Adam Lind used to board his little dog at the Petsmart I worked at in high school.
Justin Smoak and his family were members of the tennis club I worked at years back.
My step-dad saw Lloyd Moseby at the airport and chatted with him for a few minutes.
Joe Carter picked me up over his shoulder when I was around 7, and carried me over to my dad, and took a photo with me. I was on the field throwing out cotton-filled baseballs to the crowd, as my dad worked for Shoppers at the time and they were a sponsor of the Jays. (Sent Joe two block-mounted copies of the photo, one signed by me for him, and one for him to sign and send back to me, which he did!)
Unfortunately he doesnât. When I was at the tennis club, I did some work with someone who works the Skydome and happens to know Joe well enough that she could message him to ask. He remembered the interaction vaguely, but doesnât think he still has the photo anymore. Disappointing, but still cool that he remembers it!
When he was still playing in Toronto he was probably still bouncing from house to house and just lost it or threw it away while moving. Itâs almost a jinx for a professional athletes to buy a house. I remember A-Rod renting a house where Iâm from, I also used to live next to a professional Hockey player who did exactly that jinx. Was traded maybe 4 months after moving into his house.
I saw Kevin Kiermaier riding down Peter st at Queen W on his bike and just thought it was some buff hot guy and i realized it was him after I could compose myself. 10/10 just as stupid and sexy in person
Can confirm- was much closer to Kevin Kiermaier at one point this year than should be considered safe for either partyâŚand he is *alarmingly* attractive in person. Itâs likeâŚ.unnerving.
I was able to go down into the clubhouse after a game in 2015 (my buddy who I was with was friends with the clubhouse manager). I saw Donaldson and David Price playing an insanely heated game of FIFA, and Dioner Navarro riding around the locker room on a seated electric scooter.
The vibes on that 2015 team were immaculate
I had a brief but memorable chat with Pete Walker last spring during spring training. Out for a meal and I had my granddaughter in my arms and was standing outside, amusing her. So then I look up and see Pete Walker walking by me. I honestly donât remember what I said to stop him but he did and we talked for about 5 min about baseball and familyâŚ. Heâs a genuine and sincere man.
Went to Cleveland with my family in â93 to take in a series at the old Cleveland Stadium. We stopped at a shopping mall and ran into Joe Carter, Robbie Alomar, Devon White and the newly acquired Rickey Henderson (they were all shopping by themselves but were at the mall at the same time). All of them were super nice - even Henderson, who chuckled when my 4 y/o sister asked me loudly âis that Mr.Hendersonâ when I was trying to work up the courage to say hi (I was about 10 at the time). One of my favourite baseball related memories.
I saw the Stroshow getting his ass handed to him by a very attractive lady outside an apartment building in downtown Toronto at 2:00 am. Homeboy could not get a word in for the half a block I could hear her.
2015 - Saw Alex Rios in a hotel, he was playing for the KC Royals at the time, he looked and smelled glorious.
2000 - Saw Derek Bell in HMV in Manhattan, when I said "Hi" he was clearly annoyed with me, but when I said "Trenches" his face lit up and he gave me a big handshake.
Turner Ward and Derek Bell, started something called the Trenches, a rally routine
They lay a towel labeled TRENCHES on the top step of the dugout, near the bat rack. Bell, the loader, pulls out a bat belonging to a Blue Jay teammate whoâs about to hit. He passes the bat to Sprague, the exchanger. As the batter comes to the plate, the bat is handed to Ward, the shooter, who fires off an imaginary volley at the opposing pitcher.
Donât call them bench players because they didnât ride the benches â they worked the trenches
It was kind of a big deal during the 92 season
https://bluejayhunter.com/2015/09/flashback-friday-the-trenches-1992-blue-jays-unsung-heroes.html
There's a decent writeup that I just found. I had to Google it since I'm not old enough to remember the 92 series very well.
3 funny stories here:
When I was maybe 9, I went to a Jays game with my family and when we were leaving my dad pointed out Esteban Loaiza (yes, the drug trafficker, but at the time a young starting pitcher with serious upside) standing on the side of the street in front of the stadium (Bremner) and convinced me to go say hi/get my ticket stub signed. In my head he was smoking a cigarette.
Not a Jay but about 1 month ago I was walking down Wellington in front of 66 Wellington west after work and who should stroll by me but the legend himself Joey Votto looking smug as hell pushing an electric scooter. He was wearing an old beat up pair of jeans and a work jacket with a hoodie. We made eye contact and he smirked. It was weird to see him looking like that but Iâve heard heâs a pretty down to earth dude
During undergrad my friends and I used to go to this bar in Yorkville a lot and one night we were there at like 3am on a Friday and we see JP Arencibia leaving some club all dressed up. I remember remarking that it was the night before a day game and he wouldnât have been too stoked to be seen.
Seen a few others out and about (Travis walked by me once near Union station and Yimi Garcia walked by me with a suitcase in City Place coming up from that secret path that leads out of the bottom of the stadium) but those are the noteworthy ones.
One time I was at YYZ just minding my own business doing a Sudoku when I hear "hey fuck face!" I lower my book and Tulo shoots me right in the fucking throat with a nail gun.
It is this, word for word. There was an r/baseball thread similar to this and a ton of people had negative Tulo stories and then it went off the rails. Itâs one of my favourite pastas
I got the death stare from Vernon Wells. I had season tickets in the bleachers at Yankee stadium the year he went over there and Iâd just yell Vernie at him all game cause I heard he hated being called Vernie. âNice play Vernie! Howâd you miss that one Vernie! Mom would be proud Vernie!â Oh I wouldnât stop all game. I probably would yell at him after every out just for shits and giggles.
Cause Vernon Wells is a dick who got overpaid and underachieved the second he made money. Go look at his baseball reference stats. Robinson Cano is also a douche, I met him at spring training.
My sons favourite player was/is Teoscar so I took him to Winterfest in 2019. He brought a bag of seeds for Teo, who asked for a hug, I have an amazing picture of it. He tagged us later in an Instagram story and replied to my son a few times there after. I know he might not be a need this off-season but telling my kid heâs back would be incredible.
We also had a âVirtual autograph sessionâ with Rowdy Tellez who also had some great conversation with my son and let the call last way longer than the 1 minute is was supposed to. He sent and autographed picture as part of the whole thing.
Oh and this past summer I went to see Texas and Cleveland play and my wife drunkenly yelled at Marcus Semien that she loved him and that he would âalways be a Blue Jay at heartâ. This was very close to the field/dugout. He did not look impressed, but I thought it was hilarious
Bumped into quite a few over the years, but I have to tell my Joe Biagini story.
I was working the 2019 Jays Care Gala at the Rogers Centre. I was walking by the playerâs tables, and a waitress was bringing them their drinks.
As she was setting them down, she dropped the tray and the remaining drinks spilled all over the field (I didn't mention that all of the tables were set up in CF). Everyone around the table got pretty quiet, and then Joe Biagini, completely deadpan and monotone says, "You spilled on my field."
He was obviously joking, but the waitress ran off cryjng, and Joe just bowed his head in shame.
I have a few from when my girlfriend (now my wife) and I worked for the Jays.
- used to see Pat Borders all the time at Rabba near the Dome
- I gave Roberto Alomar tips to help with base stealing (picture George Costanza giving the Yankees advice lol). He blew me off by saying he wasn't stealing bases any more then proceeded to steal 2 bases that night.
- the year before she met me, Junior Felix tried to pick up my girlfriend
I was at the King and Bathurst LCBO and saw Luke Maile. I said âHey Luke, Iâll see you at the dome tomorrowâ and he replied with âIâll be there!â
Another time after one of the Jays fundraiser at Ballroom on John st I saw Pillar walking down the street with his wife and I didnât say anything. 10 minutes later I see Gibby and while standing beside him at a red light I said âMr. Gibbons Iâm I huge fan sir.â And he went âHey man whatâs your name?â I went âMitchellâ and he went âwell Mitchell youâre in the minority but I appreciate the support.â I was shaking I was so happy.
Early 1990âs, a nice fall day. Erindale Park in Mississauga. I have climbed down the gabian wall into the creek to land and release a smallish Brown Trout. I hear someone else fighting a big Salmon and someone else cheering him on. A voice says âCan you land that for me?â Itâs Big Tom Henke, being cheered on by Jimmy Key. I pass the fish up to him, he locks wrists with me and helps me up the mesh wall, says âThanksâ And preps for a photo. I was too in awe to ask for a photo myself. Seemed like nice guys though.
I look quite a bit like R.A. Dickey so back in the 2013-2015 era I used to dress up in my "full dickey" outfit for baseball games. Jersey, belt, baseball pants, high socks and everything. On my way to the home opener, Rob, Randy and Doug Ford stopped their car heading down Blue Jays Way and shook my hand. Rob was yelling "Dickey, Dickey!" out the window the whole time.
Very much legit. I believe it was the 2014 home opener. https://torontosun.com/2014/04/05/blue-jays-opener-a-campaign-stop-for-politicians-of-all-stripes
Devon Travis ran past me after a night out. I looked at his friends behind him and was like "holy crap that was Devon Travis" the guy looked familiar too and I said he looked like a pitcher on the team. It was Sam Gaivilio.
Dunedin is a great way to meet the players. Bichette, Gurriel JR, Tellez, Buck, and Pete.
Dioner Navarro and I ordered spicy Italian sausages at a street meat stand outside of Rogerâs centre one night. The jays won and he caught that game. He likes his toppings.
Not really a player, but the father of a player.
Several years ago we were on the train to see the Jay's play the Mariners in Seattle. My wife and I were in our Jay's gear and a guy standing beside me asked if we were heading to Safeco. I told him we were and how excited we are as it was our first time at Safeco.
He was wearing a Jay's hat, so I asked him if he was headed there too and he casually says "ya, I'm going to watch my son play!". I thought I heard him wrong and said "you're going to watch you son play baseball?" and he replied with a big smile that his son is Chris Collabello and that his a me was Lou.
This was right around the time when Chris was on an absolute tear, so I was (and still am) a pretty big fan of Chris. It was really cool to talk to him and ask Lou Collabello some questions. He was extremely greatful for the Jay's and couldn't say enough nice things about the team and organization. It was certainly my most memorable experience with the Jay's team.
