Paul Godfrey inducted into Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

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ST. MARYS — For Paul Godfrey, this field of dreams really did start with a promise to build it and they would come.

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That promise was made to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn back in 1969 by a very young councillor from North York who declared he wanted Toronto to join the Montreal Expos in the Big Show.

So Godfrey flew down to the baseball winter meetings in Florida and waited for his chance to see Kuhn in person.

“Mr. Kuhn,” I said as he came down the stairs. “My name is Paul Godfrey. I am a city councillor from Toronto. I want to bring Major League Baseball to our city.”

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It was a bit of a white lie in that Toronto had yet to be the amalgamated city it is today, but Godfrey was pretty sure North York was not going to be awarded a team.

Kuhn looked at Godfrey and asked him a question.

“Where is the team going to play?”

Godfrey replied, “Sir, if you give us a team, we will build a stadium.”

Turns out it would not be that easy.

“He looked down at me with that 6-foot-5 frame, put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Son, that’s not how it works. First you build a stadium and then we decide whether you get a team.’ My marching orders were clear. It would be a stadium first.”

Godfrey would later become Metro Chair in 1973 and used his skills to first get the city and the province to retrofit Exhibition Stadium for baseball first and later help lead the way to build the SkyDome, now known as Rogers Centre.

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“The tough part — convincing Premier Bill Davis to commit the other $15 million,” he said. “Davis told me that he couldn’t give $15 million to the city for a stadium with no baseball team. But he could, as he said with a wink, lend us the money. So, on behalf of Metropolitan Toronto, I signed a loan agreement with the province to borrow $15 million.”

Almost half a century later — and two World Series championships — the rest is history.

“That loan — and Premier Ford, I hope you’re not listening — has not been paid back to this day,” teased Godfrey.

But there have been billions of dollars of spin-off benefits for the city, province and country.

And there was Godfrey on Saturday in this amazing place where he, Russell Martin, Jimmy Key, Ashley Stephenson, Howard Birnie, Rod Heisler, Jimmy Key and five others were inducted into the Canadian Baseball of Hall of Fame in what was a moving experience.

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“It’s such an honour,” the Postmedia executive said, who was also Blue Jays president and CEO from 2000 to 2008. “It’s amazing to be here with all of these great inductees and my wife and boys and all of my grandchildren.”

In his speech, Godfrey teased that baseball had created the highlight of his life.

“The politically correct thing is to say that next to the birth of my three sons that nothing compares to watching your team win the World Series in a stadium we could all be proud of. But I am out of politics now and there is no need to be politically correct. Those World Series moments were most definitely the highlight of my life. Sorry boys!”

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There were so many laughs and so many tears.

And so much pride.

So many great stories. So well deserved for all.

Some of the Hall of Fame careers were on the field and somewhere in the building part of the game.

All of them vital to the game of baseball in Canada.

Whether it was Stephenson talking about her dad, who died when she was a kid but turned her on to the game while her mother encouraged her to play with the boys, or Russell Martin fighting back tears as he talked of the influence his parents had on his incredible career, this was a special event to be a part of. It was an incredible setting that is the stuff of movies which Canadian writer W.P. Kinsella penned and was turned into Field of Dreams.

Dreams do come true.

It did for six great Canadians in St. Marys on Saturday.

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