Monday, June 20, 2022
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To Joe’s family and friends, upon receiving the sad news of his passing, please accept my sincere condolences.
I played baseball with Joe during 1975-1976 and briefly late on. I hadn’t seen him in many years, but his image is clear in my mind from those great days on the field.
I’m including a photo of him taken in Moncton in August 1976. It is lifted from a team picture that I have of the best junior baseball team in Nova Scotia history, the 1976 Atlantic Siding and Roofing Canadian Championship winning team from Halifax.
Joe had a great smile, which is on display in the photo. He’s trying to hide behind our batboy, because he had been injured earlier in the tournament and was in street clothes.
He played a mean center field, a whippet-like frame covering ground with long strides, his head as still as stone, loping to the eventual location of the ball. He saved my ass more than once. I knew that if he could reach it, it was an out, and he could get to balls that nobody else could.
Joe was no slouch at the plate, either. More importantly, Joe was a great teammate, had a cool laid back demeanor and a great understated sense of humour. We were supposed to have a reunion last year, which unfortunately fell through. I know I would have enjoyed seeing him, and the hugs that would have followed.
Please take some comfort in the knowledge that your loss is being felt, and your pain is being shared.
Patrick Bonner, Berwick, NS
