It's the last series before the mid-summer break. The Athletics will want to give a better account of themselves this time around, which is enough to make me edgy.
But enough about them. Let's talk about me.
Geography was never my best subject back in the day. Oddly enough, I like maps. I like looking at them. I'm especially fond of city maps, and used to have a collection of them. But my brain resists absorbing the information they provide. I even manage to get lost driving around the city at night - and this is my home town and I've lived here for a long, long time.
Give me a map and I'm confident I could find the famous islands - Australia, Japan - and the enormous countries - Russia, China, Brazil. I think I could locate the western European ones where all those books I read in university were written. The rest of the globe remains a persistent muddle. And this also applies to our large southern neighnbour. If you showed me a map with the fifty American states without the state names helpfully included - I'd be very lucky indeed if I got even a third of them right. Georgia is on the ocean? Who knew? Besides General Sherman.
So where do Blue Jays come from?
All over the place, naturally. As for this group...
California, USA (4): Myles Straw, Tyler Heineman, Easton Lucas, Justin Bruihl, although the Straw family seems to moved to Florida by the time Myles was old enough for high school. There have been 2,514 major leaguers from California, and nowhere else on earth even comes close. So, as you would expect, the state has produced some pretty notable major leaguers - Barry Bonds is the WAR leader - other notables include Tom Seaver, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Randy Johnson and many other Hall of Famers. The greatest Blue Jay would be Dave Stieb.
Colorado, USA (2): Kevin Gausman, Ryan Burr. There have been just 107 major leaguers from Colorado. The WAR leader is Roy Halladay, obviously also the greatest Blue Jay from Colorado. Another huge, hard-throwing RH from the state was Rich Gossage.
Connecticut, USA (1): George Springer. This is actually what got me started. I was watching the game and it occurred to me that I didn't know where Springer came from. I looked it up, and thought - Connecticut? How exotic. I didn't know baseball players came from Connecticut. I thought Yale University was all they had there. But it turns there have been 210 major leaguers from Connecticut, And George Springer is easily the best player from the state since Roger Connor. Who's been dead for 94 years., Connor last played in 1897.
Delaware, USA (1): Mason Fluharty. This really is exotic - there have only been 65 major leaguers from Delaware, the population of which is barely one million. The WAR leader, Paul Goldschmidt, was born in Wilmington but actually grew up in Texas. But Fluharty helped his Delaware high school to their first state championship. The most notable Blue Jay was Kevin Mench, who was a disappointment to us all.
Florida, USA (3): Bo Bichette, Bowden Francis, Alek Manoah - There have been 744 major leaguers born in Florida, and lots more who ended up living there. Athletes in general, and baseball players in particular, often end up living in Florida. No state taxes. Not much snow. It's also where most teams conduct spring training and it's nice to still be at home for those six weeks. But Dante Bichette was born in Florida and was living there during his Rockies days when Bo was born. The Florida WAR leader was the great southpaw Steve Carlton - other notables are Chipper Jones, Tim Raines, and Zack Greinke. The greatest Blue Jay is an argument between three years of steady elite production from Fred McGriff or two years of spectacular play from Josh Donaldson.
Georgia, USA (1): Nick Sandlin. There have been 569 major leaguers from Georgia, which goes right to the sea. I remembered! Is it just me, or has Sandlin not made much of an impression on us yet? He's been in and out of the lineup with injuries, but he's been rather good when he's been on the hill. The greatest Georgia player is obviously Ty Cobb, but Jackie Robinson, Johnny Mize, and Frank Thomas stand out just as much. As for Blue Jays - Ron Fairly was only here for one year. Colby Rasmus was born in Georgia but he was really an Alabama boy.
Missouri, USA (1): Max Scherzer. There have been 688 major leaguers from Missouri, and Mad Max himself is the WAR leader. This is a state that has produced some pretty impressive major league talent - Yogi Berra, Carl Hubbell, Zack Wheat - as well as a couple of outstanding players who may not make it to Cooperstown (and in fact spent most of their careers elsewhere) but still left a pretty large mark on Blue Jays history: David Cone and Mark Buehrle.
New Jersey, USA (1): Davis Schneider. There have been 483 major leaguers from New Jersey and Mike Trout is already the greatest player they've produced. But he's not alone - we also have Billy Hamilton and Goose Goslin. Derek Jeter was born in Jersey but he's really a Michigan kid. Al Leiter would be the most notable Bllue Jay.
New York, USA (2): Jeff Hoffman, Ernie Clement. There have been 1,280 major leaguers from New York and the WAR leader is Eddie Collins. Some of the other names are equally impressive - Lou Gehrig, Warren Spahn, Carl Yastrzemski, Alex Rodriguez. The most notable Blue Jays are Marcus Stroman and Frank Catalanotto.