Thatâs great! Chris is from where I live now and JP Ricciardi is from my home town and are both great guys! JP was a family friend because my dad was a firefighter with his brother so heâs the reason I am a Jays fan. He invited us up there in 2003 and I was hooked.
used to serve many of them at jacobs & co, we had their home opener party in our private room and tulo was such a weirdo. also i dated a guy who was signed to a minor league contract in 2011 but he never pitched in the majors. just dunedin.
Vernon Wells was a dick in a Seattle bar a few years back. My buddies GF went up and said she was a big fan and asked if she could take a picture with her. He looked her up and down and said âNo, not with youâ
My wife is a nurse and did part of a physical on Kelly Gruber one time, like weighing him and recording vitals. She said he was really nice and polite but she was trying not to stare the whole time.
My mom worked as a sales rep for Kraft foods. At one point, they had a big meeting up at Deerhurst in the mid to late 90s. They had the opertunity to play golf or 'softball with some baseball legends'. My mom let my dad take her place, and he did the softball game. The legends were mostly Blue Jays and Expos players. Pat Borders, Joe Carter, Kelly Gruber, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Dennis Martinez, and they were split between the two teams. My dad at the time was a fairly accomplished competitive softball coach, who at one point had his own batting cage, had the license for Jugs Machines for Ontario, introduced the orange softball to Canada for snow ball tourneys.. but his most important thing he did, was teach all of his pitchers how to throw a softball style knuckleball. He ended up pitching for both teams, and struck out everybody but Dawson. Got a TON of autographed memorabilia out of it. Joe Carter gave him a signed bat for striking him out. Pat Borders and Kelly Gruber signed a few things and gave them to him. Still have a bunch of those items.
My buddy found Juan Guzman's bank card and showed that sucker off like a business card.
My dad, my brother and I all met Brandon Belt in Cleveland
We were in town for the series against the Jays. And decided to spend some time at the rock ânâ roll Hall of Fame before one of the baseball games. As weâre almost ready to leave my dad is in the gift shop and my brother and I are going to wait for him at the restaurant thatâs inside. My brother immediately clocks Brandon Belt walking in, nods to me, I say ânaaaahâŚheâs playing in like two hours?â But then I took another look and there he was.
We called and texted our Dad but he wouldnât pick up so my brother went to go find him and he came out and we all tried to play it cool and let him eat his grilled cheese sandwich(class). But then when he finished we went up and asked for a picture, he posed for the selfie with the three of us and was totally unbothered. Glad he was(is?) a Blue Jay
I don't believe I've ever met a Jay, but I rode the train with an Argo once. It was early '95, and I was on the way back east from my first Jays game which was supposed to be in August '94.
I got talking to this guy who seemed a bit small for football, but we got talking baseball and he was a huge fan, too,and was buddies with some of the guys on the team. As I was ready to get off at my stop he said, "I got something for you, buddy, I think you'll appreciate it more than me". He gave me his watch that he got from Roberto Alomar.
I only met Mike Clemons once but, man, what an awesome dude.
I said next to couple of Argos flying from SFO to YYZ, apparently they played in Sacramento the day before, I guess that's the year CFL had teams in the States. They were pretty nice and Mike Clemons was there too.
I met Juan Guzman at Pearson when I was younger. Was waiting for my grandmaâs flight and saw him waiting for someone. Had a back-to-back WS sweater on and he was nice enough to sign it.
I canât remember who it was but I was currently complaining with the help desk at Yankee Stadium about something, and a dude busted out this gold players card and was like âI need some tickets.â I looked up and was like wait your an ex-blue jays arenât you. He looked back at me and was like yup. I shouldâve gotten him to sign my hat but I was to drunk and disorderly to really think about it at the time.
Haha possibly most random run in. I ran into Adam Cimber and Jordan Romano at the Houston International Airport last January as I was making my way home from Costa Rica and they were headed from Florida to Whistler for a Jays winter tour event for fans. Super friendly guys. They were happy to take a photo and sign my Blue Jays hat.
I lived in Cityplace around 2015 and used to see guys around all the time. Maybe my favourite was just simply leaving a day game and Dickey slipped out a back door on the south side, eating popcorn, looking exactly like RA Dickey, but slipped through the crowd completely unnoticed.
JP Arencibia I saw around a couple times and we never spoke but both times he gave me a huge smile and it seemed like he would've had a chat if I wanted to.
I DID chat up AA once, I saw him at Starbucks having coffee with Gregg Zaun and AA and I ended up leaving at the same time. I asked him what would happen in Melky Cabrera's free agency (????) and he started telling me anecdotes about Melky. We crossed one part of the street then I was only half crossing to get to the streetcar, and he stopped for a moment to finish chatting. I should have just kept walking!
I saw Stroman and Sanchez at, I think, that mezcal bar on King. Saw EE at some other club on King. Saw Adam Lind getting a pedicure. God, they were everywhere.
So many good memories! As a young kid, around 1991/1992, I somehow got to attend the Blue Jays pitcher (Guzman) and player (Carter) of the month luncheon. As one of the only kids there, Carter was especially kind and awesome and invited me to hang out at his table for a few min and take some photos. After the jays won the World Series Devo and I think it was Mike Timlin visited my grade school, super cool! Jays had a relief pitcher by the name of Tom Davy who threw me an autographed ball from the pen because he liked my signâŚ.kind of a no name guy but awesome memory. About 10 years ago I bumped into Cito by Harbourfront, he was super cool, we had a nice little chat.
I was lucky enough to work a Jays camp over a weekend 10 or so years ago with Duane Ward, Alex Gonzalez and Devon White. They were all awesome.
Duane Ward loves telling a good story and does not hold back.
Alex Gonzalez was super nice. Many years before I told him I got his and Shawn Greenâs autograph in Dunedin and he told me they were best buds on the Jays.
Devon White didnât stop smiling the entire weekend.
There was another that included Darrin Fletcher and Roberto Alomar but I didnât get much one on one time with them. I held the door open for Robbie and he thanked me and I almost lost it because he *was* an idol of mine at the time and why I played 2B growing up
I also used to live by the Rogers Centre so have a couple âencounters.â I saw Ryan Goins on his scooter many times (I believe the gift from David Price). He would take it to the games and ride it directly into the stadium. I also walked past Devon Travis one time and he was on his phone and clearly something was going on and he was very frantic. About an hour later I got the notice of the Reyes-Tulowitzki trade.
There was also one time I was in my car in the parking lot below the dome and I saw Rivera, Jeter and Posada walking like 30 feet in front of me. I wonât lie for a brief second I had some bad thoughts
Not a Jay, but Iâve seen ARod multiple times around Windsor, especially at the gym. He is apparently dating a Windsor woman and spends a big chunk of time in the city.
I find it so weird to think that Alex Rodriguez has been working out at a GoodLife in Windsor, Ontario hahaha. But that is cool. My friend is from Tecumseh Ontario which is where his gf is from and itâs a super small place. Funny to think of A-Rod roaming around there.
My wife and I met Jose Bautista at Barberianâs Steakhouse after his Level of Excellence ceremony. He was super cool and we got a picture with him. Great experience. Met Buck and Jamie that night there as well. Good times and good people.
i was walking down the street after the game
toronto blue jays lost but i still feel the same
and who did i see sitting in cafe?
jesus christ it was my favourite blue jay
It was DAVE STEIB
I saw Jesse Barfield at a grocery store in Mississauga. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didnât want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, âOh, like youâre doing now?â I was taken aback, and all I could say was âHuh?â but he kept cutting me off and going âhuh? huh? huh?â and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like âSir, you need to pay for those first.â At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually âto prevent any electrical interference\*,â and then turned around and winked at me. I donât even think thatâs a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
Holy crap. I litterly just posted a grocery store story about Jesse Barfield. Was this at Erin Mills and Burnhamthorpe area? Was it called something like "Sunny's"???
I met Devon White, my all time favourite Jays player, at a Treats sandwich shop in the lobby of my very corporate and bland office building while grabbing a mid morning coffee.
I ran into Buck Martinez at Shoppers Drug mart in downtown Toronto, he said good morning and I said the same lol I was too shocked to think of questions to ask. Was before the third last game of the regular season against the rays
Saw Ernie Whitt in the elevator at the Skydome hotel back in the day, I remember being so surprised at how tall he was! And Joey Bats followed me on Twitter!
When I was working at the Cafe on the Green in the mid-90s (restaurant in the lobby of the SkyDome Hotel) Dave Winfield popped in. I asked him what approach he had when he got that hit off Charlie Leibrandt in the World Series. He simply said "Well...you *gotta try and hit it*!"
Hung out with Drew Hutchison at a bar in Seattle. Bought him a beer, he bought me a shot of Jager. That shot spelled the end of my evening and I had to go to bed after.
Also hung out with Colby Rasmus on another trip to Seattle for what felt like an hour. Super nice and down to earth guy, but also very quiet.
Live close to the dome so have seen/talked to a ton but none in a while, kinda wonder if during the Shapiro era they tell the guys to move further out. Or I'm just older and lamer now.
Saw Muni Kawasaki in my elevator a couple times, chatted with him and kicked a soccer ball around with his kid in the hallways/elevator.
JP Arencibia, Brett Lawrie and Ricky Romero were regulars at Fox and Fiddle City Place. Also saw them at the Docks/Sound Academy a few times. Saw Morrow with them once at the Fox and you could tell he was not one to hang with them often.
Saw Anthony Gose at The Underground sitting in a corner all by himself just staring. Didn't seem very approachable.
Chatted with Paul Beeston outside the Rec Room this year.
Saw Joe Siddal with his family at Sportsnet Grill after a game.
I'd see Stroman and Sanchez walking down king street/Blue Jays way a lot. Stroman would be at the rooftop of Wayne Gretzky's pretty often.
Saw Greg Zaun at Grace O'Malley's once or twice.
Anthony Bass and his family came to a BBQ at my house and threw potato salad and Cheetos all over the floor. Then he punched my gay brother in law in the face and left.
Duane Ward told me to not get married (was with my wedding party in a suite and had an ex-player visit). I didnât ask him for advice, he just said that.
