Blue Jays players express their love for the city of Toronto
Photo credit: https://torontolife.com/
Toronto Blue Jays players don't get much time off while they're home, just eight full days in this 162-game season.
Toronto Star columnist Mike Wilner recently caught up with some Blue Jays players about there thoughts on the city of Toronto, and what they like to do in town on their days off.
Starting pitcher Kevin Gausman has embraced the city since coming to Toronto on a five-year contract in 2022.
He is one of the few Jays who don't live in the downtown core, the Gausmans are north of Eglinton Avenue writes Wilner.
The 34-year-old Gausman, who grew up a huge Roy Halladay fan in Colorado, and his wife, Taylor, took daughters Sadie, six, and Sutton, who is about to turn four, to the Royal Ontario Museum in early May and ran into some fans.
«It was actually really cool,» Gausman said. «There are a lot of field trips there, so we ran into a lot of young kids who were rocking Blue Jays gear. They were pretty excited to see me on their field trip. But yeah, that museum is really cool.»
«We love going to the Brick Works,» said Gausman. «It's great. We buy our flowers there and some pots and put them in the backyard with the girls. We also buy a birdhouse there every year and the squirrels absolutely destroy it.
Gausman is quite active on social media, and whenever someone disparages his adoptive city or country he lets them know it.
I hate seeing people talk shit about Toronto like they know it. If you live in Toronto you know how special of a place it is and how passionate the people are #GeauxCanada #GeauxBlueJays
Blue Jays players share their thoughts on Toronto, what they like to do within the city, and sometimes explore the outskirts
«Honestly, the city's been great. We thoroughly enjoy being here. We talk all the time about how great a decision it was that we made to come here.»
One of the longest-tenured Blue Jays, George Springer has had nearly five summers to get to know Toronto.
With his sons, four-year-old George and two-year-old Kai, Springer figures there isn't a park, river, stream or «piece of woods» in the city they haven't explored.
They've done the big attractions too according Wilner, the aquarium, the ROM, the art gallery, Riverdale Farm. He's even made the drive up to Lake Simcoe, like a true local.
There's just one thing still on his list.
«I'm trying to go to the Hockey Hall of Fame,» said Springer, a lifelong Hartford Whalers fan who wears green batting gloves in honour of his now-defunct hometown team. «But if I go without my wife she would be angry, so gotta wait for her.»
Chris Bassitt has found that his favorite parts of Toronto are outside the city.
«I really like just being with my kids (sons Landry, five, and Colson, two) and not around a lot of people,» said the 36-year-old, who leads the team with 11 wins.
«I'm not really a city person, so thankfully Toronto is a really beautiful place outside the city where you can go to waterfalls, obviously Niagara Falls. But a whole bunch of different waterfalls, botanical gardens, nature trails, things like that.»
On his own, Bassitt took a two-hour drive north to Muskoka to check out the Torrance Barrens Dark-Sky Preserve, with astounding views of the stars in the night sky.
«That's unbelievable,» Bassitt said. «I wanted to check it out before we took the kids, but we'll definitely take the kids up there soon. It's going to be really cool for them.»
Pitcher Bowden Francis, currently sidelined with a shoulder injury, loves to bike around the city with son Book, four, and one-year-old daughter Jojo.
«Grange Park, they love,» said Francis. «They like Trinity Bellwoods a lot. The island's always great, going over there, Riverdale.»
Around the Jays clubhouse, the 29-year-old right-hander often wears vintage T-shirts picked up in Kensington Market, and he's a big fan of wandering up and down Ossington Avenue writes Wilner.
«I love the energy, I love the vibe it has and the options of food,» said Francis. «I feel like the community is really cool, the people are really cool. Cool little shops. It's a different kind of speed, I guess.»
As for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., well, he enjoys the city enough to have made a 14-year commitment to staying here (granted, the Jays gave him half a billion American dollars to do it), but he's not a big explorer.
When he isn't at the ballpark, he likes to stay home and take it easy. Daughter Vlaimel's favourite thing to do in the city, he says, is to go to a Jays game.
In the clubhouse, Wilner asked Guerrero to name his favorite place in Toronto.
«Here.»
Source: The Toronto Star
From the Brick Works to the ROM, Toronto is a hit for Blue Jays players exploring the city
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