We Need Your Help!

Every year at work we have a silent auction for charity. Most of the prizes are gift certificates from local companies looking to get some cheap advertising. This year it seems someone has opened a line to the Toronto Blue Jays. Lots of cool Jays gear is available and even a couple of signed balls. For those unaware, I have what can only be described as an addiction at this point:

Now the fun part.

Three of the balls are signed by unidentified team personnel. The organizer of the auction didn't even bother to ask who signed. Based on my existing stash, I was quickly able to narrow that list down to just one. That's right, one mystery ball remains. I'm hoping someone out there knows who signed this ball:

I apologize in advance for the shitty focus on that pic. It's all I got. Only adds to the mystique n'est-ce pas? Throw in what looks to be a question mark as the second number and you got yourself a genuine autograph stumper. I can honestly say I'm not even sure if that picture needs to be flipped. I think it's right side up but can't be 100% certain.

Here's what we know:

1) The number 1 is part of the two digit number.

The only Blue Jays that wore a number in the teens this year were:

Edwin Encarnacion 10
Rajai Davis 11
Brett Lawrie 13
Corey Patterson 16
Mike McCoy 18
Jose Bautista 19

The only other Blue Jays that wore a number with the number 1 in it were:

Darin Mastroianni 1
Dwayne Murphy 21
Jesse Litsch 51
Alex Andreopoulos 61

Did I miss anyone? Maybe someone changed numbers in season or was traded away perhaps?

2) It's not Brett Lawrie unless he totally changed his signature, which is completely possible I guess. This is his signature from a few years back.

I'd really like to figure this out before I drop a couple of bucks down on a bid. Does anyone know who signed the mystery ball?

Rolling With GC

One of the things that is kinda cool about bothering to write about the Blue Jays is hanging out with the other people that bother to write about the Blue Jays. Well, most of the time. Since we clearly share a common interest, it seems to make random invites a little more easy to follow through on.

So anyways, GC has a blog Snider's Web, a twitter account gcm1979 and some season tickets right above the other teams bullpen. As a result he gets invites to the offseason promo events. And he likes to spread the wealth around.

Example 1: Winter Tour

GC was looking for some wingmen for the Toronto leg of the Winter Caravan. Dustin Parkes of Getting Blanked and I were the only people to take him up on the offer. Previously I had a twitter fight with Parkes about the value of big money/lights out closers and walked away from that encounter figuring he was a douchebag. Unfortunately, after our brief face to face meeting I have nothing to update on that front. Meaning he's still a douche. Only now I'm relatively positive of that.

The plan was to meet at Hoops for a breakfast/beerfast at 10ish. I left my house in Guelph at 8:45 thinking that would be just about right. What I didn't consider was the fact that nobody seems to feel the need to plow the roads on a weekend. I arrived at destination just past 11.

We stroll in to a completely empty SkyDome. I mean empty. There was maybe 80 other idiots that braved the weather and made the trip. Mostly kids. Lotta kids. It felt a little like going to Canada's Wonderland. There was free food, free calendars and free hats.

So we decide to sit down and watch the players take BP. In the cage was Travis Snider, Adam Lind and some right handed hitting black guy none of us recognized. I figured it was new guy Rajai Davis. Turns out I was right.

After BP ended and Parkes bounces without saying later the playing surface became available for all to walk around on, play catch and take some pics. After careful consideration, GC and I make our move. It was sorta cool wandering around the field and I took full advantage.

Joey Bats new home

Was hoping to see Tallet but kinda glad I didn't

The Cito's former place of business (Thank God)

The Man With The Golden Arm (me) holding it down in CF

Probably my favorite shot

The view from standing on home plate looking down the LF line

Now straight ahead

And finally, down the RF line

After everyone had had enough, two players come out of the clubhouse and sit down to sigh autographs. To everyone's surprise it was J.P. Arencibia and Travis Snider! They both seemed happy to be there, allowed people to take pics with them and engaged in conversation. I snagged a couple more signed balls for my now kinda getting ridiculous collection.

Standing in line I befriended one of the only other people there above 4 feet tall and we discussed the Marcum trade at great length. She seemed disappointed that her Shaun Shine left town.....

After seeing what she got autographed, me and GC figured it was none other than captainlatte herself.

