Glew - BWDIK: Bratt, Carter, Delgado, Hunt, Lopez, Smith
The Toronto Blue Jays unveiled a Joe Carter statue outside Rogers Centre in a pre-game ceremony on Saturday.
July 19, 2026
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
Some Canadian baseball news and notes:
Joe Carter statue unveiled outside Rogers Centre
As part of its 50th season anniversary celebrations, the Toronto Blue Jays unveiled a Joe Carter statue outside Rogers Centre in a pre-game ceremony yesterday to commemorate the club’s back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993.
The statue, which stands 15 feet tall and weighs 6,200 pounds, will be located in the Gate 5 and 6 area outside the Rogers Centre and is the first of a Blue Jays player.
The 1992 and 1993 rosters are engraved in two sides of the statue, while another is inscribed with the Tom Cheek’s famous “Touch ’em all, Joe! You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!” call.
Lou Cella and Omri Amrany of Roblatt Amrany Studio created the statue.
Blue Jays fans have been clamoring for a statue to commemorate Carter’s 1993 walk-off, World Series-winning home run off Philadelphia Phillies closer Mitch Williams for decades.
Twenty-eight players, coaches and front office executives from the 1992 and 1993 teams attended the ceremony. A photo was snapped of all the players and coaches in front of the statue and posted by the Blue Jays. And because I’m Blue Jays history nerd, I had to name each player in the photo (See below).
FRONT ROW – From left to right: Rance Mulliniks, Pat Tabler, Nick Leyva (coach), Gene Tenace (coach), Alfredo Griffin, Candy Maldonado, Devon White, Joe Carter, Dave Stieb, Al Leiter, Juan Guzman, Dave Stewart, Cito Gaston (manager), Rob Butler, Kelly Gruber
BACK ROW: From left to right: Jack Morris, Todd Stottlemyre, Pat Borders, Tom Henke, Ed Sprague, Paul Molitor, Pat Hentgen, Turner Ward, Danny Cox, John Olerud
Photo Credit: Andrew Lahodynskyj/Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club
Lopez records single at All-Star game
In the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday, Miami Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez singled in the bottom of the ninth to record his first All-Star Game hit.
His family was in the stands and their reaction was captured on video here:
Lopez, who spent part of his youth in Montreal, entered the Midsummer Classic as a defensive replacement for CJ Abrams in the sixth inning.
Since returning from the All-Star break, the 27-year-old infielder has continued his hot hitting, recording two hits for the Marlins on Friday and another yesterday.
Lopez, who has competed for Canada in the last two World Baseball Classics, is leading MLB in hits (130) and batting average (.335).
Smith fans two in All-Star debut
Cleveland Guardians closer Cade Smith (Abbotsford, B.C.) struck out two batters while tossing a scoreless sixth inning for the American League in their 4-0 win in the All-Star Game on Tuesday.
It was Smith’s All-Star Game debut.
The 6-foot-5 right-hander is leading the majors with 28 saves in his first full season as the Guardians closer.
Overall, he is 3-1 with a 2.78 ERA and has struck out 65 batters in 45 1/3 innings in 43 appearances this season.
Bratt makes second MLB start
Left-hander Mitch Bratt (Newmarket, Ont.) made his second big league start with the Arizona Diamondbacks last Sunday. He allowed three runs on three hits in three innings to the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. The D-Backs won the game 5-3.
On June 26, Bratt made his first MLB start against the St. Louis Cardinals and permitted one run, while striking out three, in three innings with about 20 friends and family members on hand at Busch Stadium.
The 23-year-old Toronto Mets and Junior National Team grad has been excellent for the D-Backs’ triple-A Reno Aces this season, posting a 2.41 ERA in 13 starts.
Anniversary of Orr’s mad dash for Pan Am gold
It was 11 years ago today that the Canadian senior national team won its second consecutive Pan Am Games gold medal in baseball when they beat the U.S. 7-6 in 10 innings in dramatic, walk-off fashion.
Played in front of 5,489 boisterous fans in Ajax, Ont., the Canadian squad trailed the Americans 6-4 heading into the bottom of the 10th inning. International baseball rules dictate that teams must start extra innings with runners on first and second base. With one out, Pete Orr (Newmarket, Ont.) flared a single to centre field to score Tyson Gillies (Vancouver, B.C.) to make it a 6-5 game.
