Friends and admirers of Leaside’s Howie Bernie will gather Monday, July 9 at Howard Talbot Park to honour the legendary local baseball figure Howie Bernie. The linked Toronto Sun story is very enjoyable and has a nice picture of Howie as he approaches his 75th birthday. He looks pretty good. Above, a picture of the Richardsons Junior Team from 1962 with Howie at the left rear recalls but one episode in Birnie’s career. In one of a number of face-offs with the team from Christie Pits, Birnie had his pitchers in and out like a revolving door, tailoring them to the Pits batters. It was a bravura performance and the Richardson’s won. As the Sun says, he is a hero of the sandlot community and will be honoured by a legion ex-Leaside players, umpires he worked with, Baseball Ontario executives, pals, transplanted Leaside grads and even coaches he ejected. The party begins Monday, July 9 at 7 p.m. Toronto Sun.
