Hall of Fame baseball writer Bob Elliott is retiring after 50 years as one of Canada’s most respected sportswriters.
News of Elliott’s departure from the Toronto Sun was on the front of the newspaper’s sports section Wednesday, his final day.
Elliott began his sportswriting career in 1966 in his native Kingston, Ont., and later covered the Montreal Expos for the Ottawa Citizen. Elliott moved to Toronto and became the Sun’s Blue Jays beat writer in 1987 before eventually focusing on baseball columns.
“I hope he gets to enjoy his retirement the way he enjoyed his career.”
– Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays slugger
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons paid tribute to Elliott after Tuesday’s 4-1 win over the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre.
“Bob’s a friend to everybody in this room and people out there who aren’t here today,” said Gibbons. “It’s a big loss for baseball. He’s been a great writer for many, many years. He’s done a lot for the sport and he’s a friend to everybody so everyone’s going to miss him.”
In 2012, Elliott won the J.G. Taylor Spink Award, the highest award given to baseball reporters by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The honour includes recognition in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Elliott, 66, was given the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Jack Graney Award in 2010 for his contribution to the sport in Canada. He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall in 2015.
“You get a unique perspective from him,” Jays slugger Jose Bautista told the Sun. “And for me, there’s a dual respect kind of thing. It’s not crossing lines or boundaries. It’s respecting people’s point of view and not taking them out of context or portraying them as something else.”
“I hope he gets to enjoy his retirement the way he enjoyed his career,” Bautista added.