Since we didn't meet up prior to the event for a beer, it only made sense to right that wrong once it was time to leave. GC suggested Real Sports and since I hadn't been there yet, I agreed. On the walk over he enlightened me on his 3 catcher roster theory with 1 guy DHing full time. I countered with my thoughts on the starting rotation and how service time will play a role going into 2011. GC mentioned that most of the ballplayers would probably be at the bar to watch the football playoffs.

One thing I will say about Real Sports is this: there is no way 2 beers and a hamburger should cost $40 plus. Massively huge big screen TV and smoking hot bartenders are nice and all but common now.....

When it's time to go our separate ways, we decide to have a quick smoke break out front of the bar in the freezing cold. Halfway done who do we see walking down the sidewalk, head down and looking bored? None other than Adam Lind. I had a ball/pen out in record time and asked politely for an autograph. He declined. Which is fine. I guess. But it's how he declined, totally ignoring us, that kinda pissed me off. No matter, I guess he was too busy being unnoticed.

Example 2: State of the Franchise

Disclaimer: I am not a season ticket holder. Just know a guy.

GC mentioned that he would try to score me an extra pass into the State of the Franchise and he came through big time. This time I vowed not to be late. The meeting spot was the Loose Moose at 5:30 and I nailed it. A quick warm up pint and we stroll in the doors just after 6. We are greeted with a coat check and a pamphlet containing a bunch of info on the team and the new player and staff acquisitions. But the best was yet to come. FREE BEER. That`s right. You read that right. The cheap bastards @ Rogers finally ponied up. There was also free food and 40% off merchandise. After some internal debate I scored a black Kyle Drabek jersey. The logic on that one was since we didn't deal him for Grienke he's probably sticking around a while.

So I literally just walked around and ate and drank and then ate and drank some more. The house was packed with VIP's. BJH was holding it down with digital audio recorder in hand. Captain Latte made an appearance once again. There was a Fake Cito Gaston sighting. Also in the house was powder_blue, highsockmojo, spookylish, tbettz and jamiedewu just to name a few. I'm sure I missed someone. Point being: the place was packed with Blue Jays faithful not to mention every damn beat reporter you can think of.

After the meet and greet was over, we take our seats and buckle up for a guaranteed love in. Second row bitches!

If you are looking for some info on the event, just go visit The Blue Jay Hunter. He's got it all for ya. I must mention Robbie Alomar had a rocking quote that I didn't see in any of the other recaps. Check it:

"Alex is the kind of General Manager that brings me back memories with Pat Gillick. He's a work alcoholic, he's addicted. It's like drugs!"

After it's all said and done (we get told to leave nicely) a pack of drunk people head back to the Loose Moose for a nightcap or six. It was there I was introduced to the Bautista bomb.

Basically a boilermaker but with Red Bull in one cup and this poison in a shot glass

which is dropped in the Red Bull and downed. Yikes. GC does one of these "shots" after the game for every J-Bau home run at the Dome.

Needless to say I recall very little else from that night but I'm certain I enjoyed every minute of it.

Conclusion:

Rolling with GC works just fine with me.

Thanks again dude.

Confession of an addict

Recap:

Your Toronto Blue Jays acquired Brett Lawrie on Monday and I have a ball signed by him delivered to me by Thursday.

Conclusion:

I clearly have more money than brains when it comes to this shit.

Thank You, Sir

So about half way through the touching video to Cito on the JumboTron, I realize that I got the autographs of quite a few of the celebrities giving the personal tributes. A quick shout out and between the guys here at 1BlueJaysWay we were able to come up with 12 of the 19 signatures. 

That's well over .500! A somewhat arbitrary goal, that we did not have when the process began.....

Here is the list, in the order they presented:

1. Vernon Wells
2. Duane Ward 
3. Jose Bautista
4. Tony Fernandez
5. Pat Hentgen
6. Paul Beeston
7. Tony again
8. Bautista again
9. John Buck can you really blame us?
   
10. Jesse Barfield
11. Robbie Alomar
12. Beeston again
13. Robbie again
14. Alex Anthopoulos
15. Vernon again
16. Buck again
17. Beeston again
18. AA again
19. Nick Leyva seriously, who has got this guy to sign?
    
20. Robbie again
21. AA again
22. Leyva again
23. Hank Aaron
24. Tony again
25. Paul Molitor
26. Dave Winfield shocked at this one!
    