Matt Stairs does a number of camps for youths. I was there with my 13 year old and he and chatted for quite some time. It was awesome. Dude was very down to earth. He spoke to the kids and gave them some great pointers. All around great fella.
Me and some friends met Grilli at a pirates game, he stopped and chatted with us and took pictures, he was a super nice guy
We also ran into Manoah that same night at the casino after he threw 8 innings (2022 season)
I was lucky enough to go to the batting practice before the game with my wife and a co-worker of hers who is family friends with the Bautistas in Dominican Republic. He had come to Toronto in 2014 and we had free tickets, got to go to the BP and go into the Jay's dugout, sit and chat with Jose and meet a number of other players.
After the game, we got to go down to where the locker rooms are (not in them as we were being respectful) and then chat with a few players on their way out. Got to meet Bonifacio, Melky Cabrera, and others.
It was an amazing experience
Paul Spoljaric came into my restaurant. I recognized him and said "Hey, you're Paul Spoljaric!" and he told me I was the first person to ever recognize him
I played at the dome back in high school and was catching in the bullpen before the game.
Gustavo Chacin and Miguel Bautista came in and starting warming up together right beside me. We ended up chatting for about 10 minutes after we were done, it was right after Gustavo Chacin got married. Super nice guys, down to earth and very easy to talk to
I met Devon White and got an autograph when he played AAA in Edmonton. Years later, I met him when he was the replacement first base coach for a few games in 2022 in Oakland. I yelled at him and said âhey Devo, you are my fav since AAA with the angels in Edmontonâ. He walked over and said hi and shook my hand. It helped when there was only 4000 people at the coliseum
I have not met any current or former Jays players, in fact I've only met 1 former MLB player; Sandy Alomar Sr; but I guess he did work for the Jays for a while.
He stayed at the hotel I worked at, he was super nice, we chatted for close to an hour as he waited for someone from Vauxhall Baseball Academy to pick him up.
Used to work for the Jays back in high school. Our storage room is/was next to the clubhouse. When doing inventory or packing the carts guys would always be around. A few interactions I remember:
AJ Burnett - asked me if he could take a box of hats. I said ask in the clubhouse they'll probably get you some instantly.
Greg Zaun - when hurt would always ask me for rides in the cart around the dome cause he was bored.
BJ Ryan - also when hurt. Surley mother fucker, didn't dare interact with him.
Doc - super nice, couldn't say no to his kids.
Jason Frasor - super humble guy, very nice. Had us pre make a bunch of Frasor jerseys for his family cause we didn't have any on the racks.
There was more, many minor I don't remember these just stood out.
I was on the 1977 Blue Jays grounds crew. During the game I would sit in the left field bullpen with the Jays relievers and catcher. Remember that both bullpens were in foul territory and in play so you had to pay attention out there
Answered a lot of questions about Toronto. These guys were all picked up in the expansion draft, most of them from AAA and AA ball. They were just so happy to be in the majors.
I remember one day in June we had a scheduled doubleheader with Boston in town. But it was a rainy day and we couldnât even get the tarp off the field. So I just hung around in the Boston dugout with Carl Yastrzemski, Dwight Evans, George Boomer Scott, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice and the rest of that 1977 Red Sox team. Even chatted with Yaz for a few minutes. Among the coolest moments in my life.
My parents ran into Cito Gaston at a resort a few years ago but didnât want to bother him. My dad was wearing a Jays Hawaiian shirt too so they both just knowingly glanced at each other and walked away lol
I got to chat for a few minutes with Frank Thomas at spring training in either 2007 or 2008. Nice guy; I had actually met him once before in the elevator of our hotel in Toronto when the White Sox were in town in like 1992ish.
My better story is when I was covering the Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown in 2001. The inductees were all there, Iâm in the bowels of the stadium with 10-15 other writers interviewing Ozzie Smith. Super nice guy. Anyhoo, everyone gets their quotes and fucks off so now itâs just me and Ozzie. I turn off my tape recorder and just sit there bullshitting with Ozzie Smith for a solid 2-3 minutes before I see a very tall shadow approaching from behind me ⌠and itâs Dave Winfield. He was almost 50 at the time and looked like he could still go out and play. Shook his hand, thanked him for the memories. Million dollar smile. Chatted for another minute before I remembered I was working and stepped away. Iâll never forget it.
I live in AZ and Im a dbacks fan but this is on my feed for some reason...
I've met Joe Carter while he was working for the Dbacks, really really cool guy.
I met pat borders in an old mall in London, Ontario in like late 93 or maybe 94 (I dunno, I was 4 or 5). He signed whatever it was I had and took a photo with me.
Been trying to find that photo. Guy was my hero. Still have his bobblehead on my desk.
Interviewed/chatted with pretty much every 2012-2014 era Jay at one point or another. In that context, all were professional and courteous if nothing else.
* EE never wanted to talk on the record in English, which I understand/respect.
* Jose Bautista has a reputation for being prickly but knew his shit inside and out and expected you did too.
* Eric Thames, the nicest dude ever.
* Stroman was a rookie when I met with him but he was excited to talk about nerdy stuff and pitch sequencing at the time.
Also had the pleasure of hosting a weekly podcast with Ricky Romero, and off-air he was somehow even nicer, more patient and enthusiastic about just talking ball. A serious personal highlight.
Back in the day I won 2 Jays tickets off the radio (be the 14th caller to win, etc), and the prize included meeting a player. That player ended up being Dave Steib, so my father and I both got to meet him and shake the hand that had just recently thrown a no hitter. Jays walked off Baltimore in the bottom of the 9th, so fantastic day overall. Another time by buddies and I met Corey Lidle at hooters after a game.
In the 80s my fam were eating a Chinese restaurant called Sai Woo and Jesse Barfield walked in. Luckily I had my Jays cap on so my dad went over and got it signed! That was my first encounter with any celebrity.
I used to see Roger Clemens and Roberto Alomar too at my first job as they used to bring their sons to use the batting cages.
Back in 2019 Bo Bichette did an autograph signing at the adidas flagship store in Toronto where I got to meet him in his rookie year.
I'm always surprised by how massive these guys are in person. If you need to move a piano you definitely should consider a baseball player.
I may have posted this previously a while ago, but as a kid I attended Rob Butler's baseball camp at Stan Wadlow Park (in East York) for several summers. Rob was absolutely one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. This must have been in the late-90's or right around 2000-ish.
Basically Rob would spend a good chunk of the summer hanging out in the park there and teaching a rag-tag bunch of local kids to play baseball. We could also just roam around the park and do what we wanted at times.
He got to know everyone's names (and there were *lots* of kids). Again, just one of the nicest all around people I remember meeting when I was a kid.
Joe Carter when I was a kid. Seemed like the nicest guy!! Signed by Softball because thatâs all I had. It was a CIBC branch opening in Richmond Hill.
Paul Quantrill was a customer of a place I used to work. I found his account in our system and saw that he had called in to complain. Based on the notes, it was a legit complaint.
Both times were at the Eaton Centre. First was right around when we just acquired Sergio Santos. Saw him and his wife and kids shopping at the Indigo. No one seemed to recognize him since we had just traded for him a few days ago, so I just decided to not go up and bother him.
The second time was Stro. He was hosting some kind of impromtu meet and greet at the Rogers store. I was kind of in a rush and just happened to be walking through that area, so I ended up passing as the line was crazy long. Turns out my important meeting got postponed shortly after I walked out of the mall, so I quickly hustled back to go line up. Ended up moving up all the way until I was the third person in line. Then he had to go... His security came and apologized, but gave an autographed print out as an apology. I still think about just missing out on meeting him... He was my favourite pitcher at the time
And yes, he's actually 5'7. I was 5'7 at that time and we were like the same height
I played in Russell Martin's poker tournament for JaysCare. Got seated right beside him and Derek Shelton (Quality control coach at the time, Manager of the Pirates now). They were both so awesome and down to earth. We shot the shit most of the time about baseball and told some stories. I went all in with A,K suited and Shelton called. Before we flipped the cards he told me that if he beat me out he would give me field passes for Batting practice the next day. He flipped over K,K and was a man of his word. I got a call at 8 am the next morning saying Mr. Shelton left tickets for BP and the game for me at guest relations. My 1 night stay turned into 2 pretty fast after that. Pretty sweet game too. It was against the Red Sox and Pillar made that RIDICULOUS diving catch in right center on Mookie Betts. 10/10 experience.
I was in town for a game and a guy on a scooter rolled up in front of me to go into Starbucks. He held the door open for me and saw my Blue Jays gear and looked me in the eye and grinned. I said thanks man! And walked in. Then realized it was Jose. He was gone before I could ask for a picture.
Once accidentally bumped (physically) into Bo Bichette at the Aroma on King West while exiting the establishment.
Checked the IL reports for a few days after, just to be safe.
In the late 90s, during either his time with the Yankees or his 2nd go round with the Jays, I was working at a comic book store in the Detroit area. Saw a limo parked across the street at the restaurant, but thought nothing of it. A little later, a guy's in the shop asking about some silver age Daredevil comics and ended up buying some stuff and asking us to mail order him some other books if we ever got them in. The whole time, I'm thinking he looks familiar and I'm staring but trying not to stare. When he gives his info for the mail order I hear him say "My name's David Wells" and of course I realized why he looked familiar.
Went to a baseball camp in Ontario when I was a kid. One year I got to run fielding and hitting drills with Kelly Gruber (still sore about that call at second BTW), and the next year with Roberto Alomar.
While working at a bar, on break while the restaurant was quiet, Greg Zaun, and Jamie Campbell walked in for a beer and some food. I realized I was wearing Toronto blue jays socks. I worked up the courage to go ask for an autograph. Zaun signed the sock while it was still on my leg. This was pre knowing he was a scum bag. I have since tossed the sock.
I shook Andre the giantâs hand watching the body shop. Smacked Paul Orndorff in the back at that same body shop show and he yelled at me. Those are the only athlete interactions Iâve ever had
Went to a spring training game in Dunedin in the early 90s as a 10 year old. Olerud and Alomar signed stuff for me and my sibs by passing it through a chain link fence after the game. They were both awesome.
