Ron Stead

Ron Stead
Pitcher
Born: (1936-09-24)September 24, 1936 London, Ontario, Canada
Died: December 5, 2011(2011-12-05) (aged 75) Chatham, Ontario, Canada
Batted: Right Threw: Left
Member of the Canadian
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	2006

Ronald Duncan Stead (September 24, 1936 – December 5, 2011) was a Canadian baseball pitcher. He played briefly in Minor League Baseball, then went on to play for over a decade in the Intercounty Baseball League of Ontario, setting multiple league records. He was inducted to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. Listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and 150 pounds (68 kg), he threw left-handed and batted right-handed.

Stead grew up in Toronto near Maple Leaf Stadium, home ballpark of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League.^[1] He served as a batboy for the team in 1947 and later was a batting practice pitcher for the team.^[1] In 1956, he signed a player contract with the Maple Leafs and was assigned to the Florida State League (FSL).^[2][3]

Stead played in Minor League Baseball during 1956, 1957, and part of 1958.^[4] In 1956, he played in the FSL for the Orlando Seratomas.^[4] In 30 games (29 starts and 20 complete games) he compiled a 10–17 win–loss record with a 3.04 earned run average (ERA) while striking out 157 batters in 237 innings pitched.^[4] He returned to the FSL in 1957; pitching for the Gainesville G-Men he had a 17–10 record in 30 games (26 starts and 24 complete games) with a 2.34 ERA while striking out 138 batters in 226 innings.^[4] In 1958, Stead made two appearances for the Duluth-Superior White Sox, a farm team of the Chicago White Sox in the Northern League.^[4] His statistics for the season are incomplete, although a newspaper box score shows he allowed eight runs in 1+1⁄3 innings of relief during a game in May.^[5]

In early June 1958, Stead joined the Brantford Red Sox, a team in the amateur Intercounty Baseball League of Southern Ontario.^[6] One of his teammates with Brantford was outfielder Jimmy Wilkes,^[7] who had played several seasons in Negro league baseball.^[8] Stead went on to pitch for Brantford for nine seasons, through 1966, and pitched 14 total seasons in the Intercounty Baseball League, finishing in 1972 with the Guelph CJoys.^[9] Stead had great success in the league, including a 0.35 ERA in 1967, setting a new league record.^[10] He was named an all-star 10 times,^[11] was league MVP three times,^[11] and is considered one of the top 100 players in league history.^[12] Stead's uniform number, 11, was retired by the Brantford Red Sox in 2002.^[11] He still held multiple Intercounty Baseball League records, including career wins (104) and strikeouts (1,231), when he was inducted to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.^[1]

Stead also played for the Canada national baseball team, appearing in the 1967 Pan American Games, contested in Winnipeg. He was the starting pitcher of the team's opening game, a 3–1 loss to Mexico; Stead struck out 10 batters in seven innings while allowing four hits.^[13] Canada won its second game in the tournament, defeating Puerto Rico by a 3–2 score.^[14] However, officials then ruled that four players on the Canadian team, including Stead, were ineligible to compete because they had previously played professional baseball.^[14] The win over Puerto Rico was forfeited, and the Canadian team continued in the tournament without the ineligible players,^[14] ultimately finishing last in the five-team competition.^[15] Stead later played for the champion Ontario baseball team at the 1969 Canada Games.^[16]

Outside of baseball, Stead worked for Union Gas.^[11] After his baseball career, he played slow-pitch softball until 2000.^[11] Stead and his wife, Betty, had three sons and a daughter.^[17] He died in 2011, aged 75.^[4]

• Career statistics from Baseball Reference (Minors)