Editor's note: This is the first part in a two-part series about former Midland baseball phenom Ken Edgar. The second part will run Sunday.
Hitting a baseball isn't easy.
No less an authority than Ted Williams liked to say that it was the hardest thing to do in sports. The Thumper meant putting solid wood on the ball, too, and not just making contact.
As anyone who has played baseball knows, getting a base hit three out of every 10 at-bats gives you a batting average of .300. In other words, you're a good hitter.
But what about .400? It's a sacred number in baseball, with Williams being the last player in the majors to reach that lofty standard 84 years ago.
Posting a .400 average, or surpassing it, no matter the league is considered quite a feat, and in 1971 Ken Edgar had himself a “season for the ages” and accomplished what no other Midland Indian had ever done before.
That year, swinging from the right side of the plate, the 24-year-old second baseman and catcher won the South Simcoe Baseball League (SSBL) batting title by hitting an incredible .500.
His high average bested the marks of such SSBL standouts as Nick Owen (the previous year's batting champion) and Pat Hennessey of the Orillia Majors, as well as the Creemore Braves' Paul Walker.
For his effort, Ken was the second person to be awarded the Harry Gordon Memorial Trophy as the league's top hitter.
Edgar's remarkable achievement, which remained unmatched when Midland's ball club disbanded five years later, didn't go unnoticed by the hometown faithful. Always immensely popular (a big thrill for kids attending games at Town Park was Ken returning your “Hi” as he walked past), in '71, the Midland fans voted him the Indians' most valuable player.
Having on-field success wasn't something new for Midland's versatile star. Between 1964 and 1974, Ken often batted at or above the .300 level, usually in the lead-off spot, while providing stellar defence gobbling up grounders or catching the blazing fastballs and sharp-breaking curves of pitchers such as Gord Dyment, the Indians' legendary righthander.
Speed was the name of his game. Whether stealing a base, beating out a bunt, or stretching a single into a double, the man they called “Burrhead” (because of his dark curly hair) made things happen on the diamond.
“Kenny Edgar replaced (Midland ace) Buzzy Deschamps for excitement, to make excitement, in doing things,” said the late Danny Wood, an infielder on the Indian squads of the 1960s and '70s. “Everything he did was exciting. He was a great second baseman, a great base runner. He was the spark plug.”
A gifted athlete blessed with natural skills, Ken was not only fast but also quick, a rare combination that allowed him to perform superbly at either second base or behind the plate.
“He did everything. Catch. Second base. I think he even played some outfield,” said Ron Marchildon, himself a first-rate left fielder, and, like Wood, Edgar's former Midland teammate.
“Kenny used his speed. Everything about him was speed. He was an excellent catcher. He had good reflexes and was quick behind the plate. If anyone tried bunting on him, he'd be out there and throw the guy out.”
As most other boys of the 1950s did, Ken Edgar grew up in an era when there were really only two sports seasons – hockey and baseball. Midland-born and bred, Edgar went through the minor-hockey ranks of the local Little NHL, as well as playing Little League baseball, and shone brightly enough to be chosen for what were then known as “All-Star” squads.
When it came to sports, thinking of more ambitious goals wasn't a problem for the west-ender. By the time he reached his teenage years, Ken had already set his sights on making one of the “big teams” in the town – Midland's baseball Indians.
These were the fabled Midland Indians of Jack Hendrickson and Larry Greene. Murray Yorke and Buzz Deschamps. Joe Faragher and Jim Lemieux — and, of course, Gord Dyment.
Edgar first cracked the Indians' veteran roster in 1964, at just 17 years of age, a rising up-and-comer who Midland Free Press scribe Charlie Noquet later called the “little pepper pot” of manager Bunn Deschamps' crew.
Even more significantly, he would then go on to help create the town's baseball dynasty. Ken was a three-time Ontario Baseball Association champion during his career, celebrating Intermediate A title victories alongside his Indian teammates in 1966, 1968 and 1969.
With Edgar in the lineup, Midland also appeared in the provincial Intermediate A finals of 1964, 1971 and 1972. Moreover, on that '69 edition of “The Tribe” – the last men's squad from Midland to capture an OBA championship – he and backstop Terry (Tiger) Moore would share the team's captain honours.
To say Ken was passionate about winning would be an understatement.
No one hated to lose more than Burrhead. Although not a large man, standing at around 5'6” and 155 pounds, Edgar was fiery and tough.
Said ex-Indians' pitcher and shortstop Chester Graham: “Ken played hard at all times. Don't let Ken’s physical size fool you. He never backed down from any challenge both on and off the field.”
Edgar's “full out” approach to the game earned him wide respect from fellow players across Simcoe County, and he would represent Midland at five South Simcoe league All-Star games (1969, 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1974).