Ohio, USA (2): Chris Bassitt, Eric Lauer. There have been 1,080 major leaguers from Ohio but there's still almost no chance of me correctly locating the place on a map. Oh well. It was Cy Young's home state, of course, and he's your WAR champ. Ohio also gave the game Mike Schmidt, merely the greatest third baseman who ever lived, and a couple of 300 game winners who spent small parts of their careers in Toronto - Roger Clemens and Phil Niekro. Shannon Stewart and Clemens are the greatest Ohio Blue Jays. Clemens always seemed to think of himself as a Texas, but he didn't get there until he was 15.
Oregon, USA (1): Nathan Lukes. There have been just 145 major leaguers from Oregon so this also seems a little exotic. Not a whole lot of people actually live in Oregon, and it hasn't sent anyone to Cooperstown. Adley Rutschmann is working on it, but he's got a long, long way to go. It sure looked like Dale Murphy was on his way, but his career fizzled out. Mickey Lolich is probably the state's greatest player. The most notable Blue Jay so far has been Darwin Barney.
Pennsylvania, USA (2): Brendon Little, Joey Loperfido. There have been 1,508 major leaguers from Pennsylvania, more than anywhere except California (more than New York? Wow.) although Loperfido really grew up in Jersey. Honus Wagner, one of the greatest players who ever stepped on a baseball field, leads a very distinguished bunch - Stan Musial, Christy Mathewson, Ken Griffey. But I fear the best the Blue Jays can offer is Gary Lavelle, as there wasn't much left of Lance Parrish by the time he got here.
South Carolina, USA (1): Chad Green. There have been 253 major leaguers from South Carolina, although Green's family had moved to Illinois by the time he went to high school. The greatest player from the state was Joe Jackson, who isn't in the Hall of Fame and shouldn't be. Larry Doby and Jim Rice are both there, although Willie Randolph might have a better case, if you ask me. The most notable Blue Jays would be Orlando Hudsdon. And Whit Merrifield.
Texas, USA (2): Braydon FIsher, Will Wagner. There have been 1,181 major leaguers from Texas and Will Wagner isn't really one of them Like Guerrero, he happened to be born in the city where his father was playing at the time. The Wagners are from the Appalachians in southeast Virginia (and Billy Wagner's upbringing is a story!). But there have been many, many great major leaguers from Texas. Tris Speaker is the WAR leader. Others include Rogers Hornsby, Greg Maddux, Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Nolan Ryan, and Eddie Mathews. Cito Gaston is a Texan, of course, but the most notable Jays player was probably Mike Timlin.
Utah, USA (1): Paxton Schultz. There have been just 50 major leaguers from Utah, a state best known for its basketball team. Bruce Hurst is by far the most accomplished player. The only Blue Jay from Ohio before Schultz was Brandon Lyon.
Washington (1) Addison Barger. There have been 229 major leaguers from Washington state, led by a couple of long-time Cubs infielders: Ron Santo and Ryne Sandberg. They're both in the Hall, and the greatest Washington Blue Jay, Long John Olerud, has a decent case of his own.
Wisconsin (2) Daulton Varsho, Alan Roden. There have been 257 major leaguers from Wiconsin, led by Kid Nichols, the great pitcher from the turn of the last century. I think Varsho has already overtaken Eric Hinske as the best Blue Jay.
And there's also...
Puerto Rico (1): Jose Berrios. There have been 309 major leaguers born in Puerto Rico, which is of course neither an American state nor an independent nation. Roberto Clemente is the island's greatest player, but Ivan Rodriguez, Roberto Alomar, and Carlos Beltran all had Hall-worthy careers. Carlos Delgado is the greatest Blue Jay, of course.
As for those born outside the United States...
Canada (1): Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Maybe this one should have an asterisk? Vladimir Guerrero was certainly born in Montreal, but only because his father happened to be playing there in 1999. He mostly grew up in the Dominican Republic, of course. There have been 268 major leaguers born in Canada, and Ferguson Jenkins is the WAR leader. Larry Walker is in the Hall, and Joey Votto should get there as well. The greatest Blue Jay would be Russell Martin, although the omnipotent Paul Quantrill was always a favourite.
