Ridley, described as “an icon” in Canadian baseball by one of his former players, died of cancer Friday at Burlington’s Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital. He was 64.

The longtime native Miltonian was an original member of the Toronto Blue Jays’ scouting staff and the manager of Canada’s first Olympic baseball team in Seoul in 1988. He also led Canada’s national junior squad to two bronze medals at the world championships.

But for all the work he did at the highest levels of the game, Ridley was equally adept at working with a team of eight-year-olds. Friend and long-time baseball writer Bob Elliott said Ridley’s teaching background helped him relate to young players.

“He never raised his voice. He wouldn’t say ‘You’re doing this wrong,’” Elliott said. “He’d say ‘Did you think of this?’ or ‘What would happen if you did this?’ Sometimes he’d ask three questions, sometimes eight but he’d let the kid search his brain and come up with the answer.”

The scope of Ridley’s influence is on display on Elliott’s website www.canadianbaseballnetwork.com , where tributes have come from major league executives and players such as Pat Gillick, Gord Ash and Rob Butler to parents of minor baseball players.

Bill Byckowski, a member of the ‘88 Olympic team, said Ridley played an important role in helping Canadian players have the opportunities that they do today, whether it be playing professionally or getting scholarships.

Ridley knew first hand the obstacles Canadian players faced. An outfielder, he signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1963 and played in the team’s minor league system.

“I could run, I could throw, but I couldn’t do enough with the bat,” Ridley told the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune last April.

After retiring from playing he joined the Detroit Tigers as a part-time scout in 1973. Three years later he joined Toronto when the city was granted an expansion team.

“In those early years, the Blue Jays were trying to sign every Canadian kid who was a prospect,” Ridley told the Star Tribune. “Baseball Canada was just getting started, and it wasn’t as easy to get a line on the best kids in Canada. We were travelling all over, looking for diamonds in the rough.”

Ridley, who scouted for the Jays for 26 years before joining the Minnesota Twins in 2003, was responsible for helping Canadians who had fallen through the cracks. He helped turn the Jays on to Paul Spoljaric, who went undrafted.

“In the baseball community, he was probably the most recognized scout in the country,” said Byckowski, who later joined Ridley on the Jays’ scouting staff. “Whether he was dealing with coaches, parents or players, the guys all knew him. He was very charismatic and he cared about everyone.”

Ridley, who moved to Burlington after he retired from teaching, was intensely loyal to Canadian players. In 1999, he campaigned for the Jays to draft a power-hitting catcher he had scouted in New Westminster, B. C.

“Byckowski and I got kind of loud about it, but we couldn’t convince them,” he told the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune last year.

Nineteen picks later, the Minnesota Twins took the player he wanted — Justin Morneau, who went on to become the American League MVP in 2006 and was the runner-up this past season.

Though his work with major league teams earned Ridley a higher profile, he gained even more admirers at the lower levels, where his abilities shone through. Ridley could spot a flaw in a player’s swing as he walked by the diamond.

He would always stop to offer encouragement and advice to players of any age.

“There’s a fraternity in baseball,” said Craig Bedford, whose son Brad played in Georgetown on a national bantam championship team Ridley helped coach in 2007. “Whenever you find somebody who loves the game as much as you, you’re attracted to them.”

Maybe that’s why, as Elliott said, whenever Ridley visited a diamond “there would be a lineup like he was Santa Claus.”

“A lot of people didn’t realize we had this amazing baseball guy right here,” Bedford said. “I consider my son’s association with him as totally fortuitous. It was a gift.”

It was a gift Ridley shared with as many people as he could.

Ridley is survived by his daughter Shannon and sons Jeremy and Shayne. A wake will be held Saturday at McKersie-Kocher Funeral Home, 114 Main St. E.