ST MARYS, Ont. — By late afternoon on Saturday, the crowd was overflowing well beyond the edge of the giant white tent beside the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Trophies by Drake played over the sound system and Jose Bautista stepped up to the dais while his longtime walk-up song played and fans chanted his name.
One of six inductees into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, the 44-year-old Bautista spoke last. Soon after congratulating the other inductees and making some opening remarks, Bautista reflected on the 2008 trade that sent him from the Pirates to the Blue Jays — and the emotion of the day could be heard in his voice as he recalled what it felt like to settle into a diverse city full of people hungry for more.
“It felt like I had something in common with all of those people also trying to find their footing in a new land,” Bautista recalled, fighting back tears. “I will be forever grateful for the Blue Jays organization for helping me reach my potential as a player.”
Also inducted Saturday were left-handed pitcher Erik Bedard, Greg Hamilton, the longtime director of national teams for Baseball Canada, and Amanda Asay, the longtime women’s national team star who was inducted posthumously. Joining them were two veterans committee selections, Arleene Noga, who once starred in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and Gerry Snyder, a Montreal politician who helped bring the Expos to Canada.
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With 344 lifetime home runs, six all-star selections and 36.8 career wins above replacement, Bautista reached heights few would have predicted when the Pirates selected him in the 20th round of the 2000 draft or when the Devil Rays claimed him on waivers four years later. In 2008, after Bautista had already played for four major-league teams, the Blue Jays decided to take a shot on a player who had long intrigued them, and he had another chance to make a first impression.
Bautista started slowly in Toronto, and might have been headed for a non-tender in 2009 were it not for an explosive finish to the season that saw him hit 10 home runs in his final 26 games. But intrigued by his power, the Blue Jays held on and Bautista responded by leading the American League in home runs with 54 in 2010 and 43 in 2011.
“Becoming successful and being consistent was something I always expected of myself,” Bautista told Sportsnet Saturday. “It took a little longer to get there, but when I started experiencing that it was a little bit more of a heightened sense of responsibility and accountability just to be one of the cornerstones of the franchise. But I welcomed that pressure and I feel like it helped me drive myself as a player.”
As he reflected on his 15-year MLB career, Bautista credited those who helped him behind the scenes — everyone to stadium workers, clubhouse attendants and team chefs to coaches and managers including John Gibbons, Jeff Manto, Tony Beasley, Jim Tracy, Brian Butterfield and Rusty Kuntz.
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Perhaps most important of all were Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston and hitting coach Dwayne Murphy, who helped Bautista tap into his pull power and transform himself from fringy utility player into one of the most feared right-handed power hitters of his generation.
“A lot of hard work and dedication,” Bautista said. “It starts when you’re knee high to a grasshopper, right? But there’s a lot of people and moments and hard-working hours in the batting cage that ultimately culminated with big-league success.”
While none of the other inductees are quite as well known as Bautista, and Bedard wasn’t in attendance Saturday, other inductees made a lasting impact behind the scenes, too.
A talented pitcher and hitter, Asay passed away tragically at the age of 33 in 2022 following a skiing accident. She represented Canada in seven Women’s Baseball World Cups and helped her country win silver at the 2015 Pan American Games.
As for Hamilton, he has been Baseball Canada’s head coach and director of men’s national teams since 1998, helping generations of Canadians including Justin Morneau, Jason Bay and Josh Naylor reach the big-leagues while also succeeding at the international level.
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“It still gives me goosebumps,” said Hamilton, who was set to leave with a group of young Canadians for Maryland first thing Sunday morning. “I consider myself extremely fortunate.”
“It’s a crazy game, we love it, and it gives you some amazing moments.”
As expected, the biggest cheers went to Bautista, who hit 288 regular season home runs with the Blue Jays, second on the franchise’s all-time list behind only Carlos Delgado. Of course the biggest home run Bautista ever hit came in the 2015 playoffs, when he hit a go-ahead three-run home run off Rangers reliever Sam Dyson in Game 5 of the ALDS before punctuating it with perhaps the greatest bat flip of all time.
A decade later, the moment still resonates with fans — and with Bautista himself.
“The emotion,” he said. “The memories that we created, people having fun. All the stories. I certainly remember the Rogers Centre shaking. It was a great series, going down 0-2 and coming back to tie and coming back home to clinch after 22 years was amazing.”
It has since become clear the bat flip home run ranks among the greatest moments in the 49-season history of the Blue Jays, yet in the moment Bautista had no way of knowing that his swing would mean so much.
“But I’m glad,” he said. “Because it was a huge moment for the franchise and, I’m sure, for the fans.”
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