27. Jack Morris
28. Dusty Baker why would we have his autograph?
    
29. Bautista again
30. Bud fucking Selig I'm actually proud that we don't have this one covered
    
31. Gord Ash not all that surprised on this one
    
32. Bobby Cox we are not quite that old
    
33. Robbie again

Observe in all it's glory:

 Vernon Wells 

 Duane Ward

 Jose Bautista

 Tony Fernandez

Pat Hentgen

 Paul Beeston

 Jesse Barfield

Robbie Alomar

Alex Anthopoulos

Hank Aaron

Paul Molitor

Jack Morris

If you noticed that one thing here does not look like all the others, solid job. It's a pretty random story.

Quickly:

Anybody else wondering why this guy didn't join in on the fun?

Pat Gillick

Remembering: Kelly Gruber

Take a stroll down memory lane with me, if you will. The date was April 20th 1984, and a young blond mullet sporting Texan had earned a roster spot on your Toronto Blue Jays. If you look at him, you know he likes to party. I mean, dude looks like that alcoholic chain smoker from high school who never grew up, or moved out of his home town. The same guy who is at the local bar every Friday night just talking about the time he went 4 for 5 with 8 RBI in that game against (Insert High School here) in front of a packed to the rafters stadium. He also looks like the type who may enjoy a "left handed cigarette" if you pick up what I'm laying down. Yes, Kelly Gruber holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Toronto sports fans, the way few others do. And I don't really understand why. I mean, Gruber could walk down the streets of Cleveland and no one would even recognize him. But in Toronto, if he shows up a bar near the SkyDome (yes I said it, SkyDome, not the fucking Rogers Centre) he draws quite a crowd.

Flash forward to June 5th 2009. Toronto Blue Jays vs Kansas City Royals, Grienke vs Romero. Grienke was rolling at this point in the season with an ERA still under 2.00, but the Jays opened up a 7-0 lead going in the 7th inning. Grienke gave up 5 earned runs and only struck out three. This game was special because it honored the 1989 American League East Champion Toronto Blue Jays. And in attendance was most of the players from that team including Mr Kelly Gruber.

I tell you all this as a back drop for what happens later that night. Myself, The Man With The Golden Arm and two of our buddies, Ike Stake and Jimmy Triggs (names have been changes to protect the innocent), were at the Dome taking in the game. We were trying hard to heckle Grienke without mentioning the fact he has "trouble" with the public. Needless to say, we were into the brown pops and may have exceeded our limit. There may or may not be a video clip on youtube. I'm not telling you to go there or anything, but if you do, I never told you to look up a clip called Blue Jay Belly Top. It has nothing (everything) to do with this story.

YouTube
 

After the game we stumble over to St Louis Bar and Grill for a nightcap. We meet up with some of our other friends who'd been at the game and order more alcohol and some food. I'm sitting in a chair next to Jimmy Triggs when another friend of ours Don Boon looks up and says "hey, that guy looks like Kelly Gruber." The only thing I remember after that is Jimmy leaping out of his chair, pushing me aside and running towards the mullet. It was in fact Kelly Gruber. So at this point, we're all trying to get our bearings about this, and it just so happened that we had brought a couple of baseballs to have signed at the game. We quickly ran to Don Boon's condo to pick them up. When we returned, Jimmy and Kelly had become friends. Gruber had been making his rounds around the bar, and Jimmy may or may not have kissed him at this point, but he was gracious and friendly. He was into the beers with us and very talkative, much to the displeasure of his female handler, who was a bit worried about the touching of Gruber. I walk back to the table to grab my beer when I see Jimmy walk over to another table where Gruber is talking with another group of people. Jimmy rolls up behind him and grabs Gruber's ass. Not like in a 'hey, how's it going' but as if he was trying to finger his asshole. So, we start cracking up, and I gotta admit, Gruber was a great sport. I believe at one point Jimmy looks at Gruber and says "look at the hair, you gotta enjoy the pot!" So finally, Gruber is around our table and I walk over to present him with a baseball that I wanted him to sign. He looks down, shakes my hand says "of course", he had a little chit-chat and out of the corner of my eye I see Jimmy walk over. He reaches into Gruber's chest, and slowly begins to unbutton his shirt. Very calmly Jimmy grabs a permanent marker and begins to autograph Kelly Gruber's chest. Gruber looks at me, I look at him, we look at Jimmy, and he looks back at me and say "Is this your friend?" I said "yes of course." Gruber pauses, lets Jimmy finish, takes a look at the autograph that reads "Jimmy Triggs.", laughs and signs my baseball.


