BOSTON (AP) — Former Blue Jays and current Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen didn’t just play for both teams in the same game — a first in Major League Baseball history.
He played for both teams in the same round.
In a statistical quirk made possible by two of the most bizarre entities on Earth — the baseball rulebook and the New England weather — Jansen became the only player to appear on both sides of a baseball scoreboard when he took the field for Boston on Monday in the resumption of a rain-delayed game he started for Toronto in June before being traded to the Red Sox.
“I was surprised when I found out I was the first one to do it,” Jansen said after going 1 for 4 for Boston — plus part of another at-bat for Toronto — in the Blue Jays win 4-1. “That’s cool, leave a mark like that on the gameIt’s interesting and strange. And I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it.
Playing for Toronto on June 26, Jansen fouled off the only pitch he saw from Boston starter Kutter Crawford in the second inning before the tarps were removed. On July 27, Jansen was traded from Toronto to Boston for three minor league players.
After the possibility of Jansen becoming a baseball player became a cause célèbre in the sport, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said last week he would play Jansen when suspended play resumes, saying, “Let’s make history.”
“It was a really cool moment, just to be a part of it,” Cora said Monday. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen again. It has to be a perfect storm for it to happen — starting with the storm. And I’m glad everyone enjoyed it.”
Before the game resumed at 2:06 p.m. Monday (a delay of 65 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes), Red Sox media relations coordinator Daveson Perez announced the changes from the Fenway Park press box: “Daulton Varsho replaces Danny Jansen. Defensive changes: Danny Jansen is now catcher.”
With Jansen behind the plate, Nick Pivetta struck out Varsho to complete the at-bat Jansen had started. Jansen then came in for the Red Sox with two outs in the bottom half of the inning, receiving loud cheers from a sparse crowd in the make-up game, and hit a lazy softball to first base to end the inning.
“Up until that point, it was maybe a little strange,” Jansen said. “Once I was in the box and the game was on, I was just trying to stay present, stay focused.”
Jansen’s wife and children, along with a few friends, were there to see him earn his place in the baseball record books, or at least the footnotes. When they arrived, they saw his picture on the scoreboard, wearing a Blue Jays cap.
“When I went out today, yeah, I saw myself up there for sure,” Jansen said. “It was kind of like, ‘Well, that’s where we are.’”
Before the first pitch, the umpires had a long chat at home with the coaches who pulled out some of the strangest lineup cards in baseball history. Blue Jays manager John Schneider said he was happy to see his former player, a lifelong backup and a career .222 hitter, get some attention.
“I think it’s cool that he goes down in history as the first guy to do that,” Schneider said. “I’ve known Jano forever, and it’s cool that he can still say he was the first guy to do it, and he’s good at weird stuff. It’s pretty cool for him.”
Jansen singled in the fifth inning, Boston’s first hit of the game. He had a flyout in the seventh inning, then had two outs in the ninth inning and a runner on second base, but was thrown out on a controlled swing to end the game.
The 29-year-old right-hander said he wore two jerseys to the game (three, if you count the Toronto one he wore in June). He’ll keep one for himself and send one to the Baseball Hall of Fame; an authenticator was on hand to label all of Jansen’s gear.
The Cooperstown shrine said it requested the scorecard from official scorekeeper Bob Ellis, who also worked the game when it began in June.
“This scorecard will be a great tool to document and illustrate that history, showing Danny Jansen’s name on both teams,” Hall spokesman John Shestakofsky said.
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