THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Justin Morneau’s disappointment over the taped version of O Canada played at the all-star game this week seems to have registered with Major League Baseball.
Spokesman Pat Courtney said Friday a tight schedule, which included U.S. President Barack Obama throwing out the first pitch, led to the decision to pipe a recording of the Canadian national anthem through the stadium speakers.
He added that the practice was likely a thing of the past.
"Regrettably, the length of the pre-game ceremonies caused timing difficulties," Courtney wrote in an email to The Canadian Press. "We expect there to be live renditions at future all-star games."
Grammy Award winner Sheryl Crow sang the Star Spangled Banner before Tuesday’s all-star game in St. Louis, after a recorded instrumental performance of O Canada was piped through the speakers at Busch Stadium.
Following the game, Morneau told reporters: "I wasn’t very impressed with that to tell you the truth. You figure they could find somebody to come and sing the song. They have a hockey team here, the Canadian teams play here."
"It’s something that didn’t really go over too well," added the Minnesota Twins first baseman from New Westminster, B.C. "I think if it happened the other way around, if they were playing in Toronto and they did that, it would have been a lot bigger deal. But nothing you can do about it."
Fellow Canadian slugger and all-star Jason Bay said Friday he wasn’t angry at the time but was glad that Major League Baseball "understands it and said next time they’ll make a better effort."
"Somebody kind of posed it to me this way," the Boston Red Sox left-fielder from Trail, B.C., continued. "Baseball being America’s pastime, if the hockey all-star game was in Montreal, which it was, and they played a taped recording of the U.S. national anthem, do you think it would have been something made of it? The answer’s got to be of course.
"I don’t think it was a conscious slight, there was a lot going on and maybe they thought they could save some time and cut a corner here, or whatever it was. Then you realize it matters to a lot of people."
A taped version of O Canada was also played at last year’s all-star game at Yankee Stadium in New York, when Crow also sang the U.S. anthem.
The symphony orchestras in San Francisco (2007) and Pittsburgh (2006) performed O Canada at the previous two all-star games.
