Back in the game

new Star baseball column,

Mike Wilner, longtime voice of Jays, introduces

Now, where was I when I was so rudely interrupted …

After a couple of decades of talking about baseball on the radio, it’s time for a new chapter. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have loved being the voice of the Blue Jays for another couple of decades — it was a dream come true for a Toronto kid who grew up listening to Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth — but I also grew up reading Milt Dunnell, Neil MacCarl, Dave Perkins, Richard Griffin and The Bear. Heck, Alison Gordon’s book probably helped kick off the passion for simulation baseball I had as a pre-teen and still have now.

I was so happy to bring Blue Jays baseball into your homes on the radio for all those years. I got to call a nearperfect game by Marco Estrada, tons of huge hits and great defensive plays, and the second-biggest home run hit by a Jay in that classic Game 5 against Texas in 2015. Then I almost got my right arm torn off by Joe Siddall when Jose Bautista hit the biggest one an inning later.

It’ll take some time, once things open up again, to get used to turning left out of the Gate 9 elevators at Rogers Centre to go to the press box instead of turning right to go to the broadcast booth, it’s true, but I’m so excited to get to continue to be a big part of covering the Blue Jays and to get to do it at a place like the Toronto Star.

Some of my earliest childhood moments include this newspaper. I can still see my grandfather, sitting in the back row of synagogue, with a prayer book in one hand and the Star sports section folded on the seat beside him. Or vice versa. I can still see, for some reason, the front page of the Star sports section of April 30, 1981. The Jays had played in Milwaukee the night before and had beaten the Brewers 5-0 in 14 innings. Splashed across the top of the page was simply the linescore, with all those zeroes all the way across and then a 5. That told a whole story right there and really made an impact on 11-year old me, clearly.

I had a Star paper route when I was 12 years old, serving the fine people of Steeles Avenue just east of Bathurst Street, with my older brother, who would go on to write a regular column in StarWeek magazine for 15 years. This iconic Toronto paper is in my blood, and I’m thrilled to have gone from delivering it to writing in it.

I’m so excited to be joining the Star for many reasons, but mostly because of the direction in which this coverage is heading. In a time when so many media companies are pulling back, cutting departments, turning their airwaves and column inches over to syndicated programming and wire service reports, the Star is talking about expanding. Beefing up coverage and doing it on multiple platforms. I’ll be giving you my thoughts and opinions about the Blue Jays and baseball in the newspaper and on the website and app, but I’ll also be podcasting, doing live Q&A’s and interacting with you on social media the way I always have been.

The timing is perfect for the Star to move back into its historic place at the forefront of baseball coverage, with the Jays in position to be a very good team for a very long time. Our team of great reporters and columnists — like Rosie DiManno, Gregor Chisholm, Laura Armstrong and Mark Zwolinski — won’t be just along for the ride, though. We’ll be watching and listening, giving our impressions and opinions, and holding the decision-makers accountable for the moves they make or don’t make along the way.

The last game I got to call was a broadcaster’s nightmare. A playoff elimination game that was, for all intents and purposes, over in the second inning. It’s a tough way to go out, though it would have been a lot worse had I known it was going to be the last one.

But as I’ve said many times, baseball is the greatest game created in the history of anything, and baseball writing has been a huge part of that every step of the way. I might not be calling the games anymore, and maybe that will give me a different perspective on things, but some things won’t change. I’ll never be shy about voicing my opinions, and those opinions will be based on facts, not feelings. I’ll always enjoy the back and forth with you, the readers (and listeners). And I’ll be the first person ever to use the word awsemnity in the pages of the Toronto Star.

Thanks so much to all of you who sent such heartwarming and kind messages earlier this winter when the bad news dropped. I’m happy to have you here now that the good news has come. And to those who are just getting to know me, it’s great to have you along for this next part of the journey.

We’ll all enjoy it together.