When George Springer put bat to ball and hit the home run that sent the Toronto Blue Jays to the World Series, the roar could be heard across the True North.
From St. John’s to Surrey, Abbotsford to Windsor, Monday will go down in the collective sports memory of Canada. Springer's seventh-inning homer pushed Toronto to a Game 7 ALCS win over Seattle and put the Blue Jays in the Fall Classic for the first time since 1993, and Canadians from coast to coast are sure to be tuned in when their matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers begins tonight.
“They are Canada’s team,” said Blue Jackets assistant coach Steve McCarthy, who hails from Trail, B.C. “I grew up out west in British Columbia, obviously a long way from Ontario, but I was a huge Jays fan. The 1993 World Series, I had a Joe Carter jersey. I have family back in Canada, my mom and dad and my brother, and they’re avid Jays fans. It’s huge.”
That nationwide jubilation Monday stretched all the way from north of the border to Dallas, where the Blue Jackets were getting ready to play the Stars on Tuesday. It’s safe to say several CBJ players who are diehard Blue Jays fans were tuned in and celebrated accordingly.
“I was locked in on it,” defenseman Denton Mateychuk said Tuesday. “It was pretty crazy. I’m a happy camper today for sure. It was unreal. I was super happy. It’s awesome to see them win. I can’t wait to watch the World Series.”
One reason there was such a level of interest in the Blue Jackets locker room? Many of those watching grew up playing baseball themselves.
While Canada is synonymous with the sport of hockey, is an emerging power in basketball and soccer, and has an affinity for lacrosse, it also has a strong history of baseball.
Major League Baseball first moved north of the border when it established the Montreal Expos in 1969, with the Blue Jays following eight seasons later, but the sport's roots date back much further.
Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run playing as a minor leaguer in Toronto in 1914, and Jackie Robinson’s integration of the game in 1947 followed a season of minor league baseball in Montreal. Canadians Ferguson Jenkins and Larry Walker have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, while such names as Joey Votto, Freddie Freeman, Eric Gagne and Justin Morneau have gone on to stardom.
It may not quite be the National Pastime in Canada, but kids across the country spend their summers playing baseball just like they do south of the border. McCarthy, Mateychuk, Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves and defenseman Damon Severson are among those who grew up dreaming as much of making to stardom with a bat and glove as with a stick and skates.
It’s fair to say they all made the right choice, having made it to the NHL level. But ask them about baseball and their eyes light up with memories of summer days and backyard games.
“I miss it,” McCarthy said. “You got me excited talking about it.”
Days On The Diamond
If it feels like Greaves looks like a shortstop when he flashes the leather to make a glove save, it’s because he was.
Growing up in Cambridge, Ontario, Greaves donned a mask and pads in the net, but summer meant putting on a glove and fielding grounders like his favorite player, Boston Red Sox legend Dustin Pedroia. Playing for the Cambridge Cubs, Greaves enjoyed being at a premium defensive spot where he always felt like he was in the play, and the glove certainly got a workout.
When you see how effortlessly he can snag a 90-mph slap shot, it certainly makes sense.
“I don’t necessarily think about it as much while the play is happening, but I think it becomes second nature a little bit,” Greaves said. “You spend so much time, whether it’s playing hockey and catching pucks or playing baseball and fielding ground balls, your body instinctively reacts in any situation during a game.”
While Greaves may look the most like a baseball player on the ice given his position, the player with perhaps the biggest claim to being a seamhead is Mateychuk. If you’re looking for proof, go no further than the fact he’s named after a Baseball Hall of Famer with Ohio ties.
Denton True Young was born in Gilmore, Ohio, in 1867 before going on to win a professional-record 511 games on the mound, all while acquiring the nickname “Cy” for how his fastballs left a wake of destroyed fences in their path.
Mateychuk’s father, Jason, is a member of the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame, and his two oldest sons – Maddux and Denton – are named after two of the best pitchers in the game’s history. The Mateychuk family built a makeshift baseball diamond in its backyard as the kids were growing up, and Maddux went on to play college baseball.
