brand the Blue Jays as Canada’s team. The most recent step in this process is the 2011
Winter Tour. Various members of the organization have traveled to three provinces in the
past three weeks to promote the Jays. The publicity tour has included autograph signings,
skills clinics, television and radio interviews, school and hospital visits, and even an on-
ice hockey “shooting” competition.
Once I knew the Jays were coming to town, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to attend.
Even with the sizable amount of Jays fans in attendance at Safeco Field each season, I’ve
never really felt like there was a large Jays following in Vancouver. The majority of my
friends couldn’t even name a single player on the roster. I arrived 30 minutes before the
scheduled signing time, expecting there to be maybe 10 to 15 people ahead of me. As
you can see from the first picture, the lineup was packed. By the time the players arrived,
I had lost track of how many people were in line. (Contrary to any stereotypes you may
have picked up on the internet, many of the baseball fans there were under the age of 25.)
The four players that made an appearance in Vancouver were J.P. Arencibia, Jesse
Litsch, Scott Richmond, and Ricky Romero. With the recent blockbuster trade, I asked
Arencibia if he was worried his playing time would be reduced with the acquisition of
Mike Napoli and he confidently replied “not at all”. As long time readers of Da Box
know, I used to be a very vocal critic of Ricky Romero. I know I’ve used his name and
the word “bust” in the same sentence on numerous occasions. I actually told Romero
I thought he was a bust back in 2008 based on his performance in New Hampshire.
Romero has clearly turned into a solid big league pitcher and I mentioned he has proved
me wrong. All four of the players were very nice and I’ll definitely be rooting harder for
these guys after getting the chance to meet them.
Based on the success of the 2011 Winter Tour, I believe we will see a 2012 version with
the addition of more cities. There is room for improvement, though. While I’m not going
to complain about receiving a free toque, there was no Jays merchandise for sale. A
question-and-answer segment between the players and the fans would have been nice.
How many more days until Opening Day?
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Thanks to Ron for the article!