TORONTO — Joe Carter tossed his ceremonial first pitch to Bo Bichette, stopped for a picture, and then walked toward the Toronto Blue Jays‘ dugout while waving his arms up and down to implore the Rogers Centre crowd to get loud.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., of course, knows a thing or two about riling up them up and greeted Carter with the club’s home run jacket. As he slipped the garment on the broad shoulders of the Blue Jays’ legend, the decibel levels rose inside the stadium and an iconic moment in franchise history was born.
It was a convergence of the old and the new that carried the feeling of a beloved superhero making a cameo in a Marvel movie.
If you zoom out beyond the Blue Jays’ 5-1 loss on Saturday to the Los Angeles Dodgers that tied the World Series at one game apiece, it’s easier to appreciate the significance of the moment that Carter’s presence created.
The Blue Jays have done a nice job of celebrating their icons during the earlier rounds of this post-season run. There were first-pitch assignments for Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista, while Cito Gaston threw out the first pitch ahead of Game 1 of the Fall Classic. However, Carter is simply different.
He’s the most recognizable face in team history thanks to his famous walk-off home run that clinched the 1993 World Series championship.
“Obviously the most recognized swing in our franchise,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider, who was attending elementary school in his native New Jersey when the Blue Jays captured back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and ’93.
“[He was] just a dude,” said Schneider. “The Nike high tops that everyone wanted to wear; power-hitting outfielder who was a presence in the middle of the order. I remember watching the home run and him jumping around and fireworks going off.
“To me, man, this game is about people that have been here before you.”
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While Carter is a celebrated former player, he’s just as much a symbol of what is attainable for the 2025 Blue Jays, who will now head to California for three games at Dodger Stadium. As Carter himself noted, bringing another World Series trophy to Canada could be a life-changing event for each player on the roster.
“If you close your eyes and swing hard and hit a home run, they will love you for the rest of your life,” Carter said just over an hour before taking the field on Saturday. “I mean not just here in Toronto. What has really made my life complete was you can go from as far East as Nova Scotia and as far West as Vancouver and it was all about the Blue Jays, and it was all about Canada, and that has a warm place in my heart.”
The 65-year-old still owns that trademark smile and was charming, thoughtful and expansive during his chat with media. He talked about former teammates — Carter is still tight with Devon White, Dave Winfield and Dave Stewart — and opined that getting Paul Molitor a World Series ring was among the driving forces behind the determination of the ’93 squad.
He also added that the current Blue Jays possess a similar cohesiveness to the glory-day teams and noted that’s an essential ingredient in the pursuit of greatness.
“Whether they’re a rookie, a veteran, this is about us, this is about our legacy,” said Carter. “And the more we play together, the better we play together, the more we succeed. Because when you win a World Series, there’s enough of the pie to go around for everybody. And 32 years later, I’m still enjoying a piece of that pie here in Toronto.”
George Springer and Addison Barger recently authored massive swings of their own in Game 7 of the ALCS and Game 1 of the World Series, respectively, and Carter said that means they likely won’t be able to go out in public without being recognized. Furthermore, such success under the bright October lights creates an opportunity to grow, he said.
“I’m a firm believer that when you succeed in those situations, you’re able to come through in later situations,” said Carter. “Before that home run to win the World Series, I think I had had one game-winning home run in my career. The next year, I believe I had three or four game-winning home runs, because you can be in those situations and you can think back and it’s all about tunnel vision and focus and you say, ‘I’ve done this before.’”
Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, who captured his first World Series ring last season, agrees.
“You get more exposed to everything,” Hernandez said while describing how winning a championship changed him for the better. “You get more experience. You know how to handle a lot of different things during the season. If you get to the World Series and win, then the next regular season is all about doing whatever you have to do to get to the World Series and win it again.
“It makes you a better player.”
Having spent parts of six seasons with the Blue Jays, Hernandez is very familiar with Carter.
“He’s a guy that is always smiling, trying to make jokes to make everybody feel good,” said Hernandez. “He’s one of those guys that is around and is just trying to help.”
Guerrero Jr. has also spent time around Carter and shared a similar thought about his franchise ancestor.
“I wasn’t born when he hit the homer but I’m happy whenever I’m around him,” Guerrero Jr. said.
Schneider was around back then and had the chance to spend time with Carter on Friday night when the alumnus sat down with Blue Jays’ coaches following the Game 1 victory.
“This is what baseball is about,” said Carter. “This is the time to have fun. And I let some of the guys know. I said, ‘Look, there’s 28 teams at home watching you play. You don’t have to worry about what the next series is. You don’t have to worry about being tired because you got the whole off-season to rest.’
“I said, ‘You’ve reached this point in the World Series, you’re here, and now the only thing is you want to enjoy it, you want to embrace it, and you want to have the most fun you can possibly have and lay everything on the line out there.’”
Sound advice from a superhero who’s been there.
— With files from Ben Nicholson-Smith.
