After bringing a World Series title to Atlanta for the first time since 1995, Alex Anthopoulos has been named the most influential Canadian in baseball by the Canadian Baseball Network.
Right behind Anthopoulos were Hall of Famer Larry Walker, Edward Rogers of Rogers Communications (which owns Sportsnet), AL MVP runner-up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, who was born in Montreal, and the San Francisco Giants’ Sudbury-born president of baseball operations, Farhan Zaidi.
Anthopoulos began his baseball career as an intern with his hometown team, the Montreal Expos, before joining the Blue Jays, where he’d ascend to the role of GM. After leaving the Blue Jays following the 2015 season, he worked in the Los Angeles Dodgers front office before taking over Atlanta’s baseball operations department late in 2017.
A season-ending injury to Ronald Acuna Jr. appeared to effectively end Atlanta’s chances of contending in 2021, but Anthopoulos made a series of unheralded trades that helped turn the team’s season around. He acquired Jorge Soler, the eventual World Series MVP, Eddie Rosario, who’d win NLCS MVP, and Joc Pederson, who hit two home runs in the NLDS.
Founded by Cooperstown inductee Bob Elliott, the Canadian Baseball Network (a subscription is required for articles) has been compiling a list of the 100 most influential Canadians in baseball for 15 years.
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