Toronto Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly, centre, pitches in a game with kids on the field during practice ahead of Game 6 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Toronto on Oct. 30.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
When five-year-old Theodore Cherry visited the local Canadian Tire store with his parents this past weekend, it wasn’t to pick up a hockey stick or ice skates or any other equipment you might expect for this time of year. It was to buy his first-ever baseball bat.
Over the past weeks and months, Theodore, a senior kindergartener at La Mosaïque elementary school in Toronto, has become totally, utterly obsessed with Blue Jays baseball. He plans to be a Jay one day.
It’s a scenario playing out in households across Canada – with the Jays’ postseason run touching off a surge of interest in one of our country’s oldest sports. In the same way the Jays’ 1992 and 1993 World Series runs inspired millions of Gen X and millennial kids to pick up a bat and glove, this year – heartbreak and all – has already galvanized a whole new generation of kids to take up the sport.
“It’s hard in this moment now. But I think as time passes, we’ll realize the impression and the impact they’ve had on the next generation in this country,” said Jason Dickson, the CEO of Baseball Canada.
“More people are talking about baseball, asking about baseball, wondering about baseball.”
For Theodore, his interest was clinched about a month ago, when his parents took him to Game 2 against the Yankees in the American League Division Series. The five-year-old sat watching – eyes wide as, well, baseballs – as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a grand slam.
“I want to do a grand slam too,” he told his mom, Bridget, at the end of the game.
Ms. Cherry has since registered him in an indoor baseball program. “As Canadians, we kind of expected he was gonna play hockey” this winter, she said. “But instead, he said, ‘No, I wanna keep playing baseball.’”
Ultimately, the Jays’ loss Saturday night taught Theodore an important life lesson: how to cope with disappointment. It’s an essential education – especially for a Toronto sports fan.
When he saw how sad his dad was Sunday morning, he switched over immediately into “cheer up mode,” his mom said. “He’s confident they’ll get it next year.”
Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. flips his bat after hitting a grand slam against the New York Yankees, in Toronto, on Oct. 5.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Organizers at little leagues and baseball camps say the Jays buzz is already translating into interest in the game. And Mr. Dickson said this will only mean a wider talent pool for the future of Canadian baseball.
A Toronto kids baseball camp led by Mr. Guerrero – which had been in the works since January and scheduled for later this month – has been flooded with requests.
“The demand was overflowing,” said Adam Skollar, a spokesperson for FlexWork Sports, the company that runs the camp. They’ve since added a second session and plan on bulking up their offerings for next year.
Little league organizers, too, say they’re hearing from parents, eager to get their kids registered. This despite the fact that registration for the spring season doesn’t typically begin until January.
“We’re already getting a lot of e-mails,” said Dave Clark, president of High Park Little League in Toronto. “Everyone’s just super excited. The momentum is definitely there.”
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Over the past few weeks, Rebecca MacKenzie has watched her five-year-old son, Charlie, become more and more fixated on baseball. Every morning, the kindergartener – whose 7 p.m. bedtime precluded him from actually watching the games – woke up and asked his mom the same question: “What’s the number?” – kindergarten-speak for “What was the score?”
When picking him up from school, she’d pull up outside to see Charlie and his friends playing baseball on the field – or at least their version of “baseball.”
“They don’t really have an understanding of the rules,” she said. “If someone gets a hit, they all kind of run and try to tag that person. It’s really sweet.”
And every night, Ms. MacKenzie ended her day by doing another load of laundry, because Charlie would only wear the same Jays jersey to school. A Jays shirt was deemed insufficient – only the jersey would do.
In his heartbreak on Sunday morning, she said, Charlie briefly declared himself a Dodgers fan. It was, she said, “a fake, ‘If I don’t care, they can’t hurt me’ attitude.”
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But he, too, learned an important life lesson from all this – about loyalty. Not 20 minutes later, Ms. MacKenzie said, he’d set himself straight. The Jays jersey was back on.
For today’s little kids – as the children of Gen X and millennials – to take up an interest in baseball represents a kind of passing of the torch, a bridge between generations.
Until recently at the Maghera household in Mississauga, family parties would be informally divided between the grown-ups, who sat upstairs watching baseball, and the kids, who stayed downstairs playing Nintendo.
Abby Maghera and her husband, Jag, who grew up in the era of the Jays’ World Series wins, had always been super-fans. The kids were less interested.
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But over the past few months, that has shifted. Ms. Maghera’s seven-year-old daughter, Aasha, and her cousins have all become Jays super-fans too.
“It’s become a little girl gang of Jays fans,” Ms. Maghera said.
“The first time I saw the game, I got inspired by it,” said Aasha. “They’re really powerful. And confident.”
Her favourite player is 22-year-old Trey Yesavage. She and her cousins call him “Trey the Savage.”
Even so, as a relatively new fan, she’s still learning the jargon. On Saturday morning, ahead of Game 7, Ms. Maghera said, “She woke up and said, ‘Mama, Dada, the Canada Blue Jays are going to win the World Cup!’”
She asked her dad one recent morning, “Can girls play?” Ms. Maghera said. “He said, ‘Absolutely.’” She plans on registering Aasha to play this spring.
Back at Canadian Tire, the bat that Theodore and his parents ultimately chose was a small red one. It had the word “BAM” printed on it and cost $54.99.
He said he couldn’t wait to practise catching and hitting with his friend Jacob, along with all his other friends at school.
Are all the other kids as into baseball as he is?
“I’m the biggest fan,” he said. “I’m the biggest one in the world.”