Greg Douglas, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, September 20, 2008
SCENE & HEARD: Jim Kearney's 17 years of writing five-a-week columns in The Sun will be fondly remembered when family, friends and former colleagues gather at the BC Sports Hall of Fame today to celebrate his life that ended last month after 86 years.
We will all have favourite stories and mine dates back to several cold, damp mornings at Capilano Stadium in May, 1966. In the aftermath of the historic baseball riot that erupted between the Vancouver Mounties and Seattle Angels, Dewey Soriano -- president of the Pacific Coast League -- subpoenaed Kearney to attend ongoing hearings. "Why me?" Kearney asked at the time. "I wasn't even at the game."
Mr. Soriano's response was quick and to the point. "Not only do I admire your opinion and insight," he said, "but I also trust you."
Kearney sat through endless hours of testimony in a tiny concrete cubicle at the ball park that was normally an equipment room. When the league president was finally finished interviewing beat reporters, official scorekeepers and the players in question, he asked for time alone with Kearney. They sat behind a closed door for several hours before Soriano emerged with an announcement that resulted in fines and suspensions directed at the players involved in the infamous May 11 brawl.
Kearney never shared what went on behind that closed door where just he and the league president determined the fate of so many. He steadfastly refused to divulge a crumb of information in his column or over prolonged, gossipy coffee sessions in the old Pacific Press cafeteria.
Mr. Soriano was right. Jim Kearney could be trusted.
HERE 'N' THERE: Former Sun and Province sports columnist Jim Taylor, a long-time Kearney crony, launched his 12th book Friday, a funny and frank memoir about his life in the press box. It's entitled Hello, Sweetheart? Gimmie Rewrite! by Harbour Publishing, whose president, Howard White, proudly announced a 13th Taylor effort will be in concert with the legendary Dal Richards ... B.C. Sports Hall of Fame curator Jason Beck has dispatched an all-points bulletin for inductee nominations for the annual Banquet of Champions on May 13, 2009. At the moment his cupboard is bare in two categories: pioneers and teams. The deadline is Oct. 1.
SHORT HOPS: It was during a casual conversation on a bus trip from Spokane to Vancouver this summer when Canadians broadcaster Rob Fai mentioned to field manager Rick Magnante that he wouldn't mind joining Magnante to help promote the South African team at the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The next thing Fai knew he was being interrogated by the WBC rules committee and now with the permission of C's president Andy Dunn, it appears Fai will be heading to Mexico City for the opening of the tournament March 5-12. South Africa is in Pool B with Australia, Cuba and Mexico. No one can quite figure out how Magnante got involved with the South Africans in the first place.
END ZONE: There are only three Canucks-Lions broadcast conflicts on Team 1040 and one involves a Canucks pre-season game next Saturday when the hockey coverage moves to Talk 1040. The Leos get bumped from the Team on Oct. 17 and Oct 25.
Greg Douglas can be heard mornings at 7:45 on News1130 Monday through Friday. He can be reached at drsport@telus.net.
