SPORTClassic Books and Canoe.ca are teaming up to give away eight signed copies of Bob Elliott's critically acclaimed book The Northern Game: Baseball the Canadian Way. The books have also been autographed by Canadian Major Leaguer Larry Walker. Two copies of the book will be given away each week in June. Simply complete an entry form to become eligible to receive a free copy. It's that simple.
In his just-released book, The Northern Game: Baseball the Canadian Way, Bob Elliott celebrates Canada's rich baseball heritage. In this excerpt, he traces Corey Koskie's rise from a farm in Anola, Manitoba to stardom with the Toronto Blue Jays.
It has been a wonderful ride for Corey Koskie. From the University of Manitoba to Des Moines Area Community College, to the National Baseball Institute, to the Minnesota Twins minor-league system, to the majors and now the Toronto Blue Jays, courtesy of a three-year, $16.5-million contract signed in December 2004. Not bad for a kid from a tiny dot on the map of the Canadian prairies.
Then again, maybe it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. Despite relatively small populations, the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta have produced some of Canada's best and most enduring baseball talent. From Alberta, there is Jeff Zimmerman of Carseland; from Saskatchewan, Terry Puhl of Melville and Reggie Cleveland of Swift Current; from Manitoba, Russ Ford of Brandon and, of course, Koskie, the pride of Anola, a farming community of 300 souls just east of Winnipeg.
Like (Terry) Puhl, Koskie grew up on a farm, filling his summers during the 1980s with prairie baseball, through t-ball, tyke and peewee. Unlike Puhl, he also gravitated toward hockey, good enough as a goaltender to advance up to Tier II Junior-A with the Selkirk Steelers. When he wasn't tending goal for the Steelers, he was playing volleyball at the University of Manitoba. "I was the setter and he was the power hitter," recalled Scott Shipper, Koskie's buddy from kindergarten through the elementary Anola School to Springfield Junior High and Springfield Collegiate. "Some tournaments he'd leave us high and dry because he had a hockey game. We'd get to the final without him and we'd get destroyed."
In the summer of 1992, Koskie visited the office of Manitoba Bisons' volleyball coach Garth Pischke. "I walked in and Garth started to talk about next season, 'this is how we're going to run the offence, it's going to be all around you, here's where we want you,'" Koskie remembered. That's when he broke the news to a shocked Pischke. He wouldn't be playing hockey anymore. But he wouldn't be playing volleyball, either. He was headed to the Des Moines Area Community College in Boone, Iowa, to play baseball. "By the time I got home Garth had phoned my mom to try to get her to talk me out of going to Iowa," said Koskie, whose play had drawn attention at a Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau camp at Giants Field in Winnipeg. There, he had been one of the chosen few asked to stay behind by Canadian scouting director Tom Valcke. Koskie ran a 6.9 in the 60-yard dash, which opened eyes. Cincinnati Reds' scout Bob Szymkowski gave Koskie's name to John Smith, the coach at Des Moines. "John called me every day in May asking 'are you coming?' Sometimes he would call three times," Koskie said. "I can't imagine that school's phone bill. It got to the point where my parents recognized his voice." Koskie admits he probably would not have gone in the end, except that Cam Croy, whom he played against, was planning to attend. Without a scholarship, Koskie took out a student loan.
The first time coach Smith worked out his Bears, he had 50 to 60 players on the field, including the green Canuck, who had driven down with his parents, Leonard and Maryann, from Anola. "I felt overwhelmed. I was scared and thought 'you're making a big mistake,'" Koskie said. "I'd left all my buddies. What have I done, what am I doing here?" mom said, "try again tomorrow," and he did. Then, Koskie saw a familiar face, or should it be a familiar hat ... his own. There on the same Iowa field was right-hander Curtis Falls, a Mic-Mac Indian from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, wearing a Manitoba hat. Koskie recognized it from playing in the national championships, when players from competing provinces exchanged hats after the game. Turns out there were five Canadians in the Bears camp. "Canadians are easier to recruit," said coach Smith, who has been at Boone since 1974 and has had more than 40 Canadians on his team. "Talk to an American and they come with an attitude 'how much money (scholarship) will you give me.' The Canadians, they want to play. And most of the time they are better students because their educational system is tougher."
Smith has had three players make the majors: catcher George Williams with the Twins, Paul Wilmet with the Texas Rangers and Koskie. "You know, I never thought he'd play in the big leagues," Smith said. "He was in the right place at the right time and he took advantage. Corey didn't run to first in 3.8 seconds, but he was a big old boy that ran hard to first down the right-field line and he swung the bat hard. He could hit when he got here, so I didn't touch him." Des Moines practiced during the winter and hit in a cage and when spring finally arrived Koskie lit it up and was voted a third-team all-American at Boone, hitting .389 with 12 homers. Returning home to Manitoba, Koskie played for Morgan de Pena and the Tewlon Cardinals seniors to get ready for the 1993 Canada Games in Kamloops, British Columbia.
In Kamloops, John Harr of the National Baseball Institute saw Koskie playing shortstop and offered him a spot on his team for 1993. "I don't remember working that hard in Des Moines; you just played," Koskie said. "Where I really learned how to play third base was at NBI."
