Fans arrive early to savour all the flavour
Father-son moment another Montreal memory
• Baseball has showered the Russell Martins with special moments over the past three decades. They shared another on Friday night, and when it ended, most of the 46,314 fans in Olympic Stadium had lumps in their throats.
Russell Martin Sr., father of the Blue Jays’ new catcher and former subway musician, played the Canadian and U.S. national anthems on his saxophone before the Jays and Reds played the first of two weekend exhibition games in the Big O.
The s tadium cameras switched from the father, his eyes tightly shut as he played, to the son, wearing his catcher’s gear and holding his cap over his heart. When the son saw himself on the scoreboard, he smiled and gave a small wave. But as his dad played the final bars of O Canada, his son appeared ready to weep, as many in the crowd must have too.
They began a cheering crescendo before the music ended, and then they stayed on their feet and continued the ovation as Russell Sr. smiled and raised a fist in triumph, then pressed it to his chest in appreciation.
“Baseball can create some emotions, whether on the playing field or if you’re a fan — something you share with friends, some moment or something of that nature, and they become stories,” his son had said during a pre-game news conference. “Life is all about the stories that you can pass on from one to another. Personally it was just sharing the moments with my dad.”
Until Martin was 14, his father was his coach. Russell Sr. played in Métro stations to help pay for his son’s baseball training. Someone asked the Jays’ catcher how he thought he might feel as he listened and watched his dad stand on the pitcher’s mound and fill the old stadium with his music.
“I don’t know if I have the words to describe the emotions that’ ll being going through me, but I know it’s going to be special,” Martin said.
It was a special occasion too for the baseball-starved fans of Montreal, who gave Martin a rousing welcome home, and rained their cheers down on former Expos Vladimir Guerrero and Orlando Cabrera — especially the great Guerrero, and why not? — during pregame ceremonies.
Many found their seats moments after the gates opened at 5 p.m. There were lots of Blue Jays and Expos caps and jerseys in the crowd — Guerreros and Bautistas, Walkers and Martins, Carters and Carters — and some couples came clad in what used to be competing logos, except the competition is long gone.
This is the second straight year the Blue Jays have helped bring a soupçon of big-league baseball back to Montreal. The fans love it, for the memories and hopes it calls up, and the players like it too, because they feel some of what the fans are feeling.
“You get excited about a city when you can feel the energy … The next two games will be a good example of that,” said Joey Votto, who was born in the old Toronto borough of Etobicoke and grew up to become a star for the Reds.
“I’m really, really excited to be here,” Votto said. “Any time I cross the border, I feel like I’m home, and that includes Montreal.”
Votto played in Olympic Stadium with a travel team as a teenager, but missed the chance to play against the Expos. However, he has talked to players who fell in love with Montreal, whether they were Expos or not.
“For a lot of them, it was their favourite stop,” Votto said. “For a lot of them, they loved playing here on Montreal, taking in the city, the culture.”
Until further notice, this is a once-a-year tradition. The warm and fuzzy weekend gives the fans of Montreal memories that become stories. On Friday evening, the Russell Martins gave them a poignant addition to their collection.
And one for the Martins too. Referring to his dad’s pending performance and his homecoming as a player for Canada’s only team, Martin offered a neat summary:
“This is unbelievable,” he said. “After I get through this, I feel like opening day is going to be a piece of cake.”