One of the great things about sports is that you can find quirky stories if you pay attention. And a fascinating story emerged on Monday in a baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox.
The Blue Jays and the Red Sox were playing on June 26 when a shower came up, which led the umpires to call the game. At the time, Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen was at bat, which meant that, according to baseball rules, he would resume his at-bat when the two teams rescheduled the game.
Both teams were able to find the time to schedule the rest of the game on Monday, which meant that Jansen would finish his time at bat. There was a catch (no pun intended): the Blue Jays had traded Jansen in July — to the Red Sox. This allowed Jansen to make history as the first person to appear on the box score for both teams in the same game.
Jansen didn’t have to don both teams’ uniforms. Instead, the Blue Jays used a pinch hitter for Jansen, who caught for the rest of the at-bat that he started.
Pinch-Hitting for Danny Jansen: Daulton Varsho
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 26, 2024
Now Catching: Danny Jansen
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/PXnVZvbpml
How did it work out?
“With Jansen behind the plate, the Blue Jays subbed Daulton Varsho into the game to take over Jansen’s original 0-1 plate appearance,” The Athletic explains. “Varsho struck out, fouling off the first pitch from Nick Pivetta and swinging through the second. (If the count had been two strikes, it would have been credited to Jansen’s line, but instead went to Varsho.)”
Both The Athletic and the Associated Press recorded quotes from Jansen about the game and its quirky moment. Naturally, Jansen had his wife, kids, and other family members in attendance to witness the historic first.
Recommended: Your Feel-Good Story of the Day: State Rep. Pitches in a Baseball Game for the First Time in 17 Years
“At first, I didn’t really think of it that much,” Jansen said of the idea that this moment might come. “But now here we are and it’s going to be a cool moment, especially when it’s all said and done, to look back on and it’s such a strange thing that’s happening but I’m grateful to have the opportunity to do it and it’s going to be cool.”
“Building up until that point, maybe it was a bit strange,” Jansen added. “Once you stepped in the box and it was ‘Game on,’ I was just trying to stay present, stay locked in.”
The managers of both teams took in the moment with both humor and an appreciation for the historic nature of the game.
“It was a very cool moment, just to be part of it,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after the game. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen again. It has to be kind of like the perfect storm for that to happen — starting with the storm. And I’m glad that everybody enjoyed it.”
Last week, Cora announced that he would put Jansen in the lineup at catcher because of the significance of the game, saying, “Let’s make history.”
Blue Jays manager John Schneider made a “Back to the Future” reference when he talked about the game, joking, “We’re going in a DeLorean.” But after the game, he expressed pride in his former player.
“I think it’s cool for him to kind of go down in the record books as the first player to do that,” Schneider told reporters. “I’ve known Jano forever, and it’s something cool that he can always kind of say he was the first at, and he’s good at weird stuff. Pretty cool for him.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member