Jordan Romano wins Tip O'Neill Award as top Canadian baseball player for 2022

Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Jordan Romano was named winner of the Tip O'Neill Award on Tuesday as Canadian baseball player of the year.

The award, presented by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, is handed to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball's highest ideals.

Romano, a Markham, Ont. native, saved 36 games for the Blue Jays and was selected to his first all-star game.

In 63 games, the hard-throwing right-hander recorded a 2.11 earned-run average and held opponents to a .190 batting average.

The 29-year-old Romano beat out Toronto teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cleveland pitcher Cal Quantrill for the honour.

The Montreal-born Guerrero won the award in 2021.

"This is really special to win this award," Romano said in a statement. "I've followed the award over the years, and I have a lot of respect for the previous winners. It will be great to have my name on the trophy alongside their names."

Romano was selected by Toronto in the 10th round of the 2014 MLB draft and made his major league debut in 2019.

The Tip O'Neill Award is named after James (Tip) O'Neill, a Woodstock, Ont., native who was one of baseball's first legitimate stars.

Howarth first-time nominee for Frick honour

Former Blue Jays radio broadcaster Jerry Howarth was recently rewarded for his broadcasting excellence with a nomination for the 2023 Ford Frick Award. The winner of the annual honour from the baseball Hall of Fame will be announced Wednesday.

"Winning is not important to me," said Howarth, an avid duplicate bridge player who also coached high school basketball in Toronto for over two decades. "Just to be nominated is the honour in and of itself and [something] I'm so appreciative of."

Before he became a full-time voice with the Blue Jays alongside Tom Cheek in 1982, Howarth called minor-league games for the Tacoma Twins and Salt Lake City Gulls. He also served as a radio broadcaster for the Utah Pros of the Western Basketball Association.

Howarth and Cheek, a duo affectionately known as 'Tom and Jerry,' were on the mic as Toronto rose to prominence in the American League East.

They called the Blue Jays' back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993.

"I think I'm most proud of the fact that I broadcast every game individually as if it were a white, blank canvas," Howarth said from Toronto of his 36-year run.

"I artistically painted it to the best of my ability and then I initialled it in my mind in the lower right-hand corner."

'I enjoyed every moment'

Cheek, who died in 2005 from brain cancer, won the Frick award in 2013. Howarth, now 76, retired in early 2018.

"I enjoyed every moment of my 36 years," Howarth said. "I wish Tom was still here to be a part of this."

A native of York, Pa., Howarth was honoured by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame with the Jack Graney Award in 2012 for lifetime contributions to baseball in Canada.

He was a recipient of the Sports Media Canada award for Achievement in Broadcasting in 2003 with Cheek and again individually in 2016.

Longtime Montreal Expos broadcaster Jacques Doucet, who spent 33 years (1969-2004) as the team's play-by-play radio voice on its French network, is one of nine other finalists for the Frick Award. He was also nominated for the honour in 2019.

Doucet returned to the booth in 2012 as the Blue Jays' French-speaking TV voice.