Wayne Amyotte

 

A star player in the Brockville Little League (Giants) and the Babe Ruth League (Dodgers) Wayne Amyotte was a member of the 1963 Babe Ruth Ontario Championship team and a North Atlantic Semi-Finalist before becoming a member of the original Brockville Bunnies team in 1966.

A year later he was voted top pitcher for the Bunnies.

At 18 Wayne moved on to the Brockville Beavers Senior team before playing for Lachine, Quebec. It was with Lachine he got offered a tryout with the Detroit Tigers.

In his first year with the Tigers organization he had a 8-2 record with an ERA of 2.36 with the Bristol Tigers in the Appalachian Rookie League. The next year he played with the Lakeland Tigers of the Florida State League in "A" ball before moving to the then Rocky Mountain Leafs of the Carolina "A" League.

His fourth season in the Tigers system came to a disappointing end as he threw out his pitching arm and was given his unconditional release. He returned to Canada and remained active with Senior teams in Peterborough and Kingston before moving on to coaching and teaching the next generation of players.

Instrumental in coming up with the name "Bunnies" for the team in 1971 as a tribute to "Bun" Bradfield his own nickname "Bullhead" was attributed to his love of fishing where he spent many enjoyable hours. His love of fishing followed him throughout his minor pro career as he was described by the Bristol HeraldCourier as, "Canadian pitcher Wayne Amyotte, an avid fisherman, who went 4-3 and became the workhorse of the pitching staff" in a tribute to the 1969 Bristol Tigers Team.