Cuba (2): Yariel Rodriguez, Lazaro Estrada - There have been 398 major leaguers from Cuba although Castro's revolution 66 years ago reduced the flow to the majors of Cuban born players to a trickle. Rafael Palmeiro, the WAR leader, moved to Florida when he was very young and grew up there. Tony Perez, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva are Hall of Famers from the Before Times, and Luis Tiant might have been the best of them all. The most notable Blue Jays are Yunel Escobar and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Dominican Republic (3): Yimi Garcia, Jonatan Clase, Robinson Pina. There have been a whopping 930 major leaguers from the Dominican Republic, almost all of whom played during my lifetime. Albert Pujols is the WAR leader for all non-US born players, and Pedro Martinez, Juan Marichal, and Adrian Beltre just scratch the surface of the many outstanding players from the eastern end of Hispaniola. I think Jose Bautista edges Tony Fernandez as the greatest Blue Jay, and George Bell, Edwin Encarnacion, Juan Guzman, and Damaso Garcia all loom pretty large in franchise history. Sil Campusano, maybe not so much.
Mexico (1): Alejandro Kirk. There have been just 152 major leaguers from Mexico, a huge country with a strong baseball tradition, but very well established Leagues of Their Own. The greatest Mexican major leaguers are a couple of LH from the 1980s who both threw lots of screwballs: Fernando Valenzuela and Teddy Higuera. The most distinguished Blue Jay before Captain Alejandro would be Marco Estrada, one of the better post-season pitchers in franchise history.
Panama (1): Leo Jimenez - There have been just 81 major leaguers from Panama, but they can boast a member of the 3,000 hit club in Rod Carew and the greatest reliever of them all in Mariano Rivera. The only Blue Jay of note is Juan Berenguer.
Venezuela (2): Andres Gimenez, Anthony Santander. There have been 496 major leaguers from Venezuela - at the moment, only one has made it to the Hall of Fame (Luis Aparicio) but Miguel Cabrera is obviously a sure thing, and there are others with a good chance to join him, Jose Altuve, Ronald Acuna, and Bobby Abreu in particular. Kelvim Escobar and Marco Scutaro are the most notable Blue Jays.
There are many other states in the union, and many other countries around the globe. They're just don't have any representation on the current Blue Jays roster. And that's about all the geography I can deal with for now anyway.
Matchups!
Fri 11 July - Scherzer (0-0, 4.76) vs Severino (2-10, 5.30)
Sat 12 July - Gausman (6-6, 4.13) vs Lopez (2-5, 4.26)
Sun 13 July - Berrios (5-3, 3.53) vs Springs (7-6, 3.92)
But enough about them. Let's talk about me.
Geography was never my best subject back in the day. Oddly enough, I like maps. I like looking at them. I'm especially fond of city maps, and used to have a collection of them. But my brain resists absorbing the information they provide. I even manage to get lost driving around the city at night - and this is my home town and I've lived here for a long, long time.
Give me a map and I'm confident I could find the famous islands - Australia, Japan - and the enormous countries - Russia, China, Brazil. I think I could locate the western European ones where all those books I read in university were written. The rest of the globe remains a persistent muddle. And this also applies to our large southern neighnbour. If you showed me a map with the fifty American states without the state names helpfully included - I'd be very lucky indeed if I got even a third of them right. Georgia is on the ocean? Who knew? Besides General Sherman.
So every now and then I indulge myself with an exercise like the following in the desperate hope that something, someday, will stick.
Even in my dotage, I try to improve myself! Please, admire the effort!
So where do Blue Jays come from?
All over the place, naturally. As for this group...
California, USA (4): Myles Straw, Tyler Heineman, Easton Lucas, Justin Bruihl, although the Straw family seems to moved to Florida by the time Myles was old enough for high school. There have been 2,514 major leaguers from California, and nowhere else on earth even comes close. So, as you would expect, the state has produced some pretty notable major leaguers - Barry Bonds is the WAR leader - other notables include Tom Seaver, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Randy Johnson and many other Hall of Famers. The greatest Blue Jay would be Dave Stieb.
Colorado, USA (2): Kevin Gausman, Ryan Burr. There have been just 107 major leaguers from Colorado. The WAR leader is Roy Halladay, obviously also the greatest Blue Jay from Colorado. Another huge, hard-throwing RH from the state was Rich Gossage.
Connecticut, USA (1): George Springer. This is actually what got me started. I was watching the game and it occurred to me that I didn't know where Springer came from. I looked it up, and thought - Connecticut? How exotic. I didn't know baseball players came from Connecticut. I thought Yale University was all they had there. But it turns there have been 210 major leaguers from Connecticut, And George Springer is easily the best player from the state since Roger Connor. Who's been dead for 94 years., Connor last played in 1897.
Delaware, USA (1): Mason Fluharty. This really is exotic - there have only been 65 major leaguers from Delaware, the population of which is barely one million. The WAR leader, Paul Goldschmidt, was born in Wilmington but actually grew up in Texas. But Fluharty helped his Delaware high school to their first state championship. The most notable Blue Jay was Kevin Mench, who was a disappointment to us all.
