UBC Thunderbird Baseball Fan Page

The Northern Game: Baseball the Canadian Way was written by Bob Elliott, who writes for the Toronto Sun and canoe.ca. The quality of this book is a little uneven. I mean, are Canadian baseball players really more aggressive on the basepaths than Venezuelans or Cubans? And, if so, is it because they played ice hockey when they were growing up? (On the other hand, Elliott's contention that there are more left-handed Canadian baseball players is interesting, and deserves further research.)

Having said that, the chapter on Larry Walker alone is worth the price of the book. There's chapters about the demise of the Expos, the 2004 Olympics, and Ferguson Jenkins. There's a chapter specifically about British Columbia, and yes, there's some information about Terry McKaig and Jeff Francis. Overall, there's a lot of information and some good stories packed into 262 pages.