Congratulations Clare Osborne!

Clare Osborne – Builder – Baseball

Clare Osborne was born in Lindsay, Ontario in 1952 and he is a graduate of Lindsay Collegiate Vocational Institute. He subsequently moved to the Durham Region in the early 1970s and has been a resident of Whitby since 1987. Those who know Clare will immediately attest to his lifelong enthusiasm for the game of baseball and his unwavering devotion to making his chosen sport a joy for all parties involved.

Clare’s passion for baseball began at an early age and it has endured for decades. He achieved considerable success throughout a playing career that saw he and his teams capture several league, tournament, and provincial championships, and included the induction of his 1968 Little Britain Juvenile team into the Lindsay District Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

In 1990, Clare began coaching in Whitby, as his baseball career evolved from player to coach.

From 1990 to 1999, he maintained the dual responsibilities of a player-coach for the Whitby Canadians senior team, during which he guided that club to an Ontario championship in 1992, the first Whitby senior team to earn such a title. He then chose to focus his efforts solely on the coaching side of the game and began his tenure in the Whitby Minor Baseball Association (WMBA) as of the 2000 season.

Since that time, Clare and his teams have experienced a remarkable run of success, notably:

• 2004 – Ontario Finalists – Senior Rookie Ball 9U
• 2005 – Ontario Champions – Minor Mosquito 10U
• 2006 – Ontario Champions – Major Mosquito 11U
• 2007 – Ontario Champions – Minor Peewee 12U
• 2008 – Ontario Champions – Peewee 13U
• 2008 – Ontario Champions – Senior Rookie Ball 9U (Assistant Coach)
• 2010 – Ontario Summer Games Bronze Medalists – Bantam 15U
• 2010 – Ontario Champions – Bantam 15U
• 2010 – Canadian Bronze Medalists – Bantam 15U
• 2011 – Ontario Finalists – Minor Peewee 11U
• 2014 – Ontario Champions – Bantam 15U
• 2014 – Canadian Champions – Bantam 15U
• 2016 – Ontario Summer Games Gold Medalists – Bantam 15U
• 2019 – Ontario Champions – Bantam 15U
• 2019 – Canadian Champions – Bantam 15U
• 2021 – Ontario Finalists – Bantam 15U
• 2022 – Ontario Elite League Champions – Bantam 15U
• 2024 – Eastern Ontario Champions/Ontario Semi-Finalists – Major Mosquito 11U

One of the many reasons for Clare’s impressive accomplishments as a coach lies with his skills  related to player development. Throughout his tenure in the WMBA, seven of Clare’s players have advanced to the Canadian National Junior Team (18U) program, with all those of eligible age also earning scholarships to play college baseball in the United States. Furthermore, four from this latter group were subsequently drafted by various teams in Major League Baseball. On a personal level, Clare was recognized as the Eastern Ontario Baseball Association (EOBA) Junior Rep Coach of the Year for three consecutive seasons (2006, 2007, 2008) and was also honoured by Baseball Canada as the Ontario Grassroots Coach of the Year in 2009.