Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame calls the name of Jeff Francis in 2022 – London | The Canadian News

Jeff Francis got his first taste of southwestern Ontario in 2001 at the Canada Summer Games in London, Ont.

He was a star for British Columbia in baseball.

Twenty-one years later, Francis has and his family have chosen London as home and the left-hander from Vancouver will now have a second permanent home in the area in the city of St. Marys after being elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Feb. 2.

Francis appeared in 254 games over an 11-year Major League Baseball career and pitched in the 2007 World Series. Francis was given the ball to start Game 1 at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox. Boston ended up winning that game and swept Francis and the Colorado Rockies to win their second title in four seasons but Francis became just the second Canadian to step on the mound in a World Series game.

“It was a career highlight for me,” says Francis. “We had to win 14 of 15 games to end that season just to squeak into the playoffs and then got as hot as we did, ultimately winning 21 of 22 games just to get to the World Series…. I think if we were more of a high-profile team, people would still be talking about us. ”

That same October saw Francis featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated for a story capturing the Rockies’ magical run.

“My teammates joked with me that because I was Canadian (the SI cover jinx) did not apply to me,” laughs Francis.

Francis spent eight seasons total in Colorado and also played for Kansas City, Cincinnati, Oakland, the New York Yankees and finally the Toronto Blue Jays, where he ended his career in 2015.

Known as an excellent athlete and fielder, Francis committed just one mistake over his entire run in the Major Leagues. He struck out 869 batters and retired to raise his family in London.

Francis was part of Team Canada’s gold medal victory at the Pan-Am Games in 2015.

“That was kind of the cap of my playing career,” admits Francis. “The game went to extra innings and ended on one of the craziest baseball platys you’ve ever seen with a couple of overthrown balls and a player scampering home and a close play at the plate and we dogpiled.”

Francis will be inducted in June and will be celebrated alongside the 2020 class of John Olerud, Duane Ward, Justin Morneau and longtime Montreal Expos announcer Jacques Doucet. Morneau and Francis were high school teammates and have remained lifelong friends.

Due to COVID-19, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame honored 17 historical inductees in 2021. All were enshrined posthumously at a virtual event.