(Toronto) The crowd chanted “Jose!” Jose! Jose! at the Rogers Center for the first time in six years as the Toronto Blue Jays added Jose Bautista’s name to their ring of honor on Saturday.
Bautista was honored in a ceremony 45 minutes before the game between the Blue Jays and the Chicago Cubs. He eventually made the ceremonial first pitch by throwing the ball to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
“You have no idea how special this is for me and my family,” Bautista said, fighting back tears as he addressed the crowd.
He then showed a five-minute video that chronicled how he was traded to the Blue Jays in 2008 and thanked several team members and fans.
“I knew the Blue Jays had a lot of great players and the team had a great history, with its two World Series triumphs,” Bautista mentioned in the video. I also knew from the start that the Blue Jays had strong ties to my home country, the beautiful Dominican Republic.
“But what I didn’t really realize before arriving in Toronto was how welcoming and multicultural it was. You welcomed my family and me as if we were yours and I cannot thank you enough. »
Bautista’s name was added to the ring of honor in right field, where he played the majority of his 10 seasons with the team.
During his time with the Blue Jays, Bautista was invited to the All-Star Game six times and won the Silver Stick three times, as the best offensive player at his position in the American League. He hit 288 home runs with the Jays, including 54 in 2010, a team record.
Bautista is best known for throwing his stick after hitting a resounding three-run homer that broke a seventh-inning deadlock in Game 5 of the Division Series between the Jays and Texas Rangers in 2015.
Several gifts were presented to him on Saturday, and the JaysCare Foundation donated $100,000 in his name to Holland Bloorview Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital.
“I want to thank you, the fans, who were particularly crazy during the great years in 2015 and 2016,” Bautista said in the video. I know many of you, these memories will stay with you for the rest of your life.
“We could feel your love and support. We were playing for the city. We were playing for the country. We were playing for each other. But above all, we played for you. »
Bautista wiped away tears after a long series of recorded video messages from former teammates and coaches, as well as his wife Neisha and their four daughters.
Former managers John Gibbons and Cito Gaston were present, as were former players Edwin Encarnacion, Justin Smoak, Ricky Romero, Devon Travis, and Montrealer Russell Martin, among others.
Tens of thousands of fans had lined up to be among the first to enter the Rogers Center, hoping to receive one of 20,000 figurines commemorating Bautista’s famous stick throw.