Spain goes from US hockey to Canadians baseball

Garrett Spain grew up playing hockey in the United States, where baseball is the national pastime. These days, he's playing professional baseball in Canada. It's funny how life works out.

Spain, an outfielder selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 15th round of the 2021 Draft, is currently in his second season with the High-A Vancouver Canadians. This aptly named Northwest League entity is the only Minor League Baseball team in Canada, a country with an undying love for hockey. Spain, a native of not-exactly-hockey-obsessed Clarksville, Tenn., can relate. He's loved the sport for literally as long as he can remember.

"Honestly, it came from TV, watching the [Nashville] Predators play," he said, speaking at Vancouver's Nat Bailey Stadium prior to a game earlier this month. "It was both my parents and me, flipping through the TV channels, and hockey popped up. So I like to remember it this way: I know there was a fight and my 3-year-old brain saw it happen, and for some reason, fell in love with it."

Spain was all-in, and witnessing on-ice fisticuffs was all it took. The Predators became his favorite team, with Jordan Tootoo his favorite player and Tootoo's No. 22 his favorite number. Before long, Spain's parents took him to an ice rink, just to see if he'd like it. To say he did would be an understatement.

"Once I hit the age of 9 or 10, I was in love with the sport so much. Love can actually help you succeed in the game," said Spain, a forward who had his own Elite Hockey Prospects player page. "And I got to experience a lot of cool things at that age with hockey and travel. ... We went everywhere, in middle school and high school. Practice out of Nashville, and Nashville only had two rinks but four sheets of ice at the time. We traveled to Detroit, Chicago, Boston, Indiana. We got to go to Canada three or four times, went to Quebec and played in the big world tournament up there, the World Invite, hands down one of my best experiences in hockey."

Hockey was at the forefront of Spain's mind, but "baseball was always there." He said the two sports existed in harmony for most of his childhood, with the end of one sport's season signaling the beginning of the other.

"I started really getting attention and noticing that I'm decent at baseball my sophomore year of high school, and that's where stuff started getting difficult," he said. "To where hockey was interrupting the first month of baseball, and baseball was interrupting with the hockey travel."

He ultimately chose baseball, because he received an offer to play collegiately at Clarksville's Austin Peay State University. With no corresponding hockey offers, he felt he had to make the "safe decision." Given his background, getting drafted by the Blue Jays in 2021 felt like it was meant to be.

"Whenever I did get the phone call and had a couple days to let it sink in, I was like 'Dang, you know if I ever make it to Toronto, there's gonna be the Maple Leafs. It's a hockey city. Then I looked at the Minor League system and saw Vancouver, and they had the Canucks and an amazing atmosphere. ... I was really close to bringing up my sticks and skates [to Vancouver], but I didn't end up doing it this year, because I just came off surgery. I know if I had that stuff, I would do it."

Getting back on the ice remains a temptation for Spain, as there's a rink located right next to the Canadians' home of Nat Bailey Stadium. Instead, he brings his hard-driving hockey mentality to the baseball diamond.

"The competitive edge in hockey is second to none, and I think that really helped me out here because baseball is a failure sport," he said. "Whatever happens, that just makes you want it more. But having that edge, and then learning to keep a cool head, because in hockey, you can go out there and try to hit somebody. Baseball, you can't really even say anything to the umpire. Half the stuff you'd say on a sheet of ice will get you tossed.

"So it's a little different. There's pros and cons to both, but I definitely brought that competitive edge from hockey to baseball, and I think that's gotten me here to where I am today more than anything."