Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - The Back 2 Back Reunion Weekend's Finally Here!

The Back 2 Back Reunion Weekend's Finally Here!

I don't know about you but I've been looking forward to this for a long time. A majority of the players and coaches from the 1992 and 1993 World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays are in town this weekend to celebrate the glory days. Oh yeah, the Baltimore Orioles are in town too and let's hope they'll be gracious guests by lying down like dogs for the next three games!

So, where were you in '92 and '93? I was in Northern Ontario for both occasions. I remember my buddy bailing out on me after the Braves tied Game 6 in the ninth because he had to go home. Despite being in the presence of three other "less than hardcore" baseball fans, I went bananas when Mike Timlin threw out Otis Nixon for the final out. I grabbed two bottles of Coors Light, ran outside to my back yard and poured the chilly contents on my head, yelling God knows what!! It was just a release from all the pent-up nerves I had in watching the game and the pent-up frustration of the team coming close in previous years. My folks were in Las Vegas at the time watching the whole thing and they phoned me afterwards. My pop was one happy man!

As for '93, I celebrated with my college buddies at a bowling alley in North Bay. I did more jumping around than House of Pain when Joe touched them all. A lot of booze was spilled on the lanes during the celebration. I believe we were banned from ever bowling there again. We blamed the whole thing on the first-year students and I had no problem throwing them under the bus. Again, my folks called to share the joy of a back to back World Series title. If there's one regret, I wish I was with my parents to celebrate at least one of those wins. That's why the Jays have to win one really soon so I can make good on this!

Another thing I remember in the hoopla was a bet between my college classmates in which the loser would have to burn the cap of his favourite team. It was a bet between a Jays fan and an Orioles fan. Of course, it was the O's hat that went up in flames and thankfully the North Bay fire department was not called in to put it out. That's because the winner of the bet, to put it nicely, tried to extinguish it with his own fire hose, so to speak! Anyways, here's hoping the O's also go down in flames this weekend.

I must admit I'm also looking forward to seeing sliced bread being the best thing to happen since Matt Wieters as well as rookie hurlers Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz who are listed as this weekend's probable starters. The missus is hoping she'll get to see her favourite former Jay, Gregg Zaun. And if that's not enough to convince you to get to the ballpark, ex-Jays Cesar Izturis, Mark Hendrickson and Juan Samuel will be there too! You can find all the "deets" here (as the cool kids say!) of what's going down for this reunion weekend.

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Friday, August 07 2009 @ 12:02 AM EDT.

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VBF - Friday, August 07 2009 @ 08:31 AM EDT (#204165) #

There's a BBQ for fans at the TD Centre Courtyard today, a bunch of the players will be there signing autographs. Cost is $10 and you get a burger, drink, chips, and world series poster. Goes from 11:30-1:30 and its on Wellington between York and Bay!

christaylor - Friday, August 07 2009 @ 09:32 AM EDT (#204166) #

For the 1992 series I was starting to learn chords on my brand new telecaster copy guitar. By the 1993 series I was playing Nirvana/Ramones songs. I jumped up and down and yelled yes while strumming each time.

One thing though -- neither win hit me as hard or made me as happy as the Jays winning in 1985. 1992 was nice but I never really got into that team and if I recall correctly (probably don't) the team didn't go through any major struggles. The big moment of that year was beating the A's which the Jays seemingly could not do for many years.

I dug the 1993 team more as Olerud (one of my favourite Jays of all time) had his career year and for a time looked as if he could hit .400 -- however that team had an "air of inevitability to it". The Joe Carter walk-off HR was an amazing moment, but it would have been more of let down if they'd lost than there was high from that team winning.

The 1992/1993 teams seemed more mercenary than the 1985 or 1987 (quite possibly the best of the lot and a team that probably would have won the whole thing if not for late season injuries).

Although, I'll admit, 85-87 were right at the height of my kid fandom and early 90s WS wins were during my early teenage years when I was turning away (to rediscover the baseball of course or I wouldn't be on this site) from those things I was obsessed as kid to more teenagerly pursuits (music, gals y'know the usual).

I must admit, while thinking back it seems like I was turning away from the Jays, I recall vividly following them in the paper and listening to them on the radio. I can name the rotations/lineups and quote many triple crown statistics of the hitters. Perhaps because I've gone back and looked, but I don't think I've looked often enough to have them burned into my brain as they are... good times.

Save perhaps for some of the looting/rioting that went on during the parade. It was a good time to be a baseball fan in the city, a time when nearly everyone could talk a little baseball with you, from the cab driver to the hair stylist. Very unlike the last 10 years in this city where stating that one is a baseball fan draws quizzical looks from even people who know me well (then they'll usually fob it off as having something to do with my knowledge/interest/expertise in statistics).

Magpie - Friday, August 07 2009 @ 10:30 AM EDT (#204167) #

In 1992, my TV was broken. Watched Game 1 with a very young Liam and his mum. Jays lose. Listened to the next few games on the radio. That went well. Went back over to watch them win it all on TV. They lost Game 5 and I thought - "enough of this!" and listened to Game 6 on the radio. That was tense.

I was working the 1993 series and what with the media overflow, many of us got shunted down to the football press box. Way down the left field line, looking down at the Jays bullpen. In new seats, you lose your sense of how the ball has been hit and how it's travelling (the trick, as always, is to immediately check out the fielders - they know.) After Carter swung and missed so badly at the 2-1 pitch, I looked at Alfredo Griffin in the on deck circle and thought "he's gonna send up to Darnell Coles to pinch hit, right?" Carter then hit what looked to me like a popup behind the infield. Until I noticed Incaviglia running back towards the wall.... Good times.

Alex Obal - Saturday, August 08 2009 @ 04:54 AM EDT (#204248) #

Last night, Matt Wieters made his first appearance in Toronto. In honour of the occasion, Joe Carter organized a reunion of the greatest Blue Jay teams ever.

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