and a .537 slugging percentage. He did not make a single error in his 150 games, chalking up 310 putouts and 15 assists. He finished seventh in American League MVP voting. His 185 career homeruns place him fourth all-time for Canadians, trailing only Jeff Heath, Matt Stairs and Larry Walker.
The award is named after Woodstock, Ontario native James ‘Tip’ O’Neill was one of Major League baseball’s first legitimate stars. With the St. Louis Browns in 1887, O’Neill batted .492, SLG-.691, Hits-225, Doubles-52, Triples-19, Homeruns-14, Total Bases-357, Runs-167 (4th all-time for a single season), RBI-123. The outfielder set major league records in hits, doubles, slugging percentage, and total bases that season while compiling an astounding .492 batting average. Bases on balls were included as hits in 1887, but if O’Neill’s average was calculated by today’s standard, it was .435, the second highest in major league history to Hugh Duffy, .438).
Past winners of the James “Tip” O’Neill Award:
1984 – Terry Puhl
1985 – Dave Shipanoff
1986 – Rob Ducey
1987 – Larry Walker
1988 – Kevin Reimer
1989 – Steve Wilson
1990 – Larry Walker
1991 – Daniel Brabant
1992 – Larry Walker
1993 – Rob Butler
1994 – Larry Walker
1995 – Larry Walker
1996 – Jason Dickson
1997 – Larry Walker
1998 – Larry Walker
1999 – Jeff Zimmerman
2000 – Ryan Dempster
2001 – Corey Koskie & Larry Walker
2002 – Eric Gagné & Larry Walker
2003 – Eric Gagné
2004 – Jason Bay
2005 – Jason Bay
2006 – Justin Morneau
2007 – Russell Martin
2008 – Justin Morneau
2009 – Jason Bay
For more information please contact:
Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum
P.O. Box 1838, 140 Queen St. E.
St. Marys, ON, Canada, N4X 1C2
Tel: 519-284-1838, Toll Free: 1-877-250-BALL
Tom Valcke’s cell phone: 519-272-7406
www.baseballhalloffame.ca