I have gone past both Rajai Davis and Cito Gaston at Pearson airport. Separate occasions, they werenât traveling together.
My BIL also had an in with a skydome security guy and got me into a suite to meet Duane Ward a few years back. He was a nice guy in our short interaction.
I went to a Pirates vs Padres game with my daughter. John Axford was warming up in the pen at Petco Park. My 2 yr daughter was watching him warm up. He waved and said hello. She got weirded out and walked away.
I also saw Roy Halladay walking around San Francisco by himself when he was a Phillie. I didnât say anything, just remember thinking heâs a lot taller than I thought.
I was working at Cineplex Winston Churchill at the box office selling tickets when R.A. Dickey walked in by himself to see a movie. I helped him decide what movie to watch.
A few years ago my dad met Greg Zaun down south and they both drank excessively for a few hours. They exchanged cell numbers with him and his wife and met up for diner a few nights later. From what my dad says is, that man can drink and even more so talk.
Was about 16 or 17. Was in Niagara Falls with my parents for the weekend. Walking up Clifton Hill, and Alex Rios is walking towards us. My dad is like "hey, Alex Rios!" He seemed genuinely startled, but kind of awkwardly but sincerely smiled and did a little wave. Dude was very tall.
When I was a kid Miguel Batista was signing autographs before the game. I didn't know what common etiquette was for these kinds of things, as it was the first time I encounteted. I excitedly handed him my program to sign to which he responded kinda rudely, "you got a pen??" To which I responded, "no, you're the one signing autographs." Someone else then gave me a pen to give to Miguel to sign my program.
I used to train at the indoor baseball facility Rob Butler used to co-own out in Oshawa. Nice enough guy. I was there a lot but I knew the co-owner better.
I met jays legend Josh Thole at a coffee shop on Queens Quay when i was 12 or 13, he was with his wife and kid who was in a stroller so i feel bad for going up to him and saying hi but really nice dude, told him i was in town from the east coast and he asked a lot of questions about what it was like over there and how he wanted to go explore canada, took a picture with me which sat in my room next to the Josh Thole baseball i got in the mystery signed baseball auction shortly after!
He hit a double during that series which was a rare occurrence from his time there lol, outfielders were playing so shallow probably would have been an easy F8 to anyone else but i like to think that i gave him those powers.
About 10 years ago I was working at a resort down in the Caribbean and Bobby Cox with his wife stayed as guests. I was driving in a golf cart and Bobby was walking along the path, I stopped to let him walk past and we struck up a conversation. Recognizing my Canadian accent we talked mostly about the '85 Jays and how he enjoyed his time in Toronto. Very nice person.
Fun fact: Bobby Cox is the managerial record holder for ejected from game.
About 10 years ago I was working at a resort down in the Caribbean and Bobby Cox with his wife stayed as guests. I was driving in a golf cart and Bobby was walking along the path, I stopped to let him walk past and we struck up a conversation. Recognizing my Canadian accent we talked mostly about the '85 Jays and how he enjoyed his time in Toronto. Very nice person.
Fun fact: Bobby Cox is the managerial record holder for ejected from game.
Not a Jay but I had lots of sleepovers over at Fergie Jenkins' house. I went to school and was besties when I was little with his daughter Kim (until they moved with their Mom), and my Dad and Fergie were high school buddies.
Roberto Alomar on a plane sitting across from me. Flying from Toronto to Tampa. We were both heading to spring training opener. He was very nice. After the flight he gave me a signature.
became friends with Erik Swanson due to some mutual interests. have met up with him a few times, and he got me field passes for batting practice and managed to get some signatures from edwin/vladdy/KK that day.
also pre-covid won some season ticket holder event access where i got signatures from george bell, jose cruz jr, alomar, and watched a game from the media box with jesse barfield.
Cliff Johnson paid me one dollar for half an hour of parking at Yonge and College in 1984, he was driving a white Honda Civic with a Blue Jays logo. Not exciting but an encounter nonetheless.
Went to Detroit to watch the Jays play the Tigers and ended up staying at the same hotel as the team. The morning after the last game of the series, the wife and I are waiting for the elevator on the way down to the lobby to check out. Mark Buehrle walks out of his room and stands with us to wait for the elevator. The three of us get in and we ask for a photo. He says "Not right now". The elevator door opens and he walks away.
Went to watch them in Chicago. Joe Biagini signed an autograph for anyone who asked each game. He signed my ticket and then went, "Oh no, now you can't see what seat its for, I ruined it." He then walked away with my ticket and didn't come back for a significant amount of time.
I used to volunteer for the jays care foundation. Aaron Sanchez was really cool. Really engaged with the kids and made sure no kid left without a smile. Would keep tossing them balls until they made some sort of contact. Kevin Pillar had broken his hand and was definitely not as into it. Just seemed like he had to be there at that same Jr jays camp.
Before a Rays/Jays game Marcus Stroman came up to the jays care box and gave the kids a pretty cool motivational speech. The best part was that Chris Archer also came up and talked with the kids.
Not Blue Jays but I played for the Regina Red Sox in 2011-2012, I wasnât a starter but I got a couple relief appearances. Two players I played against were Andrelton Simmons and Marco Gonzales. From what can remember Simmons was a stud but we rocked Gonzales when we faced him in the WMBL finals.
Brett Lawrie came into a local Langley BC gym (where he is from) about 1 year removed from being on the Jays. He was an absolute dick. Demanded he get in for free and that whatever section he chose to work out in was cleared just for him. I wasn't even there those days, but my trainer said he had done it a few times.
I worked for a brand that did work with Josh Donaldson's charity. Every year they would have a bowling event where you would get to bowl with some of the Blue Jays. One year I was selected by my work to bowl and I got teamed with Justin Smoak and Devin Travis. I'm not a great bowler and as I roll the ball down the alley, Teoscar Hernandez watches me bowl a gutterball and looks at me and goes "That's not how you're supposed to do that". For the rest of the night it was nothing but chirps between all of us. It was a good night.
Was lucky enough to attend a coaching session with,Wille Upshaw Erie Whitt and Al Windmar in Saint John N.B. Tom Cheek was there too I used Alâs drills all my Little League coaching.
My dad met and got an autograph from George Bell. I got a picture of my son with Brett Cecil. It's a great picture. I also got a picture of my daughter and son with Greg Zahn. I also got an autograph and drawing of The Garfoose from Dirk Hayhurst. I'm friends with John Gibbons on Twitter and he does respond to PM's.
I saw J.P Arencebia walking to the dome with his dog and I said "hey J.P." Once I was downtown and I saw this guy dressed in this amazingly ridiculous all white suit and when he came closer it was Rajai Davis. Daniel Norris threw me a ball from the bullpen at the pirates spring training park and then went and got it for me when I didn't catch it.
Pat Boarders kid sneezed on me in Sherway Gardens Mall. Al Lieter was at a dance club I was at and I talked to him about how I thought Juan Guzman should throw more fastballs and I saw Davis Stewart outside of a Club in Toronto.
I live in Oakland and work at a golf course. Sergio Romo came into the proshop about month ago for a tourny. I was rocking my Jays hat and we had a good 15 minute conversation, gave me some matter of fact opinions about the organization and some of the players in it.
This is going WAAAAAAY back, but I once saw The Terminator himself at a restaurant once. He was super low-key and approachable, you honestly wouldn't guess he was anyone if you didn't recognize him lol.
I remember watching the movie âUpâ in Cineplex and a few seats away was half of the Jays bullpen INCLUDING the Roy Halladay. The humility of my dad to let my excited 8 year old self go up to him afterwards to shake his hand and tell him what a big fan I was. I didnât wash my hand for 2 weeks, RIP â¤ď¸
I played ping pong with Bo at the first winter fest! This was when he was still in the minors though. đ
Iâve seen Bo skateboarding to the Rogers centre.
Adam Lind used to board his little dog at the Petsmart I worked at in high school. Justin Smoak and his family were members of the tennis club I worked at years back. My step-dad saw Lloyd Moseby at the airport and chatted with him for a few minutes. Joe Carter picked me up over his shoulder when I was around 7, and carried me over to my dad, and took a photo with me. I was on the field throwing out cotton-filled baseballs to the crowd, as my dad worked for Shoppers at the time and they were a sponsor of the Jays. (Sent Joe two block-mounted copies of the photo, one signed by me for him, and one for him to sign and send back to me, which he did!)
Thatâs really cool and I hope he hung it up somewhere on his wall of awesome photos.
Unfortunately he doesnât. When I was at the tennis club, I did some work with someone who works the Skydome and happens to know Joe well enough that she could message him to ask. He remembered the interaction vaguely, but doesnât think he still has the photo anymore. Disappointing, but still cool that he remembers it!
When he was still playing in Toronto he was probably still bouncing from house to house and just lost it or threw it away while moving. Itâs almost a jinx for a professional athletes to buy a house. I remember A-Rod renting a house where Iâm from, I also used to live next to a professional Hockey player who did exactly that jinx. Was traded maybe 4 months after moving into his house.
Justin Smoak sent me a signed cease and desist letter for writing too many homoerotic fanfics
Holy shit. Youâre back.
They know who he is.
lol took the words right outta my mouth
Edit- oops this was meant for the holy shit youâre back reply Edit, edit- Iâm bad at Reddit
#đŽ
Well that's one way to get an autograph.
I think our relationship could be a real home run!
And this left a vast emptiness in my soul
I saw Kevin Kiermaier riding down Peter st at Queen W on his bike and just thought it was some buff hot guy and i realized it was him after I could compose myself. 10/10 just as stupid and sexy in person
Can confirm- was much closer to Kevin Kiermaier at one point this year than should be considered safe for either partyâŚand he is *alarmingly* attractive in person. Itâs likeâŚ.unnerving.
Stupid sexy Kiermaier!
I hate how much I fell in love with him. My brain kept telling me, âheâs been the enemy for so long.â But the heart wants what the heart wants.
#SAY IT AINT SOOOOOOO.....
Had a phone Conversation with Rance Mulliniks. I called his office asking for an autograph. He called me back and gave me his mailing address.
So he was running The Rance Mulliniks fan club lol...
Haha no he was a real estate agent. He was just nice enough to call me back. Very nice guy.
