‘HE’LL ALWAYS BE A BLUE JAYS ICON’
This is likely the end for Bautista in Toronto, but he has already left a massive legacy
John Gibbons had just been fired and Cito Gaston was in his second day on the job — second time around as Blue Jays manager — when the club first took notice of the fire burning inside Jose Bautista.
It was in Pittsburgh in June of 2008 and Bautista had hit a late-inning home run in a rather meaningless interleague game between the Jays and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But like so much with Bautista, it came with histrionics. He stared at the pitcher, Jesse Litsch, trotted around the bases so slowly and showy that the Jays dugout erupted, with third base coach Brian Butterfield standing and screaming at Bautista and the usually controlled Roy Halladay yelling uncharacteristically.
“I didn’t like it,” Gaston said. “No one wants to be shown up.”
Almost two months to that home run day, Alex Anthopoulos, then the assistant general manager of the Blue Jays, responsible for dealing with the waiver wire, was sitting at his desk when he saw Bautista’s name hit the wire and he instantly brought it to the attention of general manager J.P. Ricciardi. Ricciardi instructed him to make a deal with the Pirates, then report back to him.
“We didn’t have anyone like Jose,” Anthopoulos said. “We didn’t have anyone with his fire. He hit that home run against us and it was like he hit a nerve with a lot of us. We didn’t have that kind of player. We needed somebody like that.”
The waiver claim morphed into a minor trade for a little known catcher named Robinzon Diaz, never made with the belief or the intentions of bringing a star to the Blue Jays. What Ricciardi and Anthopoulos planned that August day was to add to the Jays’ depth — not to acquire an all-time Blue Jays great.
“We thought Bautista could fill in at third and help us out with our outfield depth,” he said. “We had Alex Rios in right field so there wasn’t any real place for (Bautista) there. We liked the idea he could play more than one position if we needed it. Really, though, it wasn’t until Rios was claimed (on waivers) late in 2009 that Bautista started to become the Bautista we came to know.”
Or, in Anthopoulos’ words, he started to become: “An icon, one of the most important figures in Blue Jays history and Canadian baseball history.”
Said Paul Beeston, the Blue Jays’ president emeritus: “Jose gave us a swagger when we didn’t have any. He instilled confidence in everybody in our lineup. He was much more than we ever bargained for.
“It’s his pride, his confidence, the swagger — he wanted to be at bat when the game was on the line.”
Sunday will probably mark the end in Toronto. The last of Joey Bats. The final home game. From a humble beginning as a utility player to a humbling personal end in this rather depressing Blue Jays summer.
But in between? Oh, what magic, what moments, what fun.
“He wants to be the guy,” said Gaston, who played an enormous role in Bautista’s development as a big-league star. “Jose wants to be the guy everybody notices, the guy who needs the hit to win the game. He lives to be that guy. If it wasn’t a hit, it was a throw. It was something. At his best, he could do everything.”
Moments defined Bautista as a Blue Jay, and he had more than anyone who played here before. Iconic moments. The Pittsburgh home run that caught the Blue Jays’ attention. The famed bat flip. The Texas punch. The battles with Baltimore. The deadline day calling out of Anthopoulos and management. The arrival at spring training in 2016 and the unreasonable demands. The two home runs in Kansas City on the night the American League championship was lost. The throw in this year’s World Baseball Classic.
“We’re in the entertainment business and who’s been more entertaining than Jose?” Beeston said. “Whether it was hitting a home run, making a throw, arguing with an umpire — you couldn’t take your eyes off him.”
So many moments. So many memories. The reason to buy tickets for non-contending teams. Players call the big leagues The Show: For most of his time in Toronto, Bautista was the show.
No one word could explain or describe what Bautista accomplished as a Blue Jay, how he played, how he acted, how he reacted: He was explosive, emotional, aggressive, intimidating, combative, aware, singular, egotistical, formidable, striking, indomitable, prickly, competitive, smart, but mostly, as the kids would say, he was awesome.
“When we won the division and finally got to the playoffs in ’15, I think the player I was happiest for was Jose,” Anthopoulos said. “I know how hard he worked to get there. I know how much it meant to him for our team to get there. And I always knew that if he got to the playoffs, he’d get a chance to show the entire baseball world what he was capable of.
“There’s a lot of great players in baseball, but how many get a moment like he had, the bat flip, in a game like that one after all that happened in the top of the seventh. I’m happy he got a chance to finally show what he could do on the biggest stage.
“To me, he’s an icon. He’ll always be a Blue Jays icon. He brought a swagger back to the organization and I see him as a catalyst for the revival of baseball in Canada.”
Assuming this is the end — Bautista’s contract expires at the end of the season and the Jays won’t pick up the option — Bautista will end his time as a Jay second all-time in home runs behind Carlos Delgado, third in RBIs behind Delgado and Vernon Wells, second in walks, third in OPS and possibly, by the end of next week, second in runs scored. Only Delgado, John Olerud, Fred McGriff and Roberto Alomar are ahead in on-base percentage. He was paid more than US$100 million for his time in Toronto. It probably wasn’t enough by baseball standards.
“We’ve had a lot of good ballplayers here over the years, but Jose was an electric ballplayer,” Beeston said. “You can think, ‘Remember when Jose did this, or remember when he did that?’ We were privileged to be able to watch him all these years.”
The end now is appropriate, unfortunate and just slightly uncomfortable. In five of the six months of this baseball season, Bautista has hit .200 or below. In four of the six months, his on-base percentage has been below .300. The numbers are the numbers. It’s time.
No one wants to see an icon struggle the way Bautista has, and the team has, this season. We want our heroes to be forever heroic. Sport doesn’t always play along.
It makes these final home games, Saturday and Sunday, meaningful viewing, if just to stand and cheer one more time. To say thanks. In Friday’s 8-1 win over the Yankees, Bautista had an RBI.
“I expect him to do something dramatic,” Gibbons said. “He’s always done that. He always played with that chip on his shoulder. He’s always functioned better in chaos than most of us. It’s who he is. Some guys don’t like that stuff. Jose thrived in it.”
Jose wants to be the guy everybody notices, the guy who needs the hit to win the game. He lives to be that guy . ... At his best, he could do everything.
CITO GASTON, former Blue Jays manager