TORONTO – Toronto Blue Jays brass used all of the bells and whistles once they tried to land two-way famous person Shohei Ohtani within the fall of 2023.
The once-in-a-lifetime pursuit of the Japanese free agent, as creator Keegan Matheson writes in his new e book, “The Franchise: Toronto Blue Jays,” included taking Ohtani, his agent and interpreter on the time on a tour of the workforce’s renovated participant growth complicated, full with just a few particular touches.
Three lockers within the clubhouse have been put aside for Ohtani, together with jerseys, gear, hats, baggage and equipment. It was all a part of an elaborate effort to promote him on the workforce.
An impressed Ohtani — whose camp needed whole secrecy all through the method — walked out of the Dunedin, Fla., facility with baggage of workforce gear and a Blue Jays hat on his head, Matheson writes.
Ohtani stopped to take footage together with his interpreter, who was additionally sporting some Toronto equipment. The famous person’s canine, “Decoy,” got here operating out to affix them in a Canadian canine jacket the Blue Jays had purchased for him.
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“I feel that the presentation they gave Ohtani was extremely spectacular they usually weren’t the No. 2 workforce simply to be strung alongside and used as the opposite individual on the bargaining desk,” mentioned Matheson. “They have been No. 2 as a result of they virtually signed him.”
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The behind-the-scenes color and particulars from Matheson’s interviews and descriptions convey an intriguing, memorable and downright surreal chapter within the workforce’s close to half-century historical past to life.
Ohtani would finally signal a 10-year, US$700-million take care of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was an enormous blow for Canada’s lone big-league workforce and its countrywide contingent of supporters.
The Blue Jays would finally signal an enormous fish of their very own, locking up star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a 14-year extension final April price a workforce report $500 million. The megadeal helped soothe any lingering ache from the Ohtani scenario and likewise confirmed the franchise was keen to spend massive in an effort to be a constant contender.
However that Ohtani low season — from a weird Zoom name with common supervisor Ross Atkins to the misguided report that Ohtani had chosen the Blue Jays and was on a airplane to Toronto — was the “strangest expertise” Matheson expects to have as a reporter.
“The sport that went into it was actually fascinating,” Matheson mentioned in a current interview. “Making an attempt to function in secrecy in a world the place we wish to know every part that’s happening along with your favorite workforce and along with your favorite participant.
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“This was extra of a TV drama and the quantity of labor that went into retaining it secret fascinates me.”
The e book additionally explores the workforce’s early days, the playoff successes within the early Nineties, the near-misses within the earlier decade, and most of the gamers — on and off the sector — who made all of it occur.
The tales and anecdotes are usually not at all times the plain ones.
From gamers sipping rooster noodle soup at a frigid Exhibition Stadium, to amusing tales of manager-athlete dynamics, to the homecoming after a 670-day break between house video games on account of COVID-19, Matheson touches all of the bases.
“As an alternative of asking a pitcher why he misplaced or asking somebody why they struck out thrice, this was a chance to ask somebody, ‘Hey, inform me about the perfect days of your life,’” mentioned Matheson, who covers the workforce for MLB.com.
“Inform me about that reminiscence that everybody at all times asks you about on the bar, at golf tournaments and occasional outlets.”
“The Franchise: Toronto Blue Jays,” a 302-page e book revealed by Triumph Books, is out there now at a retail value of $38.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed June 11, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