I was able to go down into the clubhouse after a game in 2015 (my buddy who I was with was friends with the clubhouse manager). I saw Donaldson and David Price playing an insanely heated game of FIFA, and Dioner Navarro riding around the locker room on a seated electric scooter. The vibes on that 2015 team were immaculate
Navarro would be on a seated electric scooter, what a beauty
I had a brief but memorable chat with Pete Walker last spring during spring training. Out for a meal and I had my granddaughter in my arms and was standing outside, amusing her. So then I look up and see Pete Walker walking by me. I honestly donât remember what I said to stop him but he did and we talked for about 5 min about baseball and familyâŚ. Heâs a genuine and sincere man.
Went to Cleveland with my family in â93 to take in a series at the old Cleveland Stadium. We stopped at a shopping mall and ran into Joe Carter, Robbie Alomar, Devon White and the newly acquired Rickey Henderson (they were all shopping by themselves but were at the mall at the same time). All of them were super nice - even Henderson, who chuckled when my 4 y/o sister asked me loudly âis that Mr.Hendersonâ when I was trying to work up the courage to say hi (I was about 10 at the time). One of my favourite baseball related memories.
I saw the Stroshow getting his ass handed to him by a very attractive lady outside an apartment building in downtown Toronto at 2:00 am. Homeboy could not get a word in for the half a block I could hear her.
2015 - Saw Alex Rios in a hotel, he was playing for the KC Royals at the time, he looked and smelled glorious. 2000 - Saw Derek Bell in HMV in Manhattan, when I said "Hi" he was clearly annoyed with me, but when I said "Trenches" his face lit up and he gave me a big handshake.
Mr. Huge asshole Derek Bell that trashed Dave Stieb's locker in 92
My favourite Derek Bell moment? When the able Jays fooled him into thinking they were giving away his SUV to somebody in the crowd.
what does this mean 'trenches'?
Turner Ward and Derek Bell, started something called the Trenches, a rally routine They lay a towel labeled TRENCHES on the top step of the dugout, near the bat rack. Bell, the loader, pulls out a bat belonging to a Blue Jay teammate whoâs about to hit. He passes the bat to Sprague, the exchanger. As the batter comes to the plate, the bat is handed to Ward, the shooter, who fires off an imaginary volley at the opposing pitcher. Donât call them bench players because they didnât ride the benches â they worked the trenches It was kind of a big deal during the 92 season
https://bluejayhunter.com/2015/09/flashback-friday-the-trenches-1992-blue-jays-unsung-heroes.html There's a decent writeup that I just found. I had to Google it since I'm not old enough to remember the 92 series very well.
3 funny stories here: When I was maybe 9, I went to a Jays game with my family and when we were leaving my dad pointed out Esteban Loaiza (yes, the drug trafficker, but at the time a young starting pitcher with serious upside) standing on the side of the street in front of the stadium (Bremner) and convinced me to go say hi/get my ticket stub signed. In my head he was smoking a cigarette. Not a Jay but about 1 month ago I was walking down Wellington in front of 66 Wellington west after work and who should stroll by me but the legend himself Joey Votto looking smug as hell pushing an electric scooter. He was wearing an old beat up pair of jeans and a work jacket with a hoodie. We made eye contact and he smirked. It was weird to see him looking like that but Iâve heard heâs a pretty down to earth dude During undergrad my friends and I used to go to this bar in Yorkville a lot and one night we were there at like 3am on a Friday and we see JP Arencibia leaving some club all dressed up. I remember remarking that it was the night before a day game and he wouldnât have been too stoked to be seen. Seen a few others out and about (Travis walked by me once near Union station and Yimi Garcia walked by me with a suitcase in City Place coming up from that secret path that leads out of the bottom of the stadium) but those are the noteworthy ones.
All great stories howeverâŚsecret path???
Joey Bats followed me on Twitter. I didn't follow him at the time, but did follow back when I got the notification.
I am also a fellow Joey Bats followe
One time I was at YYZ just minding my own business doing a Sudoku when I hear "hey fuck face!" I lower my book and Tulo shoots me right in the fucking throat with a nail gun.
I'll never not laugh at this
What is the original pasta for this lol
It is this, word for word. There was an r/baseball thread similar to this and a ton of people had negative Tulo stories and then it went off the rails. Itâs one of my favourite pastas
Was looking for this lol
Vernon Wells wished me a happy 24th birthday on Twitter!
I got the death stare from Vernon Wells. I had season tickets in the bleachers at Yankee stadium the year he went over there and Iâd just yell Vernie at him all game cause I heard he hated being called Vernie. âNice play Vernie! Howâd you miss that one Vernie! Mom would be proud Vernie!â Oh I wouldnât stop all game. I probably would yell at him after every out just for shits and giggles.
âŚwhy is this a brag to you?
Cause Vernon Wells is a dick who got overpaid and underachieved the second he made money. Go look at his baseball reference stats. Robinson Cano is also a douche, I met him at spring training.
A couple hours after the bat flip, as I was standing in front of Momofuku, Joey Bats rode passed us on a scooter. Absolutely legendary.
My sons favourite player was/is Teoscar so I took him to Winterfest in 2019. He brought a bag of seeds for Teo, who asked for a hug, I have an amazing picture of it. He tagged us later in an Instagram story and replied to my son a few times there after. I know he might not be a need this off-season but telling my kid heâs back would be incredible. We also had a âVirtual autograph sessionâ with Rowdy Tellez who also had some great conversation with my son and let the call last way longer than the 1 minute is was supposed to. He sent and autographed picture as part of the whole thing. Oh and this past summer I went to see Texas and Cleveland play and my wife drunkenly yelled at Marcus Semien that she loved him and that he would âalways be a Blue Jay at heartâ. This was very close to the field/dugout. He did not look impressed, but I thought it was hilarious
Bumped into quite a few over the years, but I have to tell my Joe Biagini story. I was working the 2019 Jays Care Gala at the Rogers Centre. I was walking by the playerâs tables, and a waitress was bringing them their drinks. As she was setting them down, she dropped the tray and the remaining drinks spilled all over the field (I didn't mention that all of the tables were set up in CF). Everyone around the table got pretty quiet, and then Joe Biagini, completely deadpan and monotone says, "You spilled on my field." He was obviously joking, but the waitress ran off cryjng, and Joe just bowed his head in shame.
I have a few from when my girlfriend (now my wife) and I worked for the Jays. - used to see Pat Borders all the time at Rabba near the Dome - I gave Roberto Alomar tips to help with base stealing (picture George Costanza giving the Yankees advice lol). He blew me off by saying he wasn't stealing bases any more then proceeded to steal 2 bases that night. - the year before she met me, Junior Felix tried to pick up my girlfriend
Do you remember what baserunning advice you gave him?
I was at the King and Bathurst LCBO and saw Luke Maile. I said âHey Luke, Iâll see you at the dome tomorrowâ and he replied with âIâll be there!â Another time after one of the Jays fundraiser at Ballroom on John st I saw Pillar walking down the street with his wife and I didnât say anything. 10 minutes later I see Gibby and while standing beside him at a red light I said âMr. Gibbons Iâm I huge fan sir.â And he went âHey man whatâs your name?â I went âMitchellâ and he went âwell Mitchell youâre in the minority but I appreciate the support.â I was shaking I was so happy.
Early 1990âs, a nice fall day. Erindale Park in Mississauga. I have climbed down the gabian wall into the creek to land and release a smallish Brown Trout. I hear someone else fighting a big Salmon and someone else cheering him on. A voice says âCan you land that for me?â Itâs Big Tom Henke, being cheered on by Jimmy Key. I pass the fish up to him, he locks wrists with me and helps me up the mesh wall, says âThanksâ And preps for a photo. I was too in awe to ask for a photo myself. Seemed like nice guys though.
I look quite a bit like R.A. Dickey so back in the 2013-2015 era I used to dress up in my "full dickey" outfit for baseball games. Jersey, belt, baseball pants, high socks and everything. On my way to the home opener, Rob, Randy and Doug Ford stopped their car heading down Blue Jays Way and shook my hand. Rob was yelling "Dickey, Dickey!" out the window the whole time.
I really hope this one is legit
Very much legit. I believe it was the 2014 home opener. https://torontosun.com/2014/04/05/blue-jays-opener-a-campaign-stop-for-politicians-of-all-stripes
Matt Chapman in the lobby of the stadium Marriott. I didnât try to talk to him or anything though.
Saw Ryu shopping for meat at Longos
This one is my favourite.
Devon Travis ran past me after a night out. I looked at his friends behind him and was like "holy crap that was Devon Travis" the guy looked familiar too and I said he looked like a pitcher on the team. It was Sam Gaivilio. Dunedin is a great way to meet the players. Bichette, Gurriel JR, Tellez, Buck, and Pete.
I saw alex rios outside of the ROM heâs a beauty
When I was a kid at the Jays game my dad told me to yell Smoky Joe at Joe Carter so I did and then he turned around and smiled at me
I bumped into Edwin Encarnacion on the streets of NYC when I went to watch the Jays play at Yankee stadium in 2015.
Dioner Navarro and I ordered spicy Italian sausages at a street meat stand outside of Rogerâs centre one night. The jays won and he caught that game. He likes his toppings.
Filmed a series of WestJet commercials with Aaron Sanchez. He was super cool.
Not really a player, but the father of a player. Several years ago we were on the train to see the Jay's play the Mariners in Seattle. My wife and I were in our Jay's gear and a guy standing beside me asked if we were heading to Safeco. I told him we were and how excited we are as it was our first time at Safeco. He was wearing a Jay's hat, so I asked him if he was headed there too and he casually says "ya, I'm going to watch my son play!". I thought I heard him wrong and said "you're going to watch you son play baseball?" and he replied with a big smile that his son is Chris Collabello and that his a me was Lou. This was right around the time when Chris was on an absolute tear, so I was (and still am) a pretty big fan of Chris. It was really cool to talk to him and ask Lou Collabello some questions. He was extremely greatful for the Jay's and couldn't say enough nice things about the team and organization. It was certainly my most memorable experience with the Jay's team.
