Jays Journal » Ernie Whitt

Baseball Gold Medal Goes to Canada at Pan American Games (Video)

Jared Macdonald — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:36:33 +0000

After former Jays starter Shawn Hill started Canada’s semi-final win over the host nation Mexico on Monday, the Canucks managed to top the United States 2-1 in a nail-biter on Tuesday to win the country’s first ever gold medal in international baseball competition.

Check out the ESPN clip embedded below for video highlights, and congratulations to the team on their historic victory.

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History of #12 in the Jays Organization

Jared Macdonald — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:18:29 +0000

If you were one of the fortunate 45,629 people at Rogers Centre on Sunday, you witnessed one of the most memorable regular season games in recent memory. I remember thinking after the classy tribute to Roberto Alomar — besides how fantastic the Dome looked and felt when it was actually full — how great it was that we were in store for a baseball game too, with a star pitching matchup of C.J. Wilson against Brandon Morrow.

The contest was just as exciting as the pre-game ceremony, as not only did Morrow toss seven strong innings with a season-high 11 strikeouts, but the Jays were able to tag Wilson for a season-high seven runs (five earned, though, which tied a season-high). Edwin Encarnacion‘s no-doubter in the first inning got the entire crowd in the game which was great to see, and Colby Rasmus snapped out his mini-funk as a Blue Jay with a 2-for-4 night with a double and two RBIs. I was even more impressed that Rasmus battled back after being down 0-2 to work the count full and crush a third-consecutive four-seamer over Rangers center fielder Endy Chavez for the two-run double in the fourth inning.

The Jays capturing the series win with a 7-3 victory was impressive, but in the end it was Alomar’s day, and he became the first Blue Jay in history to have his number retired. Here’s a look at the history of No. 12 in the Jays organization now that no one will ever wear that number again.

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Today in Jays History: Ernie Whitt

Jared Macdonald — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 10:31:55 +0000

After spending parts of nine Major League seasons with the Blue Jays, Ernie Whitt was granted free agency for the first time in his career after the 1986 season.

His efforts at free agency were short lived, as he wound up re-signing with the Jays 24 years ago today on January 8th, 1987.

The Boston Red Sox selected Whitt in the 15th round of the 1972 draft, but his path to the Major Leagues was blocked by future Hall-of-Famer Carlton Fisk. He was left unprotected during the expansion draft after the 1976 season, where he was plucked by the Blue Jays.

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