The journalist and author Tom Hawthorn discusses his new book Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years (2025), with Joseph Planta.

Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years by Tom Hawthorn (2025).

Click to buy this book from The BC Sports Hall of Fame: Play Ball!

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Tom Hawthorn joins me again. He’s just published a new book, Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years. It is a tough book to put down, because Tom with his ability to weave together great stories about colourful characters on and off the field, terrific archival photos, along with his skill at providing the reader with the historical and cultural context within which the baseball he writes about take place, make for not just a beautiful book for the coffee table, but a splendid resource for the sports fan, or a Vancouver history buff. With a foreword by Jim Robson, we get a sense of baseball’s endurance in Vancouver, and this is all despite the popularity of lacrosse, the BC Lions, and then the Vancouver Canucks throughout the twentieth century and now. The book also charts baseball’s development, relationships with leagues higher up in the pecking order through to Major League Baseball. Also, we see Vancouver’s own growth and development. I found particularly poignant, Tom’s recounting of the various ballparks that once stood throughout Vancouver. And of course, Nat Bailey Stadium, Capilano Stadium before that, plays a central role in the book. It’s a ballpark that Tom loves, and a lot of people, who’ve played here or visited here, or live near, just love. As Tom says, the book was commissioned by Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney, the former owners of the Vancouver Canadians, and it also chronicles how baseball has continued to play a major part as a brand in the community. And that’s largely thanks to Kerr and Mooney and all their efforts not just with the club and their relationship with the Toronto Blue Jays, but with the upgrading of the facilities at Nat Bailey Stadium. Tom Hawthorn is a Victoria-based journalist and author. He is a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail. He has written several acclaimed books, including Deadlines, and The Year Canadians Lost Their Minds and Found Their Country, which he’s appeared with on the program when they came out. The book is available at Nat Bailey Stadium, another good reason to go to a Canadians game, as well as at the BC Sports Hall of Fame, where they do mail orders as well. We taped this interview earlier this week, with Tom joining me from Victoria, BC. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Tom Hawthorn; Mr. Hawthorn, good morning.

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