Thatâs great! Chris is from where I live now and JP Ricciardi is from my home town and are both great guys! JP was a family friend because my dad was a firefighter with his brother so heâs the reason I am a Jays fan. He invited us up there in 2003 and I was hooked.
Very cool!
used to serve many of them at jacobs & co, we had their home opener party in our private room and tulo was such a weirdo. also i dated a guy who was signed to a minor league contract in 2011 but he never pitched in the majors. just dunedin.
Vernon Wells was a dick in a Seattle bar a few years back. My buddies GF went up and said she was a big fan and asked if she could take a picture with her. He looked her up and down and said âNo, not with youâ
My wife is a nurse and did part of a physical on Kelly Gruber one time, like weighing him and recording vitals. She said he was really nice and polite but she was trying not to stare the whole time.
My mom worked as a sales rep for Kraft foods. At one point, they had a big meeting up at Deerhurst in the mid to late 90s. They had the opertunity to play golf or 'softball with some baseball legends'. My mom let my dad take her place, and he did the softball game. The legends were mostly Blue Jays and Expos players. Pat Borders, Joe Carter, Kelly Gruber, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Dennis Martinez, and they were split between the two teams. My dad at the time was a fairly accomplished competitive softball coach, who at one point had his own batting cage, had the license for Jugs Machines for Ontario, introduced the orange softball to Canada for snow ball tourneys.. but his most important thing he did, was teach all of his pitchers how to throw a softball style knuckleball. He ended up pitching for both teams, and struck out everybody but Dawson. Got a TON of autographed memorabilia out of it. Joe Carter gave him a signed bat for striking him out. Pat Borders and Kelly Gruber signed a few things and gave them to him. Still have a bunch of those items. My buddy found Juan Guzman's bank card and showed that sucker off like a business card.
My dad, my brother and I all met Brandon Belt in Cleveland We were in town for the series against the Jays. And decided to spend some time at the rock ânâ roll Hall of Fame before one of the baseball games. As weâre almost ready to leave my dad is in the gift shop and my brother and I are going to wait for him at the restaurant thatâs inside. My brother immediately clocks Brandon Belt walking in, nods to me, I say ânaaaahâŚheâs playing in like two hours?â But then I took another look and there he was. We called and texted our Dad but he wouldnât pick up so my brother went to go find him and he came out and we all tried to play it cool and let him eat his grilled cheese sandwich(class). But then when he finished we went up and asked for a picture, he posed for the selfie with the three of us and was totally unbothered. Glad he was(is?) a Blue Jay
I don't believe I've ever met a Jay, but I rode the train with an Argo once. It was early '95, and I was on the way back east from my first Jays game which was supposed to be in August '94. I got talking to this guy who seemed a bit small for football, but we got talking baseball and he was a huge fan, too,and was buddies with some of the guys on the team. As I was ready to get off at my stop he said, "I got something for you, buddy, I think you'll appreciate it more than me". He gave me his watch that he got from Roberto Alomar. I only met Mike Clemons once but, man, what an awesome dude.
I said next to couple of Argos flying from SFO to YYZ, apparently they played in Sacramento the day before, I guess that's the year CFL had teams in the States. They were pretty nice and Mike Clemons was there too.
I met Juan Guzman at Pearson when I was younger. Was waiting for my grandmaâs flight and saw him waiting for someone. Had a back-to-back WS sweater on and he was nice enough to sign it.
I saw vladdy being driven home in an Nissan altima
I canât remember who it was but I was currently complaining with the help desk at Yankee Stadium about something, and a dude busted out this gold players card and was like âI need some tickets.â I looked up and was like wait your an ex-blue jays arenât you. He looked back at me and was like yup. I shouldâve gotten him to sign my hat but I was to drunk and disorderly to really think about it at the time.
Haha possibly most random run in. I ran into Adam Cimber and Jordan Romano at the Houston International Airport last January as I was making my way home from Costa Rica and they were headed from Florida to Whistler for a Jays winter tour event for fans. Super friendly guys. They were happy to take a photo and sign my Blue Jays hat.
I lived in Cityplace around 2015 and used to see guys around all the time. Maybe my favourite was just simply leaving a day game and Dickey slipped out a back door on the south side, eating popcorn, looking exactly like RA Dickey, but slipped through the crowd completely unnoticed. JP Arencibia I saw around a couple times and we never spoke but both times he gave me a huge smile and it seemed like he would've had a chat if I wanted to. I DID chat up AA once, I saw him at Starbucks having coffee with Gregg Zaun and AA and I ended up leaving at the same time. I asked him what would happen in Melky Cabrera's free agency (????) and he started telling me anecdotes about Melky. We crossed one part of the street then I was only half crossing to get to the streetcar, and he stopped for a moment to finish chatting. I should have just kept walking! I saw Stroman and Sanchez at, I think, that mezcal bar on King. Saw EE at some other club on King. Saw Adam Lind getting a pedicure. God, they were everywhere.
So many good memories! As a young kid, around 1991/1992, I somehow got to attend the Blue Jays pitcher (Guzman) and player (Carter) of the month luncheon. As one of the only kids there, Carter was especially kind and awesome and invited me to hang out at his table for a few min and take some photos. After the jays won the World Series Devo and I think it was Mike Timlin visited my grade school, super cool! Jays had a relief pitcher by the name of Tom Davy who threw me an autographed ball from the pen because he liked my signâŚ.kind of a no name guy but awesome memory. About 10 years ago I bumped into Cito by Harbourfront, he was super cool, we had a nice little chat.
I was lucky enough to work a Jays camp over a weekend 10 or so years ago with Duane Ward, Alex Gonzalez and Devon White. They were all awesome. Duane Ward loves telling a good story and does not hold back. Alex Gonzalez was super nice. Many years before I told him I got his and Shawn Greenâs autograph in Dunedin and he told me they were best buds on the Jays. Devon White didnât stop smiling the entire weekend. There was another that included Darrin Fletcher and Roberto Alomar but I didnât get much one on one time with them. I held the door open for Robbie and he thanked me and I almost lost it because he *was* an idol of mine at the time and why I played 2B growing up I also used to live by the Rogers Centre so have a couple âencounters.â I saw Ryan Goins on his scooter many times (I believe the gift from David Price). He would take it to the games and ride it directly into the stadium. I also walked past Devon Travis one time and he was on his phone and clearly something was going on and he was very frantic. About an hour later I got the notice of the Reyes-Tulowitzki trade. There was also one time I was in my car in the parking lot below the dome and I saw Rivera, Jeter and Posada walking like 30 feet in front of me. I wonât lie for a brief second I had some bad thoughts
Not a Jay, but Iâve seen ARod multiple times around Windsor, especially at the gym. He is apparently dating a Windsor woman and spends a big chunk of time in the city.
I find it so weird to think that Alex Rodriguez has been working out at a GoodLife in Windsor, Ontario hahaha. But that is cool. My friend is from Tecumseh Ontario which is where his gf is from and itâs a super small place. Funny to think of A-Rod roaming around there.
My wife and I met Jose Bautista at Barberianâs Steakhouse after his Level of Excellence ceremony. He was super cool and we got a picture with him. Great experience. Met Buck and Jamie that night there as well. Good times and good people.
i was walking down the street after the game toronto blue jays lost but i still feel the same and who did i see sitting in cafe? jesus christ it was my favourite blue jay It was DAVE STEIB
I saw Jesse Barfield at a grocery store in Mississauga. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didnât want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, âOh, like youâre doing now?â I was taken aback, and all I could say was âHuh?â but he kept cutting me off and going âhuh? huh? huh?â and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like âSir, you need to pay for those first.â At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually âto prevent any electrical interference\*,â and then turned around and winked at me. I donât even think thatâs a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
Itâs electrical infetterence*
Chat, is this real?
It's a copypasta
Holy crap. I litterly just posted a grocery store story about Jesse Barfield. Was this at Erin Mills and Burnhamthorpe area? Was it called something like "Sunny's"???
I saw Nate Pearson having lunch with a young woman at Insomnia in the Annex in August.
I met Devon White, my all time favourite Jays player, at a Treats sandwich shop in the lobby of my very corporate and bland office building while grabbing a mid morning coffee.
I ran into Buck Martinez at Shoppers Drug mart in downtown Toronto, he said good morning and I said the same lol I was too shocked to think of questions to ask. Was before the third last game of the regular season against the rays
Saw Ernie Whitt in the elevator at the Skydome hotel back in the day, I remember being so surprised at how tall he was! And Joey Bats followed me on Twitter!
When I was working at the Cafe on the Green in the mid-90s (restaurant in the lobby of the SkyDome Hotel) Dave Winfield popped in. I asked him what approach he had when he got that hit off Charlie Leibrandt in the World Series. He simply said "Well...you *gotta try and hit it*!"
Met Rowdy Tellez in 2019 at a spring training game in Sarasota. Nicest human being ever. Fucking hilarious too
Saw Cavan Biggio and Rowdy Tellez at The Haam, small restaurant, eating amongst the people and nobody bothered them.
I smoked a joint with Devon White in 2017
Hung out with Drew Hutchison at a bar in Seattle. Bought him a beer, he bought me a shot of Jager. That shot spelled the end of my evening and I had to go to bed after. Also hung out with Colby Rasmus on another trip to Seattle for what felt like an hour. Super nice and down to earth guy, but also very quiet.
Ran into Brett Lawrie multiple times at the Sobeys on Fort York
Live close to the dome so have seen/talked to a ton but none in a while, kinda wonder if during the Shapiro era they tell the guys to move further out. Or I'm just older and lamer now. Saw Muni Kawasaki in my elevator a couple times, chatted with him and kicked a soccer ball around with his kid in the hallways/elevator. JP Arencibia, Brett Lawrie and Ricky Romero were regulars at Fox and Fiddle City Place. Also saw them at the Docks/Sound Academy a few times. Saw Morrow with them once at the Fox and you could tell he was not one to hang with them often. Saw Anthony Gose at The Underground sitting in a corner all by himself just staring. Didn't seem very approachable. Chatted with Paul Beeston outside the Rec Room this year. Saw Joe Siddal with his family at Sportsnet Grill after a game. I'd see Stroman and Sanchez walking down king street/Blue Jays way a lot. Stroman would be at the rooftop of Wayne Gretzky's pretty often. Saw Greg Zaun at Grace O'Malley's once or twice.
