TORONTO — A small crowd is gathered in front of the visitors’ dugout at Rogers Centre watching in awe as an infielder completes a series of drills. Kai Correa, Cleveland Guardians major league field coordinator, is feeding baseballs into a machine that’s shooting high-speed grounders to a defender who’s exhibiting impeccable glove work.
The fielder, standing less than 30 feet away, is cleanly scooping a rapid fire of one-hoppers to his forehand before switching to his backhand for more reps. The number of observers begins to swell as more Guardians players and coaches take notice, but the infielder isn’t paying attention. He’s got his head down and is hyper-focused on the task at hand.
He begins to move closer to the machine and cuts the distance in half as if to say, “Bring it on.”
Former major-league infielder John McDonald is standing next to Correa and is sporting just about the biggest grin you’ll see on a baseball field. That’s because it’s his 13-year-old son, Anthony, who’s putting on the clinic that’s wowing everybody.
McDonald, a defensive guru who played seven seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays during his 16-year MLB career, currently works as a minor league field coordinator with the Guardians and is in town to spend time with the big club.
“When the schedule came out this year and I saw Guardians were playing Toronto, I’m like, ‘Oh, when is that?’” McDonald says. “And then I saw it was Father’s Day weekend.”
McDonald and his son will be taking in all three games of the Guardians-Blue Jays series, and the fact that they’ll be spending Father’s Day at Rogers Centre on Sunday is simply poetic because of the magic McDonald produced in the building on June 20, 2010.
The story of one of the most emotional moments in Blue Jays history is well-known:
McDonald’s father, Jack, requested that his son hit a home run right before he died of liver cancer. “‘I want you to hit your next home run for me. And I want you to cross home plate and I want you to point to me,’” McDonald recalled his father telling him, as detailed in Sportsnet colleague Shi Davidi’s book The Big 50. McDonald fulfilled that request with a pinch-hit homer on Father’s Day, a mere five days after Jack passed.
“I think about that all of the time,” McDonald said on Friday. “(Anthony) and I talk about my dad often because he never got to meet him. My dad passed away in June of 2010 and he was born in December. So, he’s at a point in time where he misses the fact that he didn’t get to know my dad. That just makes our father-son relationship better.”
The visit to Toronto was supposed to be a family trip for the McDonalds, but mom Maura stayed at home in Massachusetts with daughter Jackie, who had school exams. So, it became a boys’ trip and an extension of the work McDonald has been putting in with Anthony, who plays on a travel ball team that features his dad as an assistant coach.
Anthony, of course, plays second base and shortstop, just like his father did. McDonald says he learned to strike a balance between coaching his boy on the finer elements of defence versus simply ensuring he’s having a good time on the field.
“I’m really looking at how much fun is he having right now?” says McDonald. “And is he enjoying every single second that he’s out here? Which, yeah, he is. The more I watch him I just smile because he looks like he’s having a blast.
“When he was younger, it would probably be, ‘This is too much dad,’ and I could see the confusion on his face,” continues McDonald. “Like, ‘I don’t understand which part of this that you’re trying to help me get better at.’ And the fact that he shows that emotion has allowed me to say, ‘Okay (my bad) … I may be coaching him a little bit more like one of our minor leaguers in Cleveland than just a 13-year-old.’”
McDonald carved out a respected career as an elite defender off the bench who squeezed every ounce from his talent. He’s seemed to pass that mentality on to Anthony.
“Just always keep trying,” replies Anthony when asked what’s the best piece of advice his father has offered. “Even if you don’t get something, you don’t get down on yourself. If you’re not having a good day in the cage, it’s not the end of the world. In baseball, there’s a better chance that you don’t do good than you do good, but if you keep trying, that percentage will go down.”
McDonald became a fan-favourite in places like Toronto because of his humility, hardworking nature and communication skills. Now, at 49, he’s using those interpersonal skills to great effect in his role within the Guardians organization. He describes himself as a “resource” who offers advice and feedback to minor-league players as well as coaches across the organization.
The gig offers a nice balance to his life as a retired player, says McDonald, adding that he’s not sure if he’d like to progress through the coaching ranks.
“I never thought it was going to be possible, so I never desired to be a coach at the highest level,” he says. “But I feel like I am a coach at the highest levels of baseball. My fulfillment is helping (people). The answer is, ‘I don’t know,’ but if I am never a major-league coach, there’s not one part of me that will be dissatisfied because I am in a place where I get to impact so many different players while being a husband and father.”
McDonald’s ability to blend work with fatherly duties was on display during batting practice on Friday. After overseeing Anthony’s fielding drills in front of the Guardians dugout, the pair headed to the outfield, where McDonald chatted with some players while also keeping an eye on his son, who traversed the turf shagging fly balls.
Hanging around big-leaguers is quite an educational experience for a 13-year-old baseball player and McDonald anticipated that his walk back to the hotel with Anthony after Friday’s game would yield some great conversation.
To that end, the experience this weekend is shining a light on the direct line of symmetry between McDonald’s relationship with his own father.
“It’s passing on what my dad did for me as far as allowing me to grow up, while pushing me to be better,” says McDonald. “He wasn’t my constant teacher. He was my constant motivator to get everything out of my ability — he never pushed me too hard, but he always pushed me enough.
“Thinking about what I do with Anthony in terms of baseball, I don’t know how long he’s going to want to, or enjoy, playing baseball. I just want him to be the best version of himself in whatever he does. Allowing him to know that consistently is something I’m proud of. And being here today, what he got to do on this field and some of these experiences I know will never leave us. Just like the memories that I had with my father. The things that we did before he passed, even when I was a kid. Those things never leave me.”