Florida, USA (3): Bo Bichette, Bowden Francis, Alek Manoah - There have been 744 major leaguers born in Florida, and lots more who ended up living there. Athletes in general, and baseball players in particular, often end up living in Florida. No state taxes. Not much snow. It's also where most teams conduct spring training and it's nice to still be at home for those six weeks. But Dante Bichette was born in Florida and was living there during his Rockies days when Bo was born. The Florida WAR leader was the great southpaw Steve Carlton - other notables are Chipper Jones, Tim Raines, and Zack Greinke. The greatest Blue Jay is an argument between three years of steady elite production from Fred McGriff or two years of spectacular play from Josh Donaldson.
Georgia, USA (1): Nick Sandlin. There have been 569 major leaguers from Georgia, which goes right to the sea. I remembered! Is it just me, or has Sandlin not made much of an impression on us yet? He's been in and out of the lineup with injuries, but he's been rather good when he's been on the hill. The greatest Georgia player is obviously Ty Cobb, but Jackie Robinson, Johnny Mize, and Frank Thomas stand out just as much. As for Blue Jays - Ron Fairly was only here for one year. Colby Rasmus was born in Georgia but he was really an Alabama boy.
Missouri, USA (1): Max Scherzer. There have been 688 major leaguers from Missouri, and Mad Max himself is the WAR leader. This is a state that has produced some pretty impressive major league talent - Yogi Berra, Carl Hubbell, Zack Wheat - as well as a couple of outstanding players who may not make it to Cooperstown (and in fact spent most of their careers elsewhere) but still left a pretty large mark on Blue Jays history: David Cone and Mark Buehrle.
New Jersey, USA (1): Davis Schneider. There have been 483 major leaguers from New Jersey and Mike Trout is already the greatest player they've produced. But he's not alone - we also have Billy Hamilton and Goose Goslin. Derek Jeter was born in Jersey but he's really a Michigan kid. Al Leiter would be the most notable Bllue Jay.
New York, USA (2): Jeff Hoffman, Ernie Clement. There have been 1,280 major leaguers from New York and the WAR leader is Eddie Collins. Some of the other names are equally impressive - Lou Gehrig, Warren Spahn, Carl Yastrzemski, Alex Rodriguez. The most notable Blue Jays are Marcus Stroman and Frank Catalanotto.
Ohio, USA (2): Chris Bassitt, Eric Lauer. There have been 1,080 major leaguers from Ohio but there's still almost no chance of me correctly locating the place on a map. Oh well. It was Cy Young's home state, of course, and he's your WAR champ. Ohio also gave the game Mike Schmidt, merely the greatest third baseman who ever lived, and a couple of 300 game winners who spent small parts of their careers in Toronto - Roger Clemens and Phil Niekro. Shannon Stewart and Clemens are the greatest Ohio Blue Jays. Clemens always seemed to think of himself as a Texas, but he didn't get there until he was 15.
Oregon, USA (1): Nathan Lukes. There have been just 145 major leaguers from Oregon so this also seems a little exotic. Not a whole lot of people actually live in Oregon, and it hasn't sent anyone to Cooperstown. Adley Rutschmann is working on it, but he's got a long, long way to go. It sure looked like Dale Murphy was on his way, but his career fizzled out. Mickey Lolich is probably the state's greatest player. The most notable Blue Jay so far has been Darwin Barney.
Pennsylvania, USA (2): Brendon Little, Joey Loperfido. There have been 1,508 major leaguers from Pennsylvania, more than anywhere except California (more than New York? Wow.) although Loperfido really grew up in Jersey. Honus Wagner, one of the greatest players who ever stepped on a baseball field, leads a very distinguished bunch - Stan Musial, Christy Mathewson, Ken Griffey. But I fear the best the Blue Jays can offer is Gary Lavelle, as there wasn't much left of Lance Parrish by the time he got here.
South Carolina, USA (1): Chad Green. There have been 253 major leaguers from South Carolina, although Green's family had moved to Illinois by the time he went to high school. The greatest player from the state was Joe Jackson, who isn't in the Hall of Fame and shouldn't be. Larry Doby and Jim Rice are both there, although Willie Randolph might have a better case, if you ask me. The most notable Blue Jays would be Orlando Hudsdon. And Whit Merrifield.