American lefty David Huff then threw wildly when he attempted to pick Orr off first base and Skyler Stromsmoe (Bow Island, Alta.) darted home to tie the game. Orr aggressively dashed for third base and U.S. right fielder Brian Bogusevic threw the ball wide of the bag. Orr then scampered for home, while U.S. shortstop Tyler Pastornicky corralled the ball and threw it to U.S. catcher Thomas Murphy. Orr slid in safely in a close play at the plate and Canada won 7-6. It was an unforgettable sequence of events that will be remembered as one of the greatest in Canadian baseball history.
You can watch it here:
Twenty-sixth anniversary of possibly the worst trade in Blue Jays’ history
Today represents the 26th anniversary of arguably the worst trade in Blue Jays’ history.
With a 51-45 record and trailing the New York Yankees by just a game-and-a-half in the American League East, the Blue Jays, with Roy Halladay shipped to the minors and Chris Carpenter demoted to the bullpen, desperately needed a starting pitcher for the stretch run. With that in mind, Blue Jays general manager Gord Ash contacted his Texas Rangers counterpart Doug Melvin about right-hander Esteban Loaiza.
Loaiza had been a relatively reliable starter up until that season, however in 2000, he had posted a 5.37 ERA in 20 games and had been relegated to relief duties. But eager to make a move, the Blue Jays offered the Rangers 25-year-old right-hander Darwin Cubillan, who was 3-1 with a 0.55 ERA in triple-A, and one of the players on a list of middle-infield prospects that included Felipe Lopez, Brent Abernathy, Cesar Izturis and Michael Young.
At the time, Young was a 23-year-old second baseman toiling in double-A and was the lowest on the Jays’ depth chart. But the Rangers scouting staff liked his athleticism and versatility and Melvin asked for Young in the deal. Hindsight is, of course, 20-20, but the Blue Jays finished third in their division and Loaiza went 5-7 down the stretch and was even less memorable in his ensuing year-and-a-half with the Jays. And while Cubillan was a bust with the Rangers (10.70 ERA in 13 games), Young would be selected to seven All-Star games over the next 14 seasons. During that period, he recorded six, 200-hit campaigns, hit over .300 seven times and won a batting title in 2005.
Rachel Robinson turns 104
Happy 104th Birthday to Rachel Robinson!
She is the inspiring and courageous wife of Jackie Robinson.
She lived with Jackie during his season with the Montreal Royals in 1946 and was pregnant with their first child. She has often spoken highly of her time in Montreal and her neighbors in the city rallied around her to help her during her pregnancy.
“When I hear of bad things that are happening in other places – where people are fighting or being violent and are trying to exclude African-Americans – I think back to the days in Montreal,” Rachel Robinson told the Globe and Mail in an interview in 2013. “It was almost blissful.”
After her husband died in 1972, Rachel established the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which continues today. According to its website, the Foundation “has provided educational opportunities, through the awarding of four-year scholarships coupled with mentoring, job placement and leadership development opportunities to highly motivated college students with financial need” for more than 50 years.
No. 1 overall pick in 2026 MLB draft has Canadian connection
Thanks to HamHockeyPast on X for pointing out to me that the father of Roch Cholowshy, the UCLA shortstop the Chicago White Sox selected first overall in this year’s MLB draft, played his first 20 pro games for the Short-Season Class-A Hamilton Cardinals in 1991.
In those 20 contests, Dan Cholowsky, an infielder from Yonkers, N.Y., batted .232 with a home run, six RBIs and six stolen bases. He went on to play parts of seven seasons in the Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies organizations, making it as high as triple-A before retiring in 1998. In total, he batted .253 with 64 home runs and 117 stolen bases in 785 minor league games.
Delgado reached fifth deck at SkyDome
Twenty-eight years ago today, Carlos Delgado became the first left-handed hitting Blue Jays player to hit a ball into the fifth deck in right field at SkyDome.
He did so in the fifth inning against Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte in a Blue Jays’ 9-3 win.
The ball travelled an estimated 467 feet.
Rest in peace, Ron Hunt
On Friday, veteran Montreal Expos book author and longtime baseball writer Danny Gallagher reported that former Expos second baseman and leadoff hitter Ron Hunt had died at the age of 85 after batting Parkinson’s disease.
In parts of four seasons with the Expos from 1971 to 1974, Hunt batted .277 and had a .390 on-base percentage in 509 games.
In 1971, he was hit by 50 pitches. That’s the most any MLB player has been hit by in a season since Hughie Jennings was hit by 51 pitches in 1896.
My condolences to his friends and his family.