JonahKeri.com

Bob Elliott released his annual list of the 100 Most Influential Canadians in Baseball in 2008. Elliott is a veteran baseball writer for the Toronto Sun and one of the most respected names in the biz north of the border. Which is why it saddens me to say that he’s apparently lost it. How else to explain his choice for #64?

64. Jonah Keri, ESPN (-).

He graduated from Concordia in Montreal, wanting to write baseball for a newspaper. When that was not possible he wrote for Baseball Prospectus, co-authored Baseball Between the Numbers and is writing the screenplay for an IMAX movie. A writing machine (jonahkeri.com) he is part of a powerful lobby to get Tim Raines into the Hall of Fame.

Full disclosure: Bob and I are friendly, having met at the wedding of two of my closest friends. So this was just a case of a contest being totally rigged.

Still, check out the guy who finished just behind me at #65:

65. Phillippe Aumont, Mariners (54).

When MLB rated its top 50 Prospects for 2009, the Gatineau, Que. right-hander was 33rd. Aumont was at the Futures Games at Yankee Stadium but did not pitch due to an elbow ailment. The 6-foot-7 stud is a giant to Quebec players.

That’s right. I beat out one of the top baseball prospects on the planet, a 6’7″ behemoth whose fastball clocks in at almost 100 miles per hour. Makes perfect sense.

Even though it’s ludicrous to me that I would rank highly on a list of anything, achieving this honor honour means the pressure’s on for 2009. Since I don’t expect to actually make future lists on merit alone, I might have to do something drastic. I’m thinking a William Ligue Jr. move on Tim Lincecum. Only instead of attacking him (he is awesome, after all), I’ll just run over and hand him some delicious Cheskie’s babkas.

Sure I’ll get tossed in jail for a six-month minimum. But the combination-move of scaring the bejeezus out of the best pitcher in the world, introducing the masses to the best pastry ever made, and climbing into the Top 50 on the 2009 Most Influential Canadians in Baseball list will be well worth it.