Nothing was the same. Such was the cataclysmic effect of Jose Bautista’s dramatic seventh-inning, three-run home run—and subsequent bat flip—in game five of the ALDS. It cemented the series for the team, it sent fans’ hope soaring through the closed roof of the ballpark and it turned Bautista into the talk of Twitter. Yet it might be the Jays’ smallest fan whose life changed the most. Oscar Wood went from being like many other nine-year-olds in Canada, idolizing one of the Blue Jays stars, to a pseudo Rogers Centre celebrity and alternate team mascot.
That’s because, seconds before Jose hit that homer, Oscar wound up for a simulated one, and his dad caught the whole thing on video, later posting it online. Since then, there have been more than 17,000 mentions on Twitter of “Mini Bautista.”
Swinging in sync with his hero was a practice not new to young Oscar. It started when the Wood family took their yearly road trip to watch a Blue Jays series in New York in September, Oscar started to mimic Bautista’s stretching and swing and when Bautista had success, Yankees fans heckled Oscar saying, “Stop the voodoo.” Oscar took the jibes as a dare and continued his on-deck circle swings from his seat in the bleachers. Bautista homered twice that day including a fourth-inning shot to right, which was just the eighth opposite-field homer of his career.
With the refunded money the family got for a rained-out game in the Blue Jays and Yankees series, they bought another ticket to see the Tampa Bay Rays play in Toronto on September 26. Oscar swung along with Jose en route to two more Bautista home runs. Now fans started to take pictures of his mimicking act, at which point Oscar’s dad figured he may as well document it himself. But it wasn’t until Oscar did it in the seventh inning of game five of the ALDS that the legend was truly born.
Now the family has to change their plans to accommodate requests for photos and autographs.
Oscar has taken his new-found fame in stride, though there are certain aspects of celebrity that he doesn’t care for.
The Woods were invited this week to Mayor John Tory’s office, where Mini-Bautista was bestowed the honour of being mayor for the day.
Oscar was also invited into the Jays clubhouse where he was given some gear from Jose. “I sat down on the MLB couch, [Bautista] was looking in his locker and giving me stuff that was really cool. Then [other Blue Jays] were saying ‘Hey are you the kid from that video?’ And I said, ‘Yes I am.’ And they said ‘Ohh awesome,'” remembers Oscar.
The hero and fan have met before.
“For the Junior Jays game they brought me on to the field and I was paired up with Jose Bautista. It all started right there,” Oscar states matter-of-factly.
When his older sister thought their father’s beard resembled Oscar’s favourite player, Oscar too wanted a beard to resemble his favourite right fielder.
Major League Baseball, which has pushed “Mini Bautista” hard on social media, gave the family tickets to game four. Since the Woods already had tickets to game five, they made a trip out of it and stayed in the Fairmont Royal York hotel. The impromptu vacation afforded the family the chance to swim in the hotel pool, which—aside from attending the game—was the highlight for the nine-year-old.
The lowlight? “When fans were throwing beer from the 500-level on the field, because they aren’t real fans. It was annoying,” he said sternly. Clearly Oscar is a real fan.
Marvelling at all the attention is Oscar’s dad, Benn, who moved to Canada from Swindon, a small town just outside of London, England, six years ago, having never watched a full game of baseball before coming to Canada. Now, due to his kids’ enthusiasm, it is a full-on obsession. The family of five gets to 25–30 games a year. In game five of ALCS home, Wood had to keep his phone fully charged to be sure to be able to document his celebrity son and keep an eye on his beloved Manchester United, who were playing in the UEFA Champions League.
“It’s been fantastic, eye-opening, for him—life changing,” Benn Wood says, with a proud papa smile.
In many ways, Oscar is the perfect example of what the Blue Jays have done for the country over the last couple months. They’ve given us a reason to hope, to have child-like enthusiasm, to come together. Maybe that’s why Mini Bautista has been such a huge hit. In some form or fashion, there is a Mini Bautista in all of us.