Corunna native Rob Thomson says it's a huge honour to be in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Thomson was inducted during a weekend ceremony in St. Marys, along with former players Jason Bay and Ryan Dempster and long-time Jays executive Gord Ash.
"It is a great honour, not only for myself but for my entire family," said Thomson. "We were just really privileged to be there. It was a great weekend, they did a really great job."
Thomson said the sport has really taken off in Canada in recent years.
"Baseball Canada has done a wonderful job in teaching coaches how to coach the players, and consequently you get better players and players that are interested in the game and want to play," he said. "So, now you see more kids from Canada getting college scholarships in the US and more kids playing pro ball and in the big leagues."
Thomson said the Canadian talent is evident in the majors.
"We [the Phillies] were just out in San Diego last week and we faced Cal Quantrill, who is a Canadian kid from Toronto, and Josh Naylor who is an outfielder from Toronto. It's really neat to see these kids, and I try to follow as many as I can. There's so many now that's it's hard to keep up with them," he said.
Thomson is currently into his second season as the Philadelphia Phillies batting coach. He was the New York Yankees bench coach from 2009-2014.
The 56-year-old was a standout player for the Intercounty League's Stratford Hillers in the early '80s. He was recruited by Dick Groch, later a famous New York Yankees scout, to play for St. Clair Community College. The young Canadian suited up there for one year before transferring to the University of Kansas.
Thomson was part of the Canadian squad that competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles when baseball was a demonstration sport. The following year, he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 32nd round of the MLB draft.
The catcher and third baseman would advance as high as the class-A level before shifting his focus to coaching in 1988.
He served as a minor league coach in the Tigers system for two seasons before joining the New York Yankees in 1990.