Texas, USA (2): Braydon FIsher, Will Wagner. There have been 1,181 major leaguers from Texas and Will Wagner isn't really one of them Like Guerrero, he happened to be born in the city where his father was playing at the time. The Wagners are from the Appalachians in southeast Virginia (and Billy Wagner's upbringing is a story!). But there have been many, many great major leaguers from Texas. Tris Speaker is the WAR leader. Others include Rogers Hornsby, Greg Maddux, Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Nolan Ryan, and Eddie Mathews. Cito Gaston is a Texan, of course, but the most notable Jays player was probably Mike Timlin.
Utah, USA (1): Paxton Schultz. There have been just 50 major leaguers from Utah, a state best known for its basketball team. Bruce Hurst is by far the most accomplished player. The only Blue Jay from Ohio before Schultz was Brandon Lyon.
Washington (1) Addison Barger. There have been 229 major leaguers from Washington state, led by a couple of long-time Cubs infielders: Ron Santo and Ryne Sandberg. They're both in the Hall, and the greatest Washington Blue Jay, Long John Olerud, has a decent case of his own.
Wisconsin (2) Daulton Varsho, Alan Roden. There have been 257 major leaguers from Wiconsin, led by Kid Nichols, the great pitcher from the turn of the last century. I think Varsho has already overtaken Eric Hinske as the best Blue Jay.
And there's also...
Puerto Rico (1): Jose Berrios. There have been 309 major leaguers born in Puerto Rico, which is of course neither an American state nor an independent nation. Roberto Clemente is the island's greatest player, but Ivan Rodriguez, Roberto Alomar, and Carlos Beltran all had Hall-worthy careers. Carlos Delgado is the greatest Blue Jay, of course.
As for those born outside the United States...
Canada (1): Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Maybe this one should have an asterisk? Vladimir Guerrero was certainly born in Montreal, but only because his father happened to be playing there in 1999. He mostly grew up in the Dominican Republic, of course. There have been 268 major leaguers born in Canada, and Ferguson Jenkins is the WAR leader. Larry Walker is in the Hall, and Joey Votto should get there as well. The greatest Blue Jay would be Russell Martin, although the omnipotent Paul Quantrill was always a favourite.
Cuba (2): Yariel Rodriguez, Lazaro Estrada - There have been 398 major leaguers from Cuba although Castro's revolution 66 years ago reduced the flow to the majors of Cuban born players to a trickle. Rafael Palmeiro, the WAR leader, moved to Florida when he was very young and grew up there. Tony Perez, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva are Hall of Famers from the Before Times, and Luis Tiant might have been the best of them all. The most notable Blue Jays are Yunel Escobar and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Dominican Republic (3): Yimi Garcia, Jonatan Clase, Robinson Pina. There have been a whopping 930 major leaguers from the Dominican Republic, almost all of whom played during my lifetime. Albert Pujols is the WAR leader for all non-US born players, and Pedro Martinez, Juan Marichal, and Adrian Beltre just scratch the surface of the many outstanding players from the eastern end of Hispaniola. I think Jose Bautista edges Tony Fernandez as the greatest Blue Jay, and George Bell, Edwin Encarnacion, Juan Guzman, and Damaso Garcia all loom pretty large in franchise history. Sil Campusano, maybe not so much.
Mexico (1): Alejandro Kirk. There have been just 152 major leaguers from Mexico, a huge country with a strong baseball tradition, but very well established Leagues of Their Own. The greatest Mexican major leaguers are a couple of LH from the 1980s who both threw lots of screwballs: Fernando Valenzuela and Teddy Higuera. The most distinguished Blue Jay before Captain Alejandro would be Marco Estrada, one of the better post-season pitchers in franchise history.
Panama (1): Leo Jimenez - There have been just 81 major leaguers from Panama, but they can boast a member of the 3,000 hit club in Rod Carew and the greatest reliever of them all in Mariano Rivera. The only Blue Jay of note is Juan Berenguer.
Venezuela (2): Andres Gimenez, Anthony Santander. There have been 496 major leaguers from Venezuela - at the moment, only one has made it to the Hall of Fame (Luis Aparicio) but Miguel Cabrera is obviously a sure thing, and there are others with a good chance to join him, Jose Altuve, Ronald Acuna, and Bobby Abreu in particular. Kelvim Escobar and Marco Scutaro are the most notable Blue Jays.
There are many other states in the union, and many other countries around the globe. They're just don't have any representation on the current Blue Jays roster. And that's about all the geography I can deal with for now anyway.
Matchups!
Fri 11 July - Scherzer (0-0, 4.76) vs Severino (2-10, 5.30)
Sat 12 July - Gausman (6-6, 4.13) vs Lopez (2-5, 4.26)
Sun 13 July - Berrios (5-3, 3.53) vs Springs (7-6, 3.92)