Needless to say Gruber was the rock star that night. After the permanent marker incident, we retired back to the table to discuss and laugh about what just took place. I'm not positive how the night ended but I believe we were kicked out of the bar. Kelly Gruber remains one of the most mediocre third baseman in MLB history, but he was funny and engaging and remarkable patient. He laughed at Jimmy signing his chest and made himself available for pictures and autographs all night. Maybe this is why he remains a fan favorite in Toronto, this city equates to the high school slugger who never left, this is where he can sit and reminisce about tagging Deion Sanders' foot on the tail end of the triple play that never happened, and everyone will sit and listen. This night however, not only did we sit and listen, we autographed his chest.

Remembering: Roberto Alomar

Whenever you hear the name Roberto Alomar  it's hard not to think about a moment from the 12 time All-Star's playing dominating days for us early during his hall of fame career.  The bomb he hit off Eck Sunday October 11, 1992 to tie the game in the top of the ninth in Oakland sticks out.  Your Toronto Blue Jays had been trying to beat the A's for years and couldn't do it.  We went on to win Game 4 in extra innings and took a three games to one lead in the American League Championship Series.  That was the TSN turning point, the momentum changer if you will, in our quest for the city's first World Series trophy.  In my opinion it was the second biggest homerun ever hit in team history.

Hearing his name for me personally, makes my mind wander back to the summer of 2008.  I remember it was July 28th, a regular Monday night not unlike any other.  My slopitch team, the Georgetown Goodtimers, were  scheduled to play our weekly game at 7:00pm in a very small town named Hornby located just off Steeles Avenue between Milton and Georgetown.  We always hated playing in this bandbox because the fences are short, the infield is never groomed and the light standards are low which makes picking up fly balls in the evening rather difficult.

I recall rolling into the parking lot and noticing a group of people loitering not far from the field.   I got out of my car, grabbed my gear and started to walk towards the diamond.  I glanced at the group of people in mid stride and thought to myself: hey, that guy right there looks a lot like Robbie Alomar.  Realizing immediately how far fetched of an idea it was that Robbie fucking Alomar was at a t-ball diamond in Hornby, I dismissed the notion completely and figured it was just the pre game festivities talking.  I continued my stroll to the bench and began preparing for the game.

As game time drew near, my teammates trickled in one by one.  Each and everyone of them saying that some guy by the parking lot looks like the ten time gold glove winner.  Then our leftfielder Mash arrived and  he was adamant that it was in fact the great Robbie Alomar.  Mash would routinely jog five kilometers one way to the games instead of drive,  so his mind was no doubt clear.

As the game began, we didn't care.  The questions were endless.....

What the fuck is he doing here?  Should we ask him to pinch hit?  Can this really be happening?  Should we ask him for autographs?  What can I get him to sign?

Our shortstop and clean up hitter, Ike Zelek, was the first to gain the courage and went out to where he was.  He returned with a big smile on his face, confirming our thoughts that it was the four time silver slugger.  Jimmy Triggs, the team super utilityman/DH, by chance wore his Jays jersey to the game.  He instructed some of the player's wives to head over there and get him to sign it with his classic phrase "Catch the taste".

I remember thinking to myself that I had nothing worthy to be autographed.  I asked our team rep and equipment manager,  The Clamp, for a unused game ball and he told me he may have one in his car.  Lucky for me, he had one and I proceeded over to Robbie's group meekly with a red sharpie in hand.  The 1992 ALCS MVP was very engaging and had no problem signing the ugly, yellow, flight restricted ball.  I can remember my hand was trembling when I was passing him the ball and sharpie.  I was starstruck, this guy was truly my hero growing up.  I was completely unprepared to meet The Best Toronto Blue Jay to ever wear the uniform when I got up that morning.  Collecting myself somewhat, I then mustered up the balls to ask him how he was enjoying his time in the lovely town of Hornby.  This prompted a laugh from all, I shook his hand and thanked him for the memories.  

Walking back to the diamond with my new treasure, I passed by Sammy in right field and begged him to let me keep it.  He laughed loudly at me and agreed, no doubt seeing that I would have not taken no for an answer.  

One final twist to this totally random story.  As it turns out a guy named Rob Alomar number 97 is on the roster of a Men's C team, in the Georgetown Slopitch League.  They played the 9 o'clock game that night.  Don't believe me?  Check for yourself here.

From this experience I learned one very important life lesson: Always have a new baseball on hand at all times.

For the record, I keep one still in the wrapper in my glove box and look forward to my next Blue Jay encounter.

Anyone out there have any chance meetings worth sharing?