Life modified for José Bautista after his momentous bat-flip homer, but the previous Toronto Blue Jays slugger felt rewarded with the blast’s impact on Canadian baseball from coast to coast to coast.
The 44-year-old Bautista was into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, together with former Major League lefty Érik Bédard, junior national team head coach Greg Hamilton and girls’s national team standout Amanda Asay.
Asay will probably be inducted posthumously as will veterans’ committee selections Arleene Noga and Gerry Snyder in a ceremony in St. Marys, Ont., on June 7.
“I feel everybody remembers the large moments like that,” Bautista said, referencing Joe Carter’s World Series-winning homer in 1993 and Kawhi Leonard’s buzzer-beating shot to clinch a second-round series win over Philadelphia en path to the Toronto Raptors’ 2019 NBA title.
“It was one in every of those moments. I feel that it definitely modified for me. Rather more people desired to embrace me and just share the love, not just for the Blue Jays but for what I used to be doing.”
The three-run homer from Bautista in a wild 53-minute seventh inning and his celebratory controversial bat-flip propelled the Blue Jays past the Texas Rangers within the deciding game of their American League Division Series.
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He felt the imprint his homer made on the country as he travelled on Blue Jays’ winter tours.
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“I saw the love and the way big the turnouts were, the people’s energy and emotion by seeing us and wearing their Blue Jays gear, and the way they supported,” Bautista said. “You may tell it was real, and you possibly can tell it was massive.”
Toronto acquired Bautista in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates for catcher Robinzon Diaz in August 2008. Diaz only hit one homer in 139 profession MLB at-bats, while Bautista starred for 10 seasons with Toronto, smashing a club-record 54 homers in 2010.
The Dominican Republic-raised Bautista splits his time today with two sporting endeavours. He’s the first owner, chairman and governor of the Las Vegas Light FC of the United Soccer League. He’s also a special adviser to the overall manager of the Leones del Escogido within the Dominican Skilled Baseball League.
As responsible as Bautista’s blast was for a rise in talent on the grassroots level in Canada, Hamilton nurtured a lot of the kids currently sprinkled amongst MLB rosters within the last three many years.
The native of Peterborough, Ont., has coached MLB all-stars Jason Bay, Russell Martin, Justin Morneau, Josh Naylor, Michael Saunders and Michael Soroka.
“I feel it’s a very tight, close community in Canada,” Hamilton said. “We’re not in the US and never another countries that produce great volumes of players. But I feel we’ve been great, and you might have a chance to encourage.”
The late Asay did nothing but encourage in her 16 years with the ladies’s national team. The versatile trailblazer was a starting pitcher, played first base and loved going behind the plate to catch.
The Prince George, B.C. native’s life was cut short at 33 as the results of a skiing accident in 2022. She was still playing but additionally had a watch on a training profession.
“She loved playing and she or he loved coaching, which was the following big thing for her,” said her father, George, who was together with his wife Loris was on the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame conference call.”
Certainly one of Asay’s favourite movies was “A League of Their Own,” which documented the All-American Girls League of the Forties. Noga, from Ogema, Sask., was a part of that league, acting at third base for the Muskegon Lassies.
She later served as a technical director for the movie, teaching Rosie O’Donnell the right way to field at shortstop and Madonna the right sliding technique.
Snyder played a critical role in bringing the Expos to Montreal in 1969.
Bedard, born in Navan, Ont., briefly played with Bautista with the Baltimore Orioles, joining their rotation in 2004. He also pitched for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh, Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
