Stubby Clapp Inducted into the
Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
Story by Matthew St. Amand
Photography courtesy the St. Louis Cardinals
Winnipeg, Manitoba. PanAm Games 1999. Eleventh inning, tied game between Team Canada and Team USA. Windsor native Stubby Clapp enters the batter’s box with the bases loaded. He connects with a pitch. Three USA players converge on the fly ball. It’s an assured out. Except it’s not. As though a Jedi mind-trick were cast upon them—“This is not the ball you are looking for”—the ball drops between the trio, bringing in the winning run for Team Canada.
This is but one of the many highlights in the storied athletic career of Windsor’s Stubby Clapp who was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in June.
How did it feel when the telephone call came?
“Surreal,” Stubby says. “The call came on my daughter’s birthday.”
On the line was Scott Crawford, Director of Operations at Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
“I wondered why he was calling because I just saw him at the Baseball Canada banquet a few weeks before,” Stubby continues. “As Scott spoke, I had an idea why he was calling and put him on speakerphone so my wife, Chastity, could hear the news.” He shakes his head, marvelling at the memory. “That was not on the checklist for my life!”
Stubby grew up in Remington Park and played little league at Optimist Park. He received his unique name as part of a family tradition beginning with his grandfather.
“The nickname was passed down to my father and then to me, and now to my oldest son—who has it on his birth certificate.”
Growing up, Stubby was a multi-sport kid. “I played baseball in the summer and hockey in the winter,” he says. “I played minor league football and won a championship, and played a couple of seasons at Kennedy. When I made the Windsor Bulldogs, I didn’t play football that year.”
Enjoying success in hockey and football, how did Stubby decide to commit to baseball?
“Baseball chose me,” he says. “I loved hockey. My dad grew up playing high level hockey and I wanted to follow in his footsteps, but I didn’t have the size. Playing Junior B at one-hundred-forty pounds, competing against players like Eric Lindross and Ed Jovanovski was not going to work. At the same time, things were happening for me in baseball.”
He continues: “When I was twelve years old, I was batboy for the USA national baseball team at a tournament in Windsor. That’s where I fell in love with the idea of playing for my country.”
In the early 1990s, Stubby tried out for Team Canada, but did not make the cut. As with all adversity in athletics, and in life, the set back only made Stubby refocus and try harder. This resulted in an invitation to play at the prestigious Academie de baseball Canada (ABC) in Montreal. The ABC came into being in 1990 from the combined efforts and vision of Baseball Canada, Baseball Quebec and the Montreal Expos, offering a high-performance baseball program for elite players—sixteen to nineteen years of age—drawn primarily from Quebec and the Maritimes.
Following this experience, Stubby received a scholarship at Texas Tech University.
Ironically, when the zero hour came and the prospect of playing professional baseball materialized, Stubby had no idea that Major League Baseball had a draft.
“My coach called me to his office, and I thought I was somehow in trouble,” Stubby recalls. “When I got there, there were three coaches waiting for me. They said to me: ‘If you get drafted, are you going to go?’ I didn’t understand what they meant. I said: ‘I’m Canadian, I can’t fight for your army.’ Needless to say, that’s not what they were talking about.”
The St. Louis Cardinals came calling and Stubby heeded that call in the 1996 amateur entry draft.
“I never thought I would play in the pros,” he says. “When I played hockey, the NHL was the goal. Playing baseball, going to school, that’s just what I did. Having the scholarship meant I had to keep my grades up to keep it. I wasn’t thinking about the MLB. I was thinking about going into occupational therapy or maybe sports medicine.”
During his pro playing career, Stubby demonstrated great flexibility and adaptability, playing for various Triple-A and Double-A teams, such as the Arkansas Travelers, the Edmonton Cracker Cats and Triple-A Memphis Redbirds among others. Stubby was so popular there that he was referred to in local media as the “Mayor of Memphis.”
Sports fans and sports writers have their ideas about an athlete’s career highlights, but what does Stubby consider to be his most memorable sports moments?
“Making Team Canada in 1999,” he says. “That was my childhood goal, and bringing in the winning run against Team USA.”
He continues: “Walking through the gates in Athens at the 2004 Olympics and playing for Team Canada. That was a huge moment. And, of course, my first day in the big leagues. That happened on Father’s Day.”
And now he is an inductee in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
“That was not on my radar,” he says. “I wake up each day thinking ‘How can we make someone better? How can we get better as a team?’ I was completely taken by surprise.”
There were many less significant events connecting these milestones. This includes the support and encouragement Stubby received from coaches and mentors, such as Assumption high school’s Father Cullen as well as Essex County baseball coach Bob Marchand. He also was supported by his parents, Stubby Clapp, Sr., and Candis, his sister Iris and his brother JR. Stubby also credits the love and support of his wife Chastity, his son Cooper (Stubby Clapp, IV), his son Cannan and his daughter Crosbie (named after Sidney Crosby).
“Thinking about all the stories, all of the ups and downs,” Stubby says, reflecting on his life and career, “Windsor is a great place to raise kids. I’ve been in many places in the US and in different countries. I wouldn’t trade Windsor for anything.”
He goes on: “In my Hall of Fame speech, there were many people I wanted to thank for helping me along the way. I appreciated them telling me the truth… getting cut from Team Canada, grateful to the scouts who didn’t believe in me… they all fuelled my fire.”
As his conversation with Windsor Life Magazine wound to an end, Stubby’s wife interrupted to inform him that he has been selected to be inducted into the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame’s class of 2026. The news causes him to shake his head, once again, and to say: “I am so grateful.”
Published in the August/September 2026 Edition.
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