Harr, who coached Canada to the 1991 world junior title, had Koskie for two seasons at the now defunct NBI. Koskie calls him the most influential man in his baseball career. Initially, he had trouble learning to throw the way he thought Harr wanted. "Corey!" said Koskie in his John Harr voice, "what are you doing?" "John showed me how to throw the ball and when it carried, it would go straight. I didn't know I could throw that straight, it was such a drastic difference."
In 1994, Twins' scout Howie Norsetter selected Koskie in the 26th round of the major-league draft. After a short season of rookie ball, the spring of 1995 was Koskie's first major-league training camp at Ft. Myers, Florida. "I had the same feeling as Des Moines ... where do I fit in? There were 150 guys, guys from all over the world, from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic who played every day growing up. There were six third basemen in the system." But Koskie held his own and that season, at Single-A, began to hit for power. By 1998 he had worked his way up to Triple-A, where a 26-homer, 105-RBI season for Salt Lake prompted the Twins to promote him in September. Koskie made his debut Sept. 9, going hitless in a 10-8 loss to the Angels at Edison Field in Anaheim.
His best year with the Twins was 2001, when he hit .276 with 26 homers and 103 RBIs. In 2004, his final season before gaining free agency, Koskie hit .251 with 25 homers and 71 RBIs as half of the Twins' Canuck corner duo of Koskie at third and Justin Morneau at first base. He felt very attached to the Twins, who made him a two-year, $8 million contract offer. "One day we were on the phone and Corey said, 'What about all the kids that say Koskie's my favorite Twin?'" said lefty Paul Pavicich, a minor-league teammate from Clarence, New York. "I said, 'Corey, what about all the young kids in Canada who will say you're my No. 1 favorite Jay?'"
Koskie and his wife, Shannon, prayed in the new house they just built in Medina, Minnesota, and spoke to their pastor Tom Lamphere every day. "I'm a Christian and wanted to go where God wanted me to go," said Koskie. "Tom asked 'Do you have a passion in your heart to play for the Twins?' No, I don't. After they didn't offer me arbitration, I knew it was time for me to leave, but I am part of the community and I love it here. Then, Tom asked, 'Where do you feel in your heart you want to go?' I feel the pull from Toronto." Koskie's agent Pat Rooney was hammering out the final details when the Los Angeles Dodgers called and asked if they could talk since it was apparent third baseman Adrian Beltre was leaving. Koskie told Rooney to finish the deal with the Jays. "He has a great opportunity, being Canadian, to play every day for a Canadian team," Pavicich said.
In appreciation of his time in Minnesota, Koskie took out an ad, which ran Jan. 6 in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, thanking the fans, the organization, GM Terry Ryan and coaches. Pavicich says Koskie is a great role model, as a family guy and from the way he plays, "he's not afraid to get dirty. Hey, he's Canadian."
So, how has seven years in the majors and the lifestyle that goes with it changed the kid from Anola?
"He hasn't changed a bit," said Mark Schlosser, who played with Koskie at the National Baseball Institute. "My wife's family are from Minnesota and in 2001 we went to see him. He was driving the same Ford Explorer as before. He's unaffected by fame and money. He's become a better person; he's very strong in his faith. He doesn't have to give me time, or call or leave tickets. He once told me the true measure of a person is how they treat someone who has nothing to offer them."
"He's the same now as he was in the minors," said Pavicich. "The only thing that's changed is his clothes; in the minors he wore shorts, polo shorts and sandals. Now he wears nice suits. A lot of people in this business move on and forget. I'm so glad he made it. He's a family guy, he's a Christian guy, he loves the Lord, loves his family."
Shipper, who has known Koskie going back to when a big day was finger painting and sleep time in kindergarten, hasn't noticed any changes either. "He treats everyone the same as when we were in high school; we're all really proud of him. He still plays tricks like in high school," said Shipper, recalling Koskie's favorite high school prank was to pull his father's truck across the narrow entrance to Springfield Collegiate on Friday afternoons, pop the hood and pretend something was wrong with the vehicle: "It's a Friday afternoon, everyone is trying to go somewhere for the weekend, teachers are honking, Corey's throwing his arms up: 'I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on.' It was typical Corey."
With the Jays, Koskie becomes the team's first everyday Canadian in 27 years, since Dave McKay played second base way back in the franchise's second season.
"Look at me" says Koskie in amazement. "How did I get to where I am? This really shouldn't be. I'm a Christian and I believe God had a plan."
At his unveiling by the Jays, Koskie told the assembled media of his first trip to Yankee Stadium. "Reporters would come and say, 'What does this feel like? You're in the same place Babe Ruth played,'" Koskie said. "I was 'Cool, but my place is SkyDome, because that's what I grew up watching ... the same place where Paul Molitor, John Olerud and Tony Fernandez played. Those were my heroes.'"
These days, the latest generation of Canadian prairie farm boys has a new hero to root for, one who happens to be one of their own.
Reprinted with permission from The Northern Game: Baseball the Canadian Way, (c) 2005, Sport Media Publishing (www.sportclassicbooks.com). Buy this book at chapters.indigo.ca.
