by Dave Barclay
This is an article inspired by the series on Big League Stew, one of my fave baseball blogs. If you are reading this on Wednesday, February 22nd, please go here and vote for me for the MLB FanCave. It's a fun, popular activity.
This is an article inspired by the series on Big League Stew, one of my fave baseball blogs. If you are reading this on Wednesday, February 22nd, please go here and vote for me for the MLB FanCave. It's a fun, popular activity.
1) Memories of the Early 90s
If you are a Blue Jays fan, your mental file of “good memories” is right next to a file labeled “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and, if you are in your twenties or thirties, “awkward conversations with girls/boys”. Everything was weird in the early nineties, because the Jays were the best team in baseball, had the biggest payroll, and shattered attendance records. The ‘90s Jays had swagger too. Everyone hated us (especially Orioles fans) and Todd Stottlemyre told the mayor of Philadelphia to kiss his behind at the victory parade in 1993.
And now, when the team is finishing fourth every year, all Jays fans still connect over shared memories of Alomar, Carter, Gruber, tight uniforms, mullets and box cuts. It’s a hilarious time to be nostalgic about.
2) The Rogers Centre nee Skydome
As the second-last ballpark built before Camden Yards, the Rogers Centre is everything that all the ballparks built since 1993 aren’t: It’s huge, it’s domed, and there’s no sign of nature anywhere. But a funny thing has happened in 18 years since then: Almost all Major League Baseball teams have moved into cozy Camdenesque nostalgic parks, leaving the Blue Jays in a unique venue representing a near-forgotten era. I would go as far to say the Rogers Centre is the new Wrigley Field. I’d be 100% wrong, but I do love the place - the plastic blue seats, the concrete everything, the still-awesome-if-no-longer-unique retractable roof, the ability to change into a CFL venue, and the sheer majestic size of the place. It’s definitely a stadium, not a park, but there’s no place like it in baseball.
3) Hot New Uniforms
When the jays released their new uniforms this winter, it was met with literally universal acclaim. Everyone likes them, primarily because of the 90s nostaligia mentioned above, but also because they look snazzy in any era. And they’re not black and gunmetal grey.
4) Alex Anthopolous
It’s great to have a GM who is smarter than you. Alex Anthopolous isn’t just smarter than the rest of us, he can work miracles: He makes deals that bring to Toronto the most valuable type of player: young, brimming with talent, ready to contribute and under team control for years (see Escobar, Morrow, Santos and hopefully Rasmus). He can also trade away Vernon Wells. And he’s from Canada, something which Canadians quite like.
5) Brett Lawrie
Speaking of Canadians, this man is crazy good at baseball, and just plain crazy. After years of having stars with personalities of robots (Roy Halladay) and couch cushions (Vernon Wells), its wonderful to have a player with
Eminem lyrics tattooed on his body who might accidentally kill you with a playful backslap. Plus, he’s only played 43 games so far! We have years of fun ahead of us!
6) Life in the AL East
It’s hard, in the way that being RC Cola is hard. But when the success comes (and it will come), it will be so, so, much sweeter. And we get to see Coke and Pepsi a lot in our own backyard! (Analogy Fail)
7) You Think Red Sox Nation is Big?
Have you seen Canada on a map? If you measure in acres and not actual people (and why wouldn’t you?), the Toronto Blue Jays have the biggest fan base in baseball. Canadians can all cheer for the same team as a country. It’s like the Olympics 162 days a year when you cheer for the Blue Jays. Because the Expos are gone now.
8) The Day the Dome Opens
In Toronto, we have opening day, and then there is the day in late April or May where the powers that be decide to open up the roof and let glorious sunlight down upon Blue Jay fans. It is like the first chapter of Genesis and the first game in Target Field combined, and it happens every single year. But, like Easter, no one knows exactly what day it will fall on.
9) Jose Bautista
Oh yeah, and we ALSO have one of the top players in all of baseball, Jose Bautista. He’s really good!
10) Touch ‘em all, Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!
A world series ending walkoff home run? Only in Canada! (and Pittsburgh.)
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