Clapp to the Canadian Hall

By Matt Betts

As 2026 inductee Stubby Clapp walked around the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time on Saturday, something caught his eye.

It was two plaques, situated side-by-side.

The first was for Rev. Ronald Cullen, who was inducted in 1996. The second was of the 1991 Canadian National Youth Team.

Both were influential in Clapp’s career.

“It was my first opportunity to play serious baseball for the Windsor Selects,” Clapp said of playing for Cullen. “He made the prediction a long time ago I’d be a baseball player. I was a talented young kid who had a lot of energy and grit. He and Bobby Marchand took a lot of time to try and help me develop.”

Energy and grit are the characteristics that made Clapp great. Captain Canada, as he’s often referred to as, is a symbol of what Canadian baseball is meant to be.

He can still recall the first time ever wearing the maple leaf.

It was 1991 in Brandon, Man., with that Canadian National Youth Team. A few weeks after being selected, he’d help lead Canada to its first ever gold medal at the World Youth Baseball Championship.

It began a run representing the country that’s unmatched.

A clutch hit to help win a bronze medal at the 1999 Pan Am Games, the country’s first ever, donning the red and white at the Olympics in 2004 in Athens, Greece, and being part of the 2015 Pan Am Games gold medal winning team are just a few of the moments Clapp will remember forever.

And then there was hit first big league hit.

As a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001, he a doubled off Livan Hernandez in the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. As he trotted into second, it was Barry Bonds who was fielding the ball.

“That was all she wrote,” he said with a laugh.

Clapp would play 23 games for the Cardinals, hitting .200, and now serves as the team’s first base coach.

As proud as he is to be a member of a big league organization, there will always be something special about playing on the world stage.

“It’s such a different game,” Clapp said. “You have to leave it all on the line. If you have a three-game losing streak in international baseball, you’re out after the first two.”

When Clapp got the call from the hall, he felt an overwhelming rush of emotion.

Making it even more meaningful was the opportunity to go in alongside late friend and former Baseball Canada executive director, Jim Baba.

Baba had an eye for talent, Clapp hinted with a smile.

In 1992 after he led the youth team to gold, he was cut from the senior men’s national team and it was Baba’s job to deliver the news.

“I always gave him a jab here and there,” Clapp said.

“But, he was right. Jim’s a real special guy, he meant a lot to Baseball Canada and meant a lot to the game. He was a class act with whoever he interacted with.”

Despite being a Canadian baseball icon, Clapp still finds it hard to believe he’s been inducted.

“I was very happy, very honoured, caught off guard,” he said. “I’m looking around and it’s just hitting me. To be able to be considered among all these people is truly humbling. I’m totally overwhelmed.”