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Wayne Norton (November 13, 1942 – January 6, 2018) was a Canadian professional baseball outfielder, coach, and scout. He played 10 seasons in Minor League Baseball, then had a lengthy career as a coach and scout. Noted for his impact on baseball in Canada,[1][2] was inducted to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016. Listed at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) and 188 pounds (85 kg), he threw right-handed and batted left-handed.

Wayne Norton
Norton in 1983
Outfielder / Coach / Scout
Born: (1942-11-13)November 13, 1942 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Died: January 6, 2018(2018-01-06) (aged 75)
Batted: Left Threw: Right
Member of the Canadian
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	2016

Biography

Norton was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba,[3] and grew up in Port Moody, British Columbia.[4] He played amateur baseball in the Vancouver area for Coquitlam in the late 1950s,[5] then played college baseball for the Whitworth Pirates in Spokane, Washington.[6] After batting .419 during his freshman season, he signed with the New York Yankees in June 1961 and was assigned to the Florida State League (FSL).[7]

In his first professional season, Norton batted .238 with one home run and 21 runs batted in (RBIs) in 66 games with the St. Petersburg Saints of the FSL.[8] After the season, he was claimed by the Kansas City Athletics in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft.[9][10] Norton went on to spend the remainder of his Minor League Baseball career within the Athletics organization.[8][lower-alpha 1] He first reached Triple-A in 1966 with the Vancouver Mounties of the Pacific Coast League, and finished his playing career in 1970 with the Triple-A Iowa Oaks of the American Association.[8] Overall, Norton played in 1206 minor-league games, 459 at the Triple-A level.[8] He had a career batting average of .242 with 107 home runs and 490 RBIs.[8] Defensively, he played 1080 games in the outfield, compiling a .968 fielding percentage; he also played 10 games as a third baseman and made one appearance as a second baseman.[8]

After his playing career, Norton had a long career in coaching and scouting.[2] He established Canada's Junior National Team and managed the Canada national baseball team at the 1975 Pan American Games.[2][11] In 1986, he established a baseball academy in Vancouver, the National Baseball Institute (NBI).[6] Players developed at NBI include Matt Stairs and Corey Koskie.[6]

Norton left NBI in 1994, worked as a scout for the Baltimore Orioles from 1996 to 1999, then moved to the Seattle Mariners in 2000.[6] He was hired into both organizations by Pat Gillick.[3] Norton scouted for the Mariners in Canada for 17 years,[6] and also scouted in Europe.[2] Canadian players he signed include Phillippe Aumont, Tyler O'Neill, James Paxton, and Michael Saunders.[6] In Europe, he signed players such as Greg Halman, Alex Liddi, and Dylan Unsworth.[6][lower-alpha 2] Norton was honored as International Scout of the Year by the Mariners (2007), and twice was named Canadian Scout of the Year by the Canadian Baseball Network (CBN) (1998, 2013).[6] CBN named the Wayne Norton Award, presented to their selection for minor-league pitcher of the year, in his honor.[12]

Port Moody, when Norton grew up, honored him with a civic award in 2015,[13] and named the city's Wayne Norton Baseball Diamond in his honor in 2018.[14] Norton was diagnosed with ALS in 2015,[4] and continued to scout for the Mariners during the 2016 season despite his illness.[15] In June 2016, he was inducted to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.[3] He threw out a ceremonial first pitch at Safeco Field in September 2017.[6] Norton died in January 2018, aged 75.[3] He was survived by his wife, a daughter, and a son.[6]

Notes

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)

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