This year I officially came to terms with the fact that I’m old.
The moment was when I realized that it has been 25 years since the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series. At 11:39 p.m. on Oct. 23, 1993, Joe Carter hit a walk-off home run to win the Series and capture a second consecutive world championship for the Toronto.
To commemorate this historic moment in Canadian baseball, and the back-to-back championships, a 25th Anniversary Reunion Dinner was held earlier this fall at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto.
To a man, the players I spoke to there credited Roberto Alomar as the heart and soul of the team during that era. Naturally, I wanted to pick the brain of the first player to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame wearing a Toronto Blue Jays cap.
When I sat down with Alomar, we discussed his memories from the 1992-1993 World Series teams and why he’s hopeful Vladimir Guerrero Jr. can follow in his footsteps. Watch the video below:
Alomar had so much to say, some of his interesting quotes didn’t make the final video. His answers to those responses are below.
On the impact of World Series championships:
“I never, never imagined the lasting legacy at the time. No way. When I came here, I came from San Diego and the first year, 1991, we came up short. We went to the playoffs and we were not able to win a World Series. For the second year, 1992, we were able to win and I can’t believe how many people we impacted. It was an impact the whole country of Canada felt and a lot of young guys at the time wanted to play the game of baseball because of it.”
On future of baseball in Canada:
“Well, the future of baseball, I think it’s great. Especially in Canada. You know me, I’m positive. You know, I see the game of baseball growing. Much bigger than when I was here when I used to play here and in the 1990s. Watching them a few years ago when the Blue Jays got into the playoffs, brings me back. I think they can bring back the joy of baseball again. So hopefully the game of baseball continues to grow and hopefully the new guys who are coming up grab the torch and run with it like we were able to do behind the guys that paved the way before us in the 1980s and they can experience what we did in 1992 and 1993.”
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