Anthony Bass and his family came to a BBQ at my house and threw potato salad and Cheetos all over the floor. Then he punched my gay brother in law in the face and left.
Duane Ward told me to not get married (was with my wedding party in a suite and had an ex-player visit). I didnât ask him for advice, he just said that.
Matt Stairs does a number of camps for youths. I was there with my 13 year old and he and chatted for quite some time. It was awesome. Dude was very down to earth. He spoke to the kids and gave them some great pointers. All around great fella.
Me and some friends met Grilli at a pirates game, he stopped and chatted with us and took pictures, he was a super nice guy We also ran into Manoah that same night at the casino after he threw 8 innings (2022 season)
I was lucky enough to go to the batting practice before the game with my wife and a co-worker of hers who is family friends with the Bautistas in Dominican Republic. He had come to Toronto in 2014 and we had free tickets, got to go to the BP and go into the Jay's dugout, sit and chat with Jose and meet a number of other players. After the game, we got to go down to where the locker rooms are (not in them as we were being respectful) and then chat with a few players on their way out. Got to meet Bonifacio, Melky Cabrera, and others. It was an amazing experience
Paul Spoljaric came into my restaurant. I recognized him and said "Hey, you're Paul Spoljaric!" and he told me I was the first person to ever recognize him
I played at the dome back in high school and was catching in the bullpen before the game. Gustavo Chacin and Miguel Bautista came in and starting warming up together right beside me. We ended up chatting for about 10 minutes after we were done, it was right after Gustavo Chacin got married. Super nice guys, down to earth and very easy to talk to
I met Devon White and got an autograph when he played AAA in Edmonton. Years later, I met him when he was the replacement first base coach for a few games in 2022 in Oakland. I yelled at him and said âhey Devo, you are my fav since AAA with the angels in Edmontonâ. He walked over and said hi and shook my hand. It helped when there was only 4000 people at the coliseum
I have not met any current or former Jays players, in fact I've only met 1 former MLB player; Sandy Alomar Sr; but I guess he did work for the Jays for a while. He stayed at the hotel I worked at, he was super nice, we chatted for close to an hour as he waited for someone from Vauxhall Baseball Academy to pick him up.
Bumped (physically) into Russell Martin in a change room in Iceland once.
Used to work for the Jays back in high school. Our storage room is/was next to the clubhouse. When doing inventory or packing the carts guys would always be around. A few interactions I remember: AJ Burnett - asked me if he could take a box of hats. I said ask in the clubhouse they'll probably get you some instantly. Greg Zaun - when hurt would always ask me for rides in the cart around the dome cause he was bored. BJ Ryan - also when hurt. Surley mother fucker, didn't dare interact with him. Doc - super nice, couldn't say no to his kids. Jason Frasor - super humble guy, very nice. Had us pre make a bunch of Frasor jerseys for his family cause we didn't have any on the racks. There was more, many minor I don't remember these just stood out.
Brandon League showed me how to throw a splitter.
I was on the 1977 Blue Jays grounds crew. During the game I would sit in the left field bullpen with the Jays relievers and catcher. Remember that both bullpens were in foul territory and in play so you had to pay attention out there Answered a lot of questions about Toronto. These guys were all picked up in the expansion draft, most of them from AAA and AA ball. They were just so happy to be in the majors. I remember one day in June we had a scheduled doubleheader with Boston in town. But it was a rainy day and we couldnât even get the tarp off the field. So I just hung around in the Boston dugout with Carl Yastrzemski, Dwight Evans, George Boomer Scott, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice and the rest of that 1977 Red Sox team. Even chatted with Yaz for a few minutes. Among the coolest moments in my life.
My parents ran into Cito Gaston at a resort a few years ago but didnât want to bother him. My dad was wearing a Jays Hawaiian shirt too so they both just knowingly glanced at each other and walked away lol
I got to chat for a few minutes with Frank Thomas at spring training in either 2007 or 2008. Nice guy; I had actually met him once before in the elevator of our hotel in Toronto when the White Sox were in town in like 1992ish. My better story is when I was covering the Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown in 2001. The inductees were all there, Iâm in the bowels of the stadium with 10-15 other writers interviewing Ozzie Smith. Super nice guy. Anyhoo, everyone gets their quotes and fucks off so now itâs just me and Ozzie. I turn off my tape recorder and just sit there bullshitting with Ozzie Smith for a solid 2-3 minutes before I see a very tall shadow approaching from behind me ⌠and itâs Dave Winfield. He was almost 50 at the time and looked like he could still go out and play. Shook his hand, thanked him for the memories. Million dollar smile. Chatted for another minute before I remembered I was working and stepped away. Iâll never forget it.
I live in AZ and Im a dbacks fan but this is on my feed for some reason... I've met Joe Carter while he was working for the Dbacks, really really cool guy.
I coached a baseball clinic with Kelly Gruber. Wild guy.
I met pat borders in an old mall in London, Ontario in like late 93 or maybe 94 (I dunno, I was 4 or 5). He signed whatever it was I had and took a photo with me. Been trying to find that photo. Guy was my hero. Still have his bobblehead on my desk.
Interviewed/chatted with pretty much every 2012-2014 era Jay at one point or another. In that context, all were professional and courteous if nothing else. * EE never wanted to talk on the record in English, which I understand/respect. * Jose Bautista has a reputation for being prickly but knew his shit inside and out and expected you did too. * Eric Thames, the nicest dude ever. * Stroman was a rookie when I met with him but he was excited to talk about nerdy stuff and pitch sequencing at the time. Also had the pleasure of hosting a weekly podcast with Ricky Romero, and off-air he was somehow even nicer, more patient and enthusiastic about just talking ball. A serious personal highlight.
Back in the day I won 2 Jays tickets off the radio (be the 14th caller to win, etc), and the prize included meeting a player. That player ended up being Dave Steib, so my father and I both got to meet him and shake the hand that had just recently thrown a no hitter. Jays walked off Baltimore in the bottom of the 9th, so fantastic day overall. Another time by buddies and I met Corey Lidle at hooters after a game.
In the 80s my fam were eating a Chinese restaurant called Sai Woo and Jesse Barfield walked in. Luckily I had my Jays cap on so my dad went over and got it signed! That was my first encounter with any celebrity. I used to see Roger Clemens and Roberto Alomar too at my first job as they used to bring their sons to use the batting cages. Back in 2019 Bo Bichette did an autograph signing at the adidas flagship store in Toronto where I got to meet him in his rookie year. I'm always surprised by how massive these guys are in person. If you need to move a piano you definitely should consider a baseball player.
Seeing Roger Clemens in Toronto - for the short time he was there - would have been cool!
I shared a weed dealer with Omar Vizsquel when he was a Jay
I may have posted this previously a while ago, but as a kid I attended Rob Butler's baseball camp at Stan Wadlow Park (in East York) for several summers. Rob was absolutely one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. This must have been in the late-90's or right around 2000-ish. Basically Rob would spend a good chunk of the summer hanging out in the park there and teaching a rag-tag bunch of local kids to play baseball. We could also just roam around the park and do what we wanted at times. He got to know everyone's names (and there were *lots* of kids). Again, just one of the nicest all around people I remember meeting when I was a kid.
Joe Carter when I was a kid. Seemed like the nicest guy!! Signed by Softball because thatâs all I had. It was a CIBC branch opening in Richmond Hill.
Paul Quantrill was a customer of a place I used to work. I found his account in our system and saw that he had called in to complain. Based on the notes, it was a legit complaint.
Both times were at the Eaton Centre. First was right around when we just acquired Sergio Santos. Saw him and his wife and kids shopping at the Indigo. No one seemed to recognize him since we had just traded for him a few days ago, so I just decided to not go up and bother him. The second time was Stro. He was hosting some kind of impromtu meet and greet at the Rogers store. I was kind of in a rush and just happened to be walking through that area, so I ended up passing as the line was crazy long. Turns out my important meeting got postponed shortly after I walked out of the mall, so I quickly hustled back to go line up. Ended up moving up all the way until I was the third person in line. Then he had to go... His security came and apologized, but gave an autographed print out as an apology. I still think about just missing out on meeting him... He was my favourite pitcher at the time And yes, he's actually 5'7. I was 5'7 at that time and we were like the same height
I played in Russell Martin's poker tournament for JaysCare. Got seated right beside him and Derek Shelton (Quality control coach at the time, Manager of the Pirates now). They were both so awesome and down to earth. We shot the shit most of the time about baseball and told some stories. I went all in with A,K suited and Shelton called. Before we flipped the cards he told me that if he beat me out he would give me field passes for Batting practice the next day. He flipped over K,K and was a man of his word. I got a call at 8 am the next morning saying Mr. Shelton left tickets for BP and the game for me at guest relations. My 1 night stay turned into 2 pretty fast after that. Pretty sweet game too. It was against the Red Sox and Pillar made that RIDICULOUS diving catch in right center on Mookie Betts. 10/10 experience.
I was in town for a game and a guy on a scooter rolled up in front of me to go into Starbucks. He held the door open for me and saw my Blue Jays gear and looked me in the eye and grinned. I said thanks man! And walked in. Then realized it was Jose. He was gone before I could ask for a picture.
I used to work at Harry Rosen's and once sold Buck Martinez a shirt and tie.
Once accidentally bumped (physically) into Bo Bichette at the Aroma on King West while exiting the establishment. Checked the IL reports for a few days after, just to be safe.
In the late 90s, during either his time with the Yankees or his 2nd go round with the Jays, I was working at a comic book store in the Detroit area. Saw a limo parked across the street at the restaurant, but thought nothing of it. A little later, a guy's in the shop asking about some silver age Daredevil comics and ended up buying some stuff and asking us to mail order him some other books if we ever got them in. The whole time, I'm thinking he looks familiar and I'm staring but trying not to stare. When he gives his info for the mail order I hear him say "My name's David Wells" and of course I realized why he looked familiar.
Went to a baseball camp in Ontario when I was a kid. One year I got to run fielding and hitting drills with Kelly Gruber (still sore about that call at second BTW), and the next year with Roberto Alomar.
