October 23, 1993

Where the hell is Tony? Joe Carter had just hit his 1993 World Series winning home run 5 minutes ago, and now I am on the Esplanade lost in a sea of fans wearing blue that disappears into the night. Or for that matter where did all my friends go?  We were sitting in a sports bar watching the big game only a short while ago. Once the Blue Jays won though, everyone ran into the street and spontaneously a carnival erupted. Luckily, I found Tony and before we knew it, there were so many people that we ended up crowd surfing and floating our way to his car (just like in the picture above by Cal Millar). I held on to his leather jacket as to not lose him. Once we got to his car which was parked not far from the Eaton Center, we found our good friends Darryll and Hernan waiting for us. However, we lost our friend Patrick into the night. The day after we found out that Patrick, a true free spirit, was partying with newfound friends until dawn. Tony, an eternal friend, would drop me off home in Scarborough before sunrise.

Summer of ‘82

My family moved to Scarborough in the summer of 1982 from the Dominican Republic (DR). I remember missing the warmth of the DR and complaining about the cold in Canada often. One thing that warmed my heart was the 1982 Toronto Blue Jays. Not only were they already a competitive team, but the Blue Jays also had three amazing Dominican players in Alfredo Griffin, Dámaso García, and George Bell! Instantly, I became a Blue Jays fan for life and started to appreciate everything else Canada had to offer.

The souvenirs of Madame Raino

One of the things that I appreciated most about Canada was bilingualism. As young boy growing up in the DR, I always had an affinity for French language and culture. At the local movie theatre in the town of Bonao, where we lived, I remember watching and enjoying the films of Truffaut.

It was great to be able to learn advanced French in my high school in Scarborough for free. In other countries learning another language can be expensive. And I was blessed to have an amazing teacher in Madame Raino.

Madame Raino made learning French grammar enjoyable. She had a logical almost mathematical approach to teaching that made sense to me. I would read all the tables of the different verb tenses with pleasure.

One day in her French class we started talking about the amazing season the Blue Jays were having. Back in those days the mid 80’s the phrase “How about those Blue Jays?” was a common conversation starter. On that topic, Madame Raino asked us if we remembered what we were doing on April 7, 1977, the first ever game of the Blue Jays. Nobody in the class could remember. She winked at the class in a coquettish way and said, “oh là là I can certainly remember that inauguration day.” Everyone in the class laughed imagining that first game certainly must have been a very special and romantic day for our wonderful French teacher Madame Raino.

The Drive of ‘85

In 1985 the Blue Jays had grown to become a serious contender. I remember watching so many of their games on TV that season. The Jays had great pitchers such as Dave Steib, Jim Clancy, and Jimmy Key, as well as the famous outfield of George Bell, Jessie Barfield, and Lloyd Moseby. And as if that was not enough an up-and-coming Dominican player by the name of Tony Fernández would be one of the team leaders.

This team proved to be almost unbeatable in the regular season and would clinch the American League East Division title over the New York Yankees. All good things come to an end, and the Jays would lose the American League Championship Series to the Kansas City Royals which were led by baseball legend George Brett. To this day I occasionally have nightmares of Brett hitting homeruns against our beloved ’85 Jays.

40-years after

The drive of ‘85 planted the seeds for the World Series victories of 1992 and 1993. While only a few players remained from the 1985 season, in one of the most successful succession plans in sports lore the former hitting coach Cito Gaston was promoted to manager and would lead the Jays to those two remarkable victories. “Stand” Pat Gillick the general manager was like a meticulous vigneron who patiently pruned the vines each season until the vintage years of 1992 and 1993

This year marks 40 years since the drive of ‘85. And while it is fair to say that nobody in the current Jays roster was even born when the Jays won their first pennant in 1985 (except for today’s pitcher Max Scherzer who was born in 1984), the current team shares much with the dream team of 1985.

In this new young team, we see the same humbleness, respect for one another and work ethic from 40 years ago. When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looks up at the heavens after each game, I see the same spirituality that was exemplified by Tony Fernández. And you see the same love for the game in each player.

The mighty LA Dodgers are the favourites to win. All the same I am hopeful the Jays will win once again the World Series. Whatever happens, we should celebrate, because the qualities shown by these Blue Jays such as humility, respect, work ethic and spirituality should always be recognized. Also, we should celebrate because in these most uncertain times once again the Jays have given us something to smile about, have brought people from all over this land together and gifted us with a sense of community. This week let’s party like it’s 1992 or 1993!