Denton certainly chose the right path in hockey as at age 21 he’s already playing top-pair minutes next to Zach Werenski on the CBJ blue line, but he showed an aptitude for baseball growing up as an outfielder, first baseman and, yes, pitcher.
“I didn’t throw very hard, but I was a lefty, so I threw a big hook,” Mateychuk said. “It worked out pretty good. I was able to get outs. I knew it was never gonna take me anywhere, but I could throw it in the strike zone.”
While Mateychuk carries the name of a baseball legend, McCarthy had his brushes with one of the sport’s most iconic venues as a kid. Under the tutelage of Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame coach Andy Bilesky, the Trail Little League squad represented Canada at the Little League World Series five times from 1967-90, leading to McCarthy family summer trips to Williamsport.
The most famous Trail Little League alum is likely 18-year NHL veteran and ESPN commentator Ray Ferraro, and McCarthy’s brother Darren participated in the 1990 World Series at Lamade Stadium on a squad that featured three-time MLB All-Star Jason Bay.
“I came from a really small town that was rich in baseball history,” said McCarthy, who played shortstop and pitched himself. “I went to Williamsport with my family to watch my brother. I don’t know how many times the team from Trail has represented Canada, but Ray Ferraro, same thing, went to the World Series. So I’m just a huge baseball guy. It’s awesome.”
Severson’s hometown venue, Pirie Field, isn’t quite Williamsport, but Melville, Saskatchewan, has hosted several collegiate wood bat league teams over the years. One of the CBJ defenseman’s first jobs as a kid was working at the local batting cages in the summer, and down time at work meant loading up the machines and taking a few hacks.
That time in the cage worked out for Severson, who hit over .500 two straight summers at ages 15 and 16 before focusing his energies on hockey.
“I just liked to hit doubles,” he said. “I liked to hit it in the gap and trot in for a double, and if I was able to stretch out a triple, then great. But at that age, we played in like a major league-style park, so it was legit. It was 400 to center, 320 to the corners. I think I put a couple off the fence or warning track, and I ended up getting doubles and triples out of it, but I was never able to put one out of our home field.”
Lessons For Life
It’s clear Mateychuk, Severson, Greaves and McCarthy look back fondly at their time on the diamond, but their stories all developed in similar ways.
Hockey was their winter sport and baseball their summer pursuit, and while they loved their time in the batter's box, they all realized they had a better avenue to the pro ranks through hockey. As their careers on the ice took off late in their teenage years, baseball was put on the back burner, a hobby instead of a full-time pursuit.
“When I got drafted by the Devils, hockey took over a little bit more and I had to back off the baseball thing,” said Severson, who still tries to find a summer league game or a softball team in the summer. “I still played as much as I could because I just really enjoyed it. It was hockey in the winter, baseball in the summer, and that was the cycle when I was a kid.”
And while none of the Blue Jackets have any regrets about how things unfolded from there, they do look back fondly on the old days. They also credit their time on the diamond as not just a fun summer distraction but a way to build skills – teamwork, competitiveness and hand-eye coordination, to name a few – that would translate to the hockey rink.
“I think they go hand in hand,” Greaves said. “I think, especially when you’re a kid, just playing as many sports as you can helps you to develop as an athlete. There’s the physical (component) and the athleticism and all that, but also just the competitive nature and the preparation. Having those habits year-round, I think I’ve learned a lot of important lessons from that.”
“I just believe it helps you,” Severson said. “Once you get to a certain age, if you really have a passion for one thing, let it take over. But when you’re still a kid, you have to let your body develop, and for me, it helped learning all these different tactics and tools to try to take them into your life for different sports you play. I’m a big believer in letting kids be kids and do whatever they want, and once they’re old enough, if they really want to focus on something, then that’s the decision you make and you go for it.”
Flipping on the World Series over the next few days – when the Blue Jackets aren’t playing, of course – will bring back even more memories of times on the field, or perhaps even family trips to Jays games like the Mateychuks try to do each summer.
While hockey has become the focal point of their athletic lives, the Blue Jackets with connections to baseball have a soft spot in their hearts for the sport they used to play and still enjoy.
“I loved it,” McCarthy said. “I miss it. I love baseball."