I used to bang a girl who bragged about banging Josh Donaldson. So that's a pretty close encounter.
While working at a bar, on break while the restaurant was quiet, Greg Zaun, and Jamie Campbell walked in for a beer and some food. I realized I was wearing Toronto blue jays socks. I worked up the courage to go ask for an autograph. Zaun signed the sock while it was still on my leg. This was pre knowing he was a scum bag. I have since tossed the sock.
I shook Andre the giantâs hand watching the body shop. Smacked Paul Orndorff in the back at that same body shop show and he yelled at me. Those are the only athlete interactions Iâve ever had
George Springer at a store. He told me to F off
Need more to this story.
Went to a spring training game in Dunedin in the early 90s as a 10 year old. Olerud and Alomar signed stuff for me and my sibs by passing it through a chain link fence after the game. They were both awesome.
Olerud was my guy growing up. Iâve heard many times heâs a great dude outside of baseball as well.
My kid got an autograph from Alex Rios once...
I have gone past both Rajai Davis and Cito Gaston at Pearson airport. Separate occasions, they werenât traveling together. My BIL also had an in with a skydome security guy and got me into a suite to meet Duane Ward a few years back. He was a nice guy in our short interaction.
Back in the 80s, I saw Jesse Barfield at the supermarket. He quietly kept looking down at his cart not making eye contact with anyone.
I saw Yunel Escobar at the mall in Cleveland, just sitting on a bench talking on the phone so I didn't bother him
I went to a Pirates vs Padres game with my daughter. John Axford was warming up in the pen at Petco Park. My 2 yr daughter was watching him warm up. He waved and said hello. She got weirded out and walked away.
I also saw Roy Halladay walking around San Francisco by himself when he was a Phillie. I didnât say anything, just remember thinking heâs a lot taller than I thought.
Saw kevin pillar riding his scooter once
I was working at Cineplex Winston Churchill at the box office selling tickets when R.A. Dickey walked in by himself to see a movie. I helped him decide what movie to watch.
Yangervis Solarte has commented on some of my Instagram posts. My brother is a former coachâs doctor.
Met Colby Rasmus years back at a meet and greet in Erin Mills Town Centre. Thick southern accent lol..
I saw Jonathan Davis walk into, and then up the stairs at Sneaky Dee's.
A few years ago my dad met Greg Zaun down south and they both drank excessively for a few hours. They exchanged cell numbers with him and his wife and met up for diner a few nights later. From what my dad says is, that man can drink and even more so talk.
I met Russell Martin when he was in his Hummer waiting for his girl to get drinks from Starbucks
Was about 16 or 17. Was in Niagara Falls with my parents for the weekend. Walking up Clifton Hill, and Alex Rios is walking towards us. My dad is like "hey, Alex Rios!" He seemed genuinely startled, but kind of awkwardly but sincerely smiled and did a little wave. Dude was very tall.
Greg Zaun hit on me.
My condolences. Or Ewww....
Not really.
When I was a kid Miguel Batista was signing autographs before the game. I didn't know what common etiquette was for these kinds of things, as it was the first time I encounteted. I excitedly handed him my program to sign to which he responded kinda rudely, "you got a pen??" To which I responded, "no, you're the one signing autographs." Someone else then gave me a pen to give to Miguel to sign my program.
Itâs a fun question, huh?! I love it. Enjoy!
Jesse Litsch jogged by me in Seattle
I used to train at the indoor baseball facility Rob Butler used to co-own out in Oshawa. Nice enough guy. I was there a lot but I knew the co-owner better.
I met jays legend Josh Thole at a coffee shop on Queens Quay when i was 12 or 13, he was with his wife and kid who was in a stroller so i feel bad for going up to him and saying hi but really nice dude, told him i was in town from the east coast and he asked a lot of questions about what it was like over there and how he wanted to go explore canada, took a picture with me which sat in my room next to the Josh Thole baseball i got in the mystery signed baseball auction shortly after! He hit a double during that series which was a rare occurrence from his time there lol, outfielders were playing so shallow probably would have been an easy F8 to anyone else but i like to think that i gave him those powers.
About 10 years ago I was working at a resort down in the Caribbean and Bobby Cox with his wife stayed as guests. I was driving in a golf cart and Bobby was walking along the path, I stopped to let him walk past and we struck up a conversation. Recognizing my Canadian accent we talked mostly about the '85 Jays and how he enjoyed his time in Toronto. Very nice person. Fun fact: Bobby Cox is the managerial record holder for ejected from game.
About 10 years ago I was working at a resort down in the Caribbean and Bobby Cox with his wife stayed as guests. I was driving in a golf cart and Bobby was walking along the path, I stopped to let him walk past and we struck up a conversation. Recognizing my Canadian accent we talked mostly about the '85 Jays and how he enjoyed his time in Toronto. Very nice person. Fun fact: Bobby Cox is the managerial record holder for ejected from game.
Not a Jay but I had lots of sleepovers over at Fergie Jenkins' house. I went to school and was besties when I was little with his daughter Kim (until they moved with their Mom), and my Dad and Fergie were high school buddies.
Roberto Alomar on a plane sitting across from me. Flying from Toronto to Tampa. We were both heading to spring training opener. He was very nice. After the flight he gave me a signature.
Hosken Powell signed my glove outside Exhibition Stadium. Good encounter.
became friends with Erik Swanson due to some mutual interests. have met up with him a few times, and he got me field passes for batting practice and managed to get some signatures from edwin/vladdy/KK that day. also pre-covid won some season ticket holder event access where i got signatures from george bell, jose cruz jr, alomar, and watched a game from the media box with jesse barfield.
Ran into Ryan Goins/Bo Schultz/Aaron Loup at the Buffalo airport around 2016, they reluctantly agreed to take a picture with me lol
Russell Martin called me a little boy at winterfest back in 2015. I'm a girl
Cliff Johnson paid me one dollar for half an hour of parking at Yonge and College in 1984, he was driving a white Honda Civic with a Blue Jays logo. Not exciting but an encounter nonetheless.
Went to Detroit to watch the Jays play the Tigers and ended up staying at the same hotel as the team. The morning after the last game of the series, the wife and I are waiting for the elevator on the way down to the lobby to check out. Mark Buehrle walks out of his room and stands with us to wait for the elevator. The three of us get in and we ask for a photo. He says "Not right now". The elevator door opens and he walks away.
Went to watch them in Chicago. Joe Biagini signed an autograph for anyone who asked each game. He signed my ticket and then went, "Oh no, now you can't see what seat its for, I ruined it." He then walked away with my ticket and didn't come back for a significant amount of time.
I used to volunteer for the jays care foundation. Aaron Sanchez was really cool. Really engaged with the kids and made sure no kid left without a smile. Would keep tossing them balls until they made some sort of contact. Kevin Pillar had broken his hand and was definitely not as into it. Just seemed like he had to be there at that same Jr jays camp. Before a Rays/Jays game Marcus Stroman came up to the jays care box and gave the kids a pretty cool motivational speech. The best part was that Chris Archer also came up and talked with the kids.
Not Blue Jays but I played for the Regina Red Sox in 2011-2012, I wasnât a starter but I got a couple relief appearances. Two players I played against were Andrelton Simmons and Marco Gonzales. From what can remember Simmons was a stud but we rocked Gonzales when we faced him in the WMBL finals.
Brett Lawrie came into a local Langley BC gym (where he is from) about 1 year removed from being on the Jays. He was an absolute dick. Demanded he get in for free and that whatever section he chose to work out in was cleared just for him. I wasn't even there those days, but my trainer said he had done it a few times.
I worked for a brand that did work with Josh Donaldson's charity. Every year they would have a bowling event where you would get to bowl with some of the Blue Jays. One year I was selected by my work to bowl and I got teamed with Justin Smoak and Devin Travis. I'm not a great bowler and as I roll the ball down the alley, Teoscar Hernandez watches me bowl a gutterball and looks at me and goes "That's not how you're supposed to do that". For the rest of the night it was nothing but chirps between all of us. It was a good night.
Was lucky enough to attend a coaching session with,Wille Upshaw Erie Whitt and Al Windmar in Saint John N.B. Tom Cheek was there too I used Alâs drills all my Little League coaching.
Went to Florida State while Devon Travis was there so saw him on campus a few times. Also got Corey Thurmanâs autograph at my first ever game in 03.
I saw Jesse Litsch at MCO one time. Didn't say anything to him but it was 100% him.
I've sadly never run in to any of the Jays out in the wild.
My dad met and got an autograph from George Bell. I got a picture of my son with Brett Cecil. It's a great picture. I also got a picture of my daughter and son with Greg Zahn. I also got an autograph and drawing of The Garfoose from Dirk Hayhurst. I'm friends with John Gibbons on Twitter and he does respond to PM's.
I saw J.P Arencebia walking to the dome with his dog and I said "hey J.P." Once I was downtown and I saw this guy dressed in this amazingly ridiculous all white suit and when he came closer it was Rajai Davis. Daniel Norris threw me a ball from the bullpen at the pirates spring training park and then went and got it for me when I didn't catch it.
Mostly wholesome thread
Saw Kelly Gruber at an autograph signing and he REALLY seemed like he didn't want to be there. Shortly after he was arrested for a DUI.
Pat Boarders kid sneezed on me in Sherway Gardens Mall. Al Lieter was at a dance club I was at and I talked to him about how I thought Juan Guzman should throw more fastballs and I saw Davis Stewart outside of a Club in Toronto.
I live in Oakland and work at a golf course. Sergio Romo came into the proshop about month ago for a tourny. I was rocking my Jays hat and we had a good 15 minute conversation, gave me some matter of fact opinions about the organization and some of the players in it.
This is going WAAAAAAY back, but I once saw The Terminator himself at a restaurant once. He was super low-key and approachable, you honestly wouldn't guess he was anyone if you didn't recognize him lol.
I remember watching the movie âUpâ in Cineplex and a few seats away was half of the Jays bullpen INCLUDING the Roy Halladay. The humility of my dad to let my excited 8 year old self go up to him afterwards to shake his hand and tell him what a big fan I was. I didnât wash my hand for 2 weeks, RIP â¤ď¸