When you live in Toronto and follow a team that has the city’s name written on the front of the uniform, it’s easy to forget that people in other parts of the country like them as much as you do.
I should know this.
When Mike Timlin flipped the ball to Joe Carter in 1992, I was included among a mob of dancing fools trying to turn a taxi on its’ side… in downtown Halifax. The Blue Jays captivated a country back then.
Based on what I witnessed the last few days, it could happen again.
The recently-concluded Blue Jays Winter Tour (sponsored by Rogers Sportsnet) was a remarkable success. The tour, which included players like Vernon Wells (prior to the trade, obviously) and Ricky Romero, went from Kitchener and Cambridge to Calgary and Vancouver.
The well-attended clinics and enthusiastic school children in the Toronto-area stops didn’t surprise me, but the passion that exists in western Canada was a pleasant surprise.
On Thursday at Crossiron Mills in Calgary, the Blue Jays presented an autograph session with Jesse Litsch, JP Arencibia, and Ricky Romero. It was cold and scheduled smack in the middle of a school day. Admittedly, I wasn’t expecting much.
But as the players were led to their stage, they were greeted to a line that looked about 300 deep. People had waited for more than an hour. One couple drove ten hours from Saskatoon just to get an autograph. Rough estimates had about 600 people moving through the line in the allotted sixty minutes.
Two days later at Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre, it was more of the same. In both cities, interest was so high they had to cut the lines.
The tour was a chance for me to see some of these men in a different light.
Litsch is freshly-bearded and fun-loving, a man clearly in tune with the demands of the average fan. Scott Richmond beamed as the unofficial host, and endured constant ribbing from Arencibia for the unrelenting rainfall in his hometown of Vancouver. Arencibia had the girls in the various public schools asking about his martial status. So did Travis Snider, who has the remarkable sense to gravitate to the kids who might be feeling left out. When a little girl at the B.C. Children’s Hospital caught the attention of the cameras, Snider slipped off to the side to speak with one confined to a wheelchair. And the Ricky Romero you see on the mound lets the intensity evaporate away from the field. The affection he showed kids at the hospital was genuine and engaging. He was particularly enamored with a little baby named Ethan, and cradled him as if he was his own.
This was an eye-opener for a few of the players, who had no idea the passion for Blue Jays baseball boiled province-wide. It sparked a lively conversation as to where next year’s tour will settle. Regina? Ottawa? St. John’s? Yellowknife? Heck, why not all of them?
This group of mostly American baseball players may not be "Canada’s Team", but they’re certainly trying.