Blue Jays’ Alomar congratulates Stroman on Gold Glove

It’s one thing to be recognized by your peers and baseball writers, but it’s another to get kudos from a Hall of Famer. Marcus Stroman got just that on Sunday.

As we wait for the hot stove to heat up, it’s much easier to be entertained by simple little things. I found one of those on Sunday night as I scrolled through Twitter.

I couldn’t help but notice that Marcus Stroman was active as usual, but this time he was interacting with a Blue Jays’ legend, Roberto Alomar. In fact, Alomar is the only Blue Jay to have his number retired (so far), so he’s in a class of royalty in Blue Jays’ history to be sure.

To the Hall of Famer’s credit, he still takes time for younger players, and took a few moments to congratulate Stroman on his recent Gold Glove win as the best defensive pitcher in the American League. It’s Stroman’s first time winning the award, and he’s made no secret of the pride he takes in the honour over the past week.

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He’ll have another feather in his cap now that Alomar has personally congratulating him. Heck, if it were me, I’d be printing out the tweet and having it framed for my wall. Alomar may know a thing or two about good defence as well, as he captured nine Gold Glove awards of his own, winning one in each of his five seasons with the Blue Jays from 1991-95. He was as dynamic of a player as we’ve ever seen on the Blue Jays’ infield, routinely making jaw-dropping plays look easy, and becoming famous for his spin throw, while he leap in the air away from first base.

He was a force to be reckoned with at the plate, but he might have been just as good or better at second base, and is definitely a standard of excellence in Blue Jays’ history. At the plate he was no slouch either, finishing his career with a slash line of .300/.371/.443 across 17 seasons. The 12 time All-Star also garnered MVP votes in seven different seasons, finishing 6th each year from 1991-93.

Stroman has proven to be the type of player and man that cares about the history of the Blue Jays and of baseball, so this has gotta be a thrill for the 26 year old pitcher. He’ll look to defend his new crown in 2018 as he looks to build on his second consecutive 200 inning season, when he also finished third in the AL in ERA.

Next: Let the Red Sox have Giancarlo Stanton

On this slow day in Blue Jays’ news, it was definitely neat to see the interaction between the two beloved Toronto sports figures.