Hall of Famer - Rainy River man receives baseball’s highest honour

Ken Johnston

June 5, 2004, was grand slam of a day for Rainy River resident Art Tooth.
That was the day he was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame at Morden, MB. Tooth grew up in Oakville, MB and was likely pitching fastball’s out of his crib as a baby.
Scouted out in his teens by Don Rawleigh of New York Rangers fame, Tooth joined the Manitoba Senior League. “I think he saw me at a tourney in Stonewall in 1947,” recalled Tooth.
A hard fastball thrower, Tooth lead his team, The Canadian Ukrainian Athletic Centre Blues to the top of the league and eventually the championship in 1952. “It was the pinnacle of my career!”
In 1948 he tried out for the St. Louis Cardinals but was told he was too old at 24. A four year stint in the air force robbed him of his prime baseball years, but he does not regret the sacrifice and is in fact very proud of serving his country. He recalls that he and the boys did play some scrub ball in Burma, India, while in the service.
His senior league career lasted eight years until he threw his arm out. After that he left the game, with the exception of coaching a kids team for a couple of years. He has always been an avid fan of the game, noting that he was a really big New York Yankees fan.
“I saw Jackie Robinson and that bunch play!” In fact he and three other fellows travelled to New York in 1952 to see the famous Subway (World) Series between the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers. “The first game cost us $15 per ticket from scalpers. The last game was $6 per ticket at the gate.”
Now-a-days, Tooth said that he only follows the game closely at playoff time. “There are too many teams now. When I was younger I knew all the players and their batting averages.”
As for Tooth’s batting, “I was never much of a hitter but I could throw fastballs.”
Tooth was inducted in a group of 16 at Morden. Of those three of his former teammates, including his scout’s brother Jack Rawleigh. Don Rawleigh is in the NHL hockey hall of fame.
So how did this baseball star end up in Rainy River? After his ball career he worked in the grain business for three decades, running a string of 450 elevators and three terminals at Montreal, Thunder Bay and Vancouver. He was based out of Winnipeg and one weekend was going to go fishing. His favourite spot was unavailable and spoke to one of his employees, Ross Olson who suggested Budreau’s Oak Grove Camp near Rainy River. That was all it took. He and his wife Jean fell in love with the area and bought some land on the Rainy River in 1975.
After retiring,they went south in the winter and to Rainy in the summer. So they sold their home in Winnipeg and made Rainy their permanent home. Recently, they built a brand new home at the corner of Third St. and Broadway Ave. in Rainy River.
Art said it was really great to be honoured at Morden. “I was very proud and humbled by the experience. In his livingroom he is proudly displaying the really impressive trophy he received, something he says he will cherish forever.