Roy Halladay shakes hands with Jose Bautista before the season opener between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees during MLB action at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ont. on Friday April 4, 2014. (Postmedia file photo)
Diehard Canadian baseball fans love the Blue Jays, hotdogs, the Field of Dreams movie, dramatic home runs and Youppi! — the former Montreal Expos mascot who now works for the Canadiens.
Those were some of the findings in a Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum/IMI International survey that polled 904 adults across the country last month about their preferences about the game, which intends to return to action in the coming weeks.
The Blue Jays registered as the favourite team of 81 per cent of respondents. The Detroit Tigers were a distant second, aided, of course, by Southwestern Ontario geography and history.
Joe Carter’s walk-off home run to win the 1993 World Series is the all-time moment in Canadian baseball, but Jose Bautista’s cocky bat flip homer to cap the 2015 American League Division Series against Texas was a close second, fuelled by the under-40 crowd.
Joe Carter does the victory dance after the Blue Jays won their second World Series in 1993. (Postmedia files)
The late Roy Halladay and second baseman Roberto Alomar are considered the best pitcher and position player for Toronto, while Pedro Martinez and Vladimir Guerrero, Sr., earned the nod for the expos. All four have been inducted to the Canadian ball hall in St. Marys.
Russell Martin was voted top Canadian-born Blue Jay, ahead of Matt Stairs and Paul Quantrill, and will join them in the hall one day.
Most baseball fans in the survey dream of being able to witness a perfect game live, but the No. 1 wish, if granted anything they wanted, would be to sit in the dugout for a big-league game.
The Rogers Centre, often lamented as one of the sport’s more outdated facilities, was predictably the choice of favourite ballpark among respondents with Fenway Park second. Clearly, not enough have been able to travel to Comerica Park in Detroit.
“Our mission is to champion education, respect, diversity and healthy lifestyles across generations through the power of baseball,” ball hall chair Jeremy Diamond said. “The survey provides some interesting insights into baseball in Canada we hope sparks further conversations. Like all fans of baseball, we are excited to see (the sport) return.”
The ball hall cancelled its induction ceremony this year, but is still open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays (and holiday Mondays) until Sept. 4.
