TORONTO — Chewing a healthy wad of gum and avoiding eye contact as he ran off rapid-fire clichés, Brett Lawrie was his ever-energetic self at Rogers Centre Tuesday night. The lone difference? He was wearing Oakland Athletics green.
“I’m sure there will be a little bit of butterflies,” Lawrie said before his first game in Toronto as a member of the visiting team. “I’m trying not to make too much out of it. I’m just going to go play and take a deep breath and take it all in.”
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Lawrie, of course, played parts of four seasons in Toronto before being shipped to the Athletics this past winter as part of the package for Josh Donaldson. The Langley, B.C., native came of age in a Blue Jays uniform, going through a roller-coaster of highs and lows throughout his early 20’s.
It was a fascinating progression that featured everything from an incredible big league introduction (as a 21-year-old, he put up a .953 OPS over his first two months in the majors) to persistent injury trouble (he hit the DL every season he played in Toronto, with injuries ranging from the mundane, like a pair of fingers fractured by ground balls, to the bizarre, like a strained oblique and lower leg contusion suffered diving into a camera bay) to his trademark unmatched in-game intensity (he was once suspended four games after firing his helmet in disgust at the feet of an umpire).
“Brett got after it every night. He played hard. He never let up,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “I can’t remember a time that Brett didn’t go all out when he was on the field.”
Lawrie wasn’t sure what form his reception would take at Rogers Centre Tuesday night, likely remembering how Toronto fans greeted other ex-Blue Jays with salty ovations. But as he stepped into the batters’ box to lead off the top half of the second inning, the sizable crowd responded with a solid round of applause, before Lawrie lined out to centre.
Of course, Lawrie never wanted to leave the Blue Jays. He was caught completely off guard by the trade this off-season and told reporters in Oakland, “I was kind of at a loss for words to be honest with you—it’s almost like I was dreaming.” But eight months and more than 100 games with the Athletics have provided perspective.
“It’s the way she goes. It’s a business. It’s a game when we’re out here playing, but as soon as nine innings end, it’s a business,” Lawrie said. “You never know what the brass is talking about up top—who they want, who they’re looking to get. You’ve just got to go out and play and not really worry about that stuff.”
Lawrie’s having a fine season in Oakland, playing every day and batting .268/.306/.405 with 10 homers. He credits not playing on the Rogers Centre turf as one reason for his consistent health in 2015, along with increased maturity and understanding of his body.
He was a popular presence before Tuesday’s homecoming, giving hugs to several members of the Blue Jays staff and hopping a barrier down the third base line to sign autographs for a large swell of fans from the first row of seats.
“Playing in Toronto was a great time. I was young and I didn’t know what to expect. I was just coming into the big leagues with a new group, and I was Canadian, so everything was kind of a plus for me,” Lawrie said. “It was a lot of fun. I got a great reception everywhere I went. Everybody was first class and it was great to be around the city and be treated the way I was. It was great and I’ll never forget it and it’ll always be a spot that I come back to at some point.”
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While Lawrie posed for countless pictures in the stands, on the field there was another former Blue Jay making his return to Toronto—Danny Valencia, the lefty-mashing bench bat who came to the Blue Jays at the 2014 trade deadline and was jettisoned exactly a year later.
The 30-year-old, who was designated for assignment a day after the trade deadline and eventually shipped to Oakland in exchange for cash considerations, was a victim of the Blue Jays’ dramatic roster shuffle at the end of July. The team overturned a fifth of its clubhouse and was left with a choice of keeping either Valencia or Chris Colabello in the fold. Tasked with making the decision, Gibbons chose Colabello, and called Valencia into his office early on a Saturday morning to deliver some startling news.
“I was really shocked. I never saw it coming,” Valencia said. “Honestly, I think everybody was a little shocked by it. Even when I told players afterwards that I was designated, none of them really believed me.
“I was hurt about it. It kind of upset me,” Valencia continued. “But you have to move on in this game. You have to have thick skin.”
Valencia produced an interesting tenure in a Blue Jays uniform, making just 338 plate appearances while turning himself into an unlikely fan favourite with several timely hits as well as a strong contribution of GIFs and memes to the Blue Jays’ corner of the Internet.
Toronto fans were vocally upset across social media when he was let go and gave Valencia a strong ovation before his first at-bat Tuesday night. Naturally, he lined a double to left-centre field and drove in Oakland’s first run.
“Everybody knows I loved it here. I had great relationships with our front office, our coaches, every player in the clubhouse,” Valencia said. “The city was great to me and the fans were awesome. I have nothing but great memories. I can’t say anything bad about it here. I really loved it.”