From clutch moments to the iconic bat flip, few players have electrified Toronto Blue Jays fans the way former slugger José Bautista has.
The six-time MLB All-Star was in Halifax Thursday to take part in the annual Sports Charity Dinner, which raises money for Canadian Progress Club charities such as King’s Meadow Home and Club Inclusion.
Bautista recently returned to Toronto for the season opener, where he threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
“Anytime I’m back in the country, I get a great reception everywhere I go and I feel the love and I love everybody right back,” he told CTV Atlantic’s Suzette Belliveau.
“When I’m in the stadium and I’m amongst my peers and just have to do some of the alumni events, you know, it’s palpable, right? You feel the love for the Blue Jays, you feel the love that people have for us as players and yeah, I couldn’t be prouder of the Blue Jays fan base for the love that they show the team.”
When the Blue Jays reached the ALCS last October, Bautista was in the stadium cheering on his former team.
“The stadium was packed, the streets were crowded and flooded with Blue Jays gear, so being out there and trying to get the crowd going was amazing,” he recalled.
“It’s something that I will always appreciate, coming back and spending time with the fans.”
He even had the chance to take the field again to throw out the first pitch ahead of Game 6 of the ALCS.
“I was blessed to have that opportunity, and you know, I gave my best on the pitch, I threw it as hard as I could so just to get everybody going. It was amazing to be in that moment and just be part of it,” he said.
Watching the Jays make their postseason run had Bautista reminiscing about his time playing October ball and the moment that defined his career during Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series between the Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers.
With the game tied at three in the bottom of the seventh and runners on first and third, number 19 stepped up to the plate. He hits the first pitch foul. Second pitch is a ball. Third pitch he smashes deep into left field, pauses for a moment and then… the iconic bat flip.
“At the moment I was ultra-focused and I try to keep things simple and just kind of calm myself down and breathe as I normally do when the situation is kind of getting big. So, I was focused on the task at hand and actually I was just trying to hit the ball in the outfield and drive one run in,” said Bautista.
“It just happens that I connected well with it and it ended up on the other side of the fence.”
After more than two decades of missing the playoffs, that moment captured a nation and cemented Bautista’s place in Blue Jays history.
“Being back in the playoffs, to be able to move on to the next round on a Game 5, you know, late game home run was amazing,” he said.
“It was a great moment, and I was lucky to be the guy that played at that moment.”
When asked what he thinks of this year’s squad’s rough start, Bautista says there is no reason to panic.
“Obviously, we hope that all the guys get back healthy. You want the team to be the team and have our players be the ones there and not just replacement guys that you get to find to just fill the void. But you know, that brings opportunity too. Maybe some of those guys step up and, you know, a new great career for a star player comes out of this, you never know,” he said.
“I know the pitching has been a little rocky so far and it’s been that awkward combination of sometimes you pitch well and then you don’t hit. But it’s still early, the guys will find their rhythm and their groove. They’re still a great team. I fully expect them to make another deep playoff run and be in the World Series.”
Bautista recently made the move from the diamond to the pitch, when he became the principal owner of the Las Vegas Lights FC — a professional soccer team that plays in the USLC.
“This is our third season under my ownership, if you want to call it that, and it’s exciting, you know, growing a fan base trying to, you know, rekindle a relationship that might have been lost between the fans and the team in the years prior to us taking over and it’s gone well,” he said.
“We laid the foundation in the last two seasons of that and now looking to grow and keep making it better.”
Bautista says the team has poured a lot of capital into improving the game-day experience.
“Fans are coming out now in larger numbers and hopefully that continues that trend and the environment is great,” he said.
“People are having fun at our games and it’s really affordable and, you know, we just want to be that outlet for families and it’s working out amazing.”
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