Editor's note: This is the second part in a two-part series about former Midland baseball phenom Ken Edgar. The first part appeared Saturday.
Tom Arnold was the longtime second baseman of the Ivy Leaf clubs that faced Ken Edgar and the Indians many times in the area's premier baseball loop.
“I remember playing against Kenny,” said Arnold. “He was a 'tough out.' Very difficult to defend against. You couldn’t predict what he was going to do at bat. Sadly, for the Leafs, a Kenny Edgar single was soon turned into a double, as he would promptly steal second base.”
One special note about Edgar.
In 1967, the catcher/second baseman attended a professional tryout camp held at Hamilton's Civic Baseball Stadium sponsored by Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Accompanying Ken on the trip was Chester Graham, his battery mate and double-play partner with the Indians.
Herb Beauchamp had arranged everything for the talented duo. Beauchamp was Midland's most astute baseball authority at the time, a former “bird-dog” scout of the then New York Giants, who'd restarted Dyment's pro career in the mid-1950s.
Edgar and Graham spent the day in Hamilton working out in front of the Pittsburgh coaches and scouts, along with about 100 other young prospects from communities across Ontario. Despite their obvious ability, neither one was offered a minor-league contract by the Pirates. That didn't seem to matter, though, as both returned home grateful for the “big league” experience.
Fast forward to 2024. There's little doubt that any inductee of Midland's Sports Hall of Fame has ever been more amazed about receiving the honour than Ken was last September. He just couldn't believe that he was going into the Hall, and the many expressions of thanks shown by the 77-year-old extended far beyond the induction ceremony.
Naturally, the selectors considered all of Edgar's baseball exploits in making their decision, but they were also impressed by what he had done in hockey. For two seasons, 1968-69 and 1969-70, Ken was a key member when Midland's other “big” sports team, the Intermediate B, then Intermediate A Flyers, became back-to-back provincial finalists.
Skating in the tough Georgian Bay circuit, the Midland minor-hockey grad proved to be a deft right-handed shooter and heads-up playmaker. Just like at the ballpark, Edgar was speedy and smart and “not afraid to mix it up” in any rink. And his crowd-pleasing style, the signature of the industrious centre, spearheaded a high-scoring line with Alvin Robillard on his left side and Edgar Dorion at right wing, that twice helped carry the Flyers deep into the Ontario Hockey Association playoffs.
“Kenny Edgar scores four, takes Flyers to 6-4 win,” blared the headline in the Midland Free Press, announcing the quartet of semifinal markers Edgar notched against the Picton Merchants in 1969.
Those point-gathering traits were a huge part of the two-way skills Ken demonstrated after he had ended his OHA career to play men's rec league hockey before the start of the 1970-71 campaign. In fact, during the 1970s, '80s and '90s, Edgar would split his wintertime skating in a pair of local rec organizations, the Midland Recreational Hockey League and Penetanguishene Recreational Hockey League. And he never missed a beat.
Fresh from his tenure with the Midland Flyers, and competing into his fifties, the feisty forward continually was an offensive threat around the opposition's net. As a result, the goals and assists kept piling up, and Edgar collected several individual scoring titles and MVP awards, in addition to being a leader for various championship-winning teams in both loops.
“He gave me trouble all the time coming down on a rush,” said ex-MRHLer Al Hamelin, a solid defenceman who battled with and against Edgar. “Kenny could beat you so many ways: With his speed, a quick deke, dump and chase. I had to collect my jock many times.”
While he excelled at different levels of hockey – a 12-year-old Edgar scored the second goal in the 4-2 clinching game of the Provincial Little NHL tournament in Welland when the champion Midland Lions captured the 1958-59 “AHL” Division crown – it's probably safe to say that for anyone in North Simcoe who saw Ken Edgar perform, or read about his many highlights in the Free Press, he is still first thought of, and best remembered, as a ball player.
Once the puck wars were through, Edgar, as he routinely did, would start getting ready for “spring training” and a new baseball season. For a time, playing in the South Simcoe league for Burrhead meant travelling down Highway 12 to suit up with Midland's traditional rival, the Orillia Majors. Ken had left the hometown Indians in 1974 and it wasn't long before the fan base of his new club learned to appreciate the trademark speed and hustle the former Midland star brought to the Sunshine City.
Following this, Edgar switched his summer sport from baseball to fastball. Ken's quick hands and fast feet allowed him to easily adjust to windmill-style underhand pitching and he joined his brother Terry on the Wye Heritage Marina squad in Midland's Olympia Fastball League. Together, the Edgar boys won three consecutive Olympia league championships with the Mariners – 1982, 1983, and 1984.
A few years later, nearing the age of 40, Ken would move up to the higher brand of competition in the Simcoe Rural Fastball League. Clearly, he hadn't lost any of his infield skills, and across several campaigns, Edgar was the starting second baseman for the Vasey Seniors.
Ken's active involvement in sports was beginning to wind down, only it wasn't quite finished, yet. Why had he kept playing for so long? Simple answer, he “just loved to play,” and before Edgar decided, in baseball parlance, to “hang 'em up,” there was one last stint with another kind of local ball.
When his old Wye Heritage teammate, Gary Butineau, asked the former 1971 batting champ to join the Marc's Auto slo-pitch team from Midland, Ken said yes, but added a single understanding. Edgar told Butineau that if he ever failed to hit any arcing lob thrown to the plate, and struck out, then his days of swinging a bat were over.
Of course, that was the athlete in him coming out, because for Ken, “swing and a miss for strike three” in slo-pitch would never happen.