When Sportsnet called and told me they wanted me to cover baseball my first thought was I don't know anything about baseball… anymore. When I was a kid I loved the game. My favourite team was the Philadelphia Phillies. They had Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Steve Carlton, Garry Maddox, Greg 'the Bull" Luzinski and many more players I adored.
As the years went by I lost that connection with the game but I still knew the players until about 1998. That's when I moved from Toronto to Edmonton. That's when I started covering hockey full time and it's also when I started having kids (I should probably credit my wife for that).
In the last decade I covered it once during the NHL lockout and it was the 2004 World Series. "The Curse of the Bambino" came to an end for the Red Sox and I was there to cover it. Five years later and I'm back on the baseball beat and I'm feeling cursed.
I recognized Cito Gaston, Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells and then I sort of knew a few other guys but only from TV and I'd never seen them in person. My task was three days of Jays' coverage in Anaheim and Oakland.
First off let me tell you that it's about the only sport you can work and work on your tan at the same time. It definitely beats the winter nights of walking out to your car in the cold and snow of so many NHL cities. The players make up for that because they are so easy to deal with. I knew from what I heard and what I experienced that baseball was a bit different in that regard.
I tried to talk to Halladay in between starts and he politely declined. I guess you could say I struck out but he's so intense I still think he was wound up from his start the night before. The A's' Jason Giambi ran out of time to do something with me but I actually believe he would have done it if time permitted.
The Jays were friendly… Aaron Hill was over-the-top nice. We spoke to him nearly every day and after Saturday's game I stood at his locker. He was walking out and noticed me and said, "Do you need me?" I did but I was willing to give him a pass but he came through just like he has all season long for the Jays.
Kevin Millar spoke on Manny Ramirez the same day ManRam was suspended 50 games -- no problem. Rod Barajas, Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, Travis Snider, Scott Richmond and more were accessible. I'm not saying they were all dying to talk to me but they did it and that's all you can ask.
Cito was terrific -- it was like talking to a grandfather who was particularly patient with someone new. Soft-spoken, cordial and inviting when it came to his time to be interviewed, I liked him in his first go-round as manager and appreciate him more the second time.
In the end it all worked out. I'm now back covering hockey and the Anaheim-Detroit series. I leave the Jays realizing they don't know me but I now know them and I know why I used to love America's national pastime as much as I did.
