FanHouse StubbyClapp

Pictured, right: the Canadian national baseball team on their way to practice.

Stubby Clapp isn't going to be a part of Canada's Olympic squad in Beijing this year and it's a damn shame, because the minute or so it took the announcers to talk about how funny his name is would've been the most entertaining minute or so in Canadian baseball this year. The Houston Astros organization should be ashamed of themselves for denying a kinda bad, injured, 35 year old minor leaguer in their employ to pinch hit once or twice on the seventh or eighth-ish place team at the Summer Olympics. Who are they going to get to replace him, Billy Jo Robidoux? That guy isn't even Canadian.

After the jump, today's Dugout, wherein The Stubbster breaks the bad news to his coach, who looks a lot like the singer Sting when you look at him for a while.

Whenever someone makes an all-name list of baseball players, there's always one name that seems to make the cut. He's not a great player but Stubby Clapp has one of the more memorable names of anyone who's ever played the game.

In addition to all-name teams, Clapp's been a mainstay of the Canadian national team since 1999. At 35, that's the only baseball he's still playing, though he's also the hitting coach for Class A Lexington in the Houston Astro system. Still, it's a shame the team has refused to give Clapp permission to play in Beijing this summer.

"The Houston Astros have turned down our request for Stubby to play for us," (Coach Greg) Hamilton told CBCSports.ca. "It's a blow. Stubby Clapp brings leadership to the team and in many ways is the face of the program."

The Astros position is understandable. They hired Clapp to coach and don't want to lose a month of his services while prospects could benefit from his tutelage. But, Clapp hurt his knee in Olympic qualifying and might not even be physically able to play. Why not figure out if it's even possible for him to play before rejecting it out of hand?

The difficulty getting big-name players is a big reason why baseball won't be at the 2012 Olympics. It would be nice if players who devoted themselves to the international game got a chance to go out in style this summer. Plus it would be nice to hear Stubby's name a few more times before he gets lost in the minors.

(H/T BBTF)