Canadian Baseball Network writer J.P. Antonacci (on the left) first met Devon White at his elementary school in Etobicoke, Ont., in 1993 when he was nine years old. It was a month after the Toronto Blue Jays had won their second consecutive World Series. Photo supplied.

June 22, 2026

By J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

I knew the answers. All of them.

I just needed Devo to pick me.

Devon White and Dave Stewart were at my elementary school in Etobicoke about a month after winning the World Series in 1993, and my baseball-mad nine-year-old self could barely believe he was in the same room as two real-life Blue Jays.

Most of what they said has been lost to time, though I recall Stewart giving us tips on how to sneak a peek at our Christmas gifts by carefully peeling off the corners of the wrapping paper.

But I vividly remember a trivia session where Devo asked us to name that season’s MVP and Cy Young Award winner, and the team they both played on.

Up for grabs was the coveted prize of a Back 2 Back VHS tape chronicling Toronto’s repeat championship.

I sprang to my knees, threw both arms up as high as they could go, and held my breath, hoping against hope Devo would notice me amid the hundreds of screaming kids.

And he did.

“You in the hat,” he said, pointing to my blue and white “Back 2 Back Champions” ballcap.

The hall hushed, all eyes on me.

And I froze.

I couldn’t get any words out.

Hearing me sputter unintelligibly, Devo smiled.

“Okay,” he said calmly. “One.”

Suddenly I could breathe.

“Frank Thomas,” I replied meekly.

“Two,” White continued, still smiling.

“Jack McDowell.”

“And three?”

“The White Sox.”

I floated through the crowd towards the stage. But where my classmates had simply been handed their prizes from the floor, something compelled me to walk up the steps and stride across to where Devo stood.

My heart pounding, each step seeming to take an hour, I looked up at this giant of a man and wordlessly extended my hand.

And then, incredibly, Devon White reached down and shook it.

I don’t remember leaving the stage or getting back to my spot on the floor. The movie in my head picks up again as the assembly ends and my classmates nearly bowl me over.

“I want to shake the hand that shook the hand of Devon White,” bellowed my buddy Matt, a line my mom still sings to this day, set to the tune of “I’d like to buy the world a Coke.”

Someone was taking photos of that special visit and captured the meeting between an awestruck fan and his bemused baseball idol. This past Saturday, I showed Devo the picture at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, where he was enshrined as a member of the class of 2026.

“I don’t remember you,” he quipped.

But the speedy centre fielder said visiting schools and interacting with young fans was a special part of being a professional athlete.

“Oh definitely,” he said. “As major league players, we always try to give back to the community, and that’s one of things we did.”

White’s instinct to give back hasn’t changed.

Walking from the press conference to the site of the outdoor ceremony, he detoured up a hill to chat with some young ballplayers whose eyes bugged out of their heads to see the Blue Jays great coming toward them.

New Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and Toronto Blue Jays legendary centre fielder Devon White poses for a photo with the U12 AAA Caledon Nationals on Saturday. Photo: J.P. Antonacci

White patiently posed for photos with fans all afternoon, but his biggest smiles came while surrounding by the excited kids in their red and white uniforms.

“I loved watching their faces light up and hearing everybody scream, ‘It’s Devo!” said Mike Kring, head coach of the U12 AAA Caledon Nationals.

The Nationals played two games against a team from Halton Hills on a diamond by the museum as part of the hall of fame festivities. Kring said he and the other parents spent part of the 2.5-hour drive to St. Marys educating the kids on the inductees.

So when White appeared unexpectedly, the thrilled players eagerly crowded around him and escorted him to the VIP tent.

“They love it,” Kring said. “They absolutely love the whole atmosphere, and they’re having a great time.”

Players from the U12 AAA Caledon Nationals escort Devon White to the VIP tent at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday. Photo: J.P. Antonacci

‘The whole family made it’

Raymond Hector said his “Uncle Devo” has always had a gift for relating to people at their level and not talking over their heads.

“He speaks to you where you’re at. When you see him coaching and giving advice, he’s with you,” Hector said.

Davellyn Whyte had a different assessment of her father’s parenting style.

“He was mean,” she laughed.

“No, but, if you’re the coach’s daughter, you have to be better than everybody. He pushed me harder than everybody else.”

Whyte said her father – who was her basketball coach until she went to high school – set a high standard in order to avoid accusations of nepotism and make sure the future WNBA player made the most of her talent.

“He knew what it took to the highest level. And him coaching me the way he coached, I got a full ride to the University of Arizona and then I got drafted into the WNBA second round, 16th pick,” said Whyte, who played three seasons with the San Antonio Spurs before retiring due to injury.

“So with everything that he did and could accomplish, it kind of instilled that into me and I was able to follow in his footsteps,” she said.

“A different sport, but I still got to play.”

Devon White shared his Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame honour with a large group of family members. Photo: J.P. Antonacci

Hector said his uncle still sets the standard for the whole family to follow.

“Role model, 100 per cent. We all look up to him,” he said.

“Just knowing his journey, being from Jamaica, growing up in New York, and being family-oriented. Everybody in our family and people close by, we have similar stories. So seeing somebody making it and doing that gives us all motivation.”

Devo became a household name in Toronto, but the soft-spoken outfielder stayed true to his roots.

“He didn’t just make it, the whole family made it. And it’s always been like that,” Hector said.

“He’s the youngest in his family, so he was the youngest kid taking care of older brothers and sisters. So when the kids were born, it’s kind of the same model. We all take care of each other, look out for each other.”

White made sure the kids in his family shared in plenty of moments from his playing days.

“I remember just watching my uncle in his element and doing the things he loves doing,” Hector recalled.

“Just seeing how happy (he was) and how much joy it brought him. The focus it took him to get to where he got, being a master at his craft. So it was pretty cool.”

Blue Jays fans of a certain age would undoubtedly rank White among the best defensive outfielders of all time. But despite winning seven Gold Gloves and making one of the most famous catches in World Series history, he remains somewhat underrated.

That could be because other outfielders end up on highlight reels by diving for balls that White caught without fanfare, using his speed and unerring eye to calmly glide into position.

“He didn’t have to dive,” Hector said. “You can see his first steps, the instinct was automatically there. So he made the hardest plays look easy.”

Hector and Whyte were among two dozen relatives and friends who made the trip north from New York, North Carolina, and Arizona to celebrate Devo’s big day in St. Marys.

“It’s cool because sometimes when we get older, we only get to see each other when there’s a loss, because we’re all over the U.S.,” Whyte said. “But we all got to meet here for a great reason. It’s a lot of fun.”

“For the family, this is actually pretty dope,” Hector agreed. “It’s the first time we can get together when it’s not a funeral or something like that. So we’re all here on good graces and everybody’s happy.”

Thank you, Devo

More than 30 years after shaking his hand and squeaking out a thank you on stage, I felt like a kid again when looking up – though at not quite as steep an angle – at Devon White for a second time.

I still have the hat he noticed amid the sea of tiny Blue Jays fans clamouring for his attention on that long-ago afternoon.

I still have the VHS tape, too, though these days I’m more likely to watch the Back 2 Back documentary on YouTube.

Canadian Baseball Network writer J.P. Antonacci shakes Devon White’s hand at the ex-Blue Jays’ Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction in St. Marys, Ont. It was similar to the handshake the two had nearly 33 years earlier. Photo: John Antonacci.

And now I have a new handshake photo, and another special memory courtesy of a Blue Jays legend who remains as kind as he once was to a nervous kid overwhelmed by the moment.

Thanks, Devo.

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And the award for most creative t-shirts at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony on Saturday goes to these fans:

Antonacci: Devo and me, then and now