Baseball in Toronto

Yesterday was a record setting day here in Toronto. For more than 30 years, Torontonians have cheered enthusiastically as we've followed the exploits of our very own Major League Baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays. We've suffered through the lows of losing, and thrilled to the highs of success and championships, yet, in all those years, no Blue Jay had ever hit 50 or more homeruns in a single season. That all changed in the second inning of yesterday's game against the Seattle Mariners as Jose Bautista clubbed his major league leading 50th dinger of the year. The thing is, as exciting as that was, it paled in comparison to something extraordinary that happened in the very same game.

As any baseball fan can tell you, Ichiro Suzuki has been an unstoppable hitting machine since debuting with the Seattle Mariners a decade ago. His style and approach to the game is truly unique and he has become a hero to many in his home country, Japan. Yesterday, he accomplished something that no other player in the history of baseball has come even close to matching; having 200 or more hits in 10 consecutive seasons. How wonderful that he would do so in Toronto!

Of course, the prospect of seeing a national icon such as Ichiro accomplishing something so special was not to be passed up, and a large group of our students was in attendance, decked out with Japanese flags and cheering as loudly as they could. After the game, they were even interviewed for Japanese television! Needless to say, they were thrilled. It's a memory that they will recount and cherish for the rest of their lives.

Thumbs up for Ichiro, for Major League Baseball, and for all of the great sporting opportunities in Toronto!