Listen to John Elias discuss his professional baseball career and his elite baseball academy, which was located in Cote St. Luc. John Elias was born in Montreal in 1941 and grew up in the Snowdon and Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhoods. John’s infatuation with sports began at an early age, and he quickly fell in love with both hockey and baseball. His skills in baseball, specifically his strong arm, made John one of the best lefty pitchers in the city. After graduating from West Hill High School, John attended Pasadena City Junior College in California for two years before accepting an offer to play college baseball at Michigan State University. After graduating from Michigan State in 1962, John had the opportunity to play professional baseball in the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Athletics’ farm systems. Following four years playing professional baseball in the United States, John returned to Montreal, where he pitched for Granby and later Trois-Rivière of the Quebec Provincial League. Once his professional baseball career came to an end in 1970, John became a teacher and successful basketball coach at St. Pius X High School. His passion for baseball did not end with his professional career. John was a batting practice pitcher for the Montreal Expos throughout the 1970s. In addition, John opened up Grand Slam Baseball School in 1970, Montreal’s premier summer baseball academy at Wentworth Park in Cote St. Luc. John’s connections with the Expos organization allowed him to bring on daily professional guest instructors. Expos’ legends such as Gary Carter, Steve Rogers, Bill Lee, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Pedro Martinez were some of the many players to instruct campers at Grand Slam. Following more than 25 years of successful summer sessions, John sold Grand Slam in 1997. In addition to running Grand Slam, John was named the head coach of McGill University’s varsity baseball team in 1994 and ran numerous practices for local baseball organizations. Even into his 70s, John has continued to play an important role in Montreal’s baseball scene.
