BOSTON (AP) — Former Blue Jays catcher and current Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen not only played in the same game for both teams – a first in Major League Baseball history.
He batted for both teams in the same inning.
In a statistical oddity made possible by two of the strangest things on Earth — the baseball rule book and New England weather — Jansen became the only player to ever appear on both sides of a baseball score sheet when he took the field for Boston on Monday in the continuation of a rain-postponed game he started for Toronto in June before being traded to the Red Sox.
“I was surprised to find out I was the first to do that,” Jansen said after going 1 for 4 for Boston – plus part of another at-bat for Toronto – in the 4-1 victory for the Blue Jays. “It’s cool, leaves such an impression in the game. It’s interesting and strange. And I’m grateful for the opportunity to have that.”
Playing for Toronto on June 26, Jansen fouled out in the second inning on the only pitch he saw from Boston starter Kutter Crawford before the Tarps were called. On July 27 Jansen moved from Toronto to Boston for three minor league players.
After the possibility of Jansen becoming a baseball first created a stir across the sport, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said last week that he would use Jansen if suspended play resumed, saying, “Let’s make history.”
“It was a very cool moment just to be there,” Cora said on Monday. “I don’t know if it will happen again. It would have to be something like the perfect storm – starting with the storm. And I’m glad that everyone enjoyed it.”
Before play resumed at 2:06 p.m. on Monday — after a delay of 65 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes — Daveson Perez, the Red Sox media coordinator, announced the changes in the press box at Fenway Park: “Pinch hitter for Danny Jansen: Daulton Varsho. Defensive changes: Danny Jansen now catcher.”
With Jansen behind the plate, Nick Pivetta struck out Varsho, ending the run Jansen had started. Jansen then came on for the Red Sox with two outs in the bottom half of the inning, received a nice round of applause from a sparse crowd brought in for the game, and hit a lame liner to first base to end the inning.
“It was maybe a little strange up until that point,” Jansen said. “As soon as I stepped into the box and it was ‘game on,’ I just tried to stay present, stay focused.”
Jansen’s wife, children and some friends were there to see him take his place in the baseball record books — or at least in the footnotes. When they arrived, they saw his picture on the scoreboard wearing a Blue Jays cap.
“When I walked out there today, I definitely saw myself up there,” Jansen said. “It was kind of like saying, ‘Well, here we are.'”
Before the first pitch, the home umpires had a long chat with the coaches, who pulled out some of the strangest lineup cards in baseball history. Blue Jays manager John Schneider said he was glad his former player, a lifelong reliever with a .222 batting average, was getting some attention.
“I think it’s cool that he’s in the record books as the first player to do that,” Schneider said. “I’ve known Jano forever and it’s cool that he can always say he was the first, and he’s good at weird stuff. Pretty cool for him.”
Jansen had a single in the fifth inning – Boston’s first hit of the game. He had a flyout in the seventh inning and then came in the ninth inning with two outs and a runner on second base, but he struck out with a controlled swing to end the game.
The 29-year-old right-hander said he wore two jerseys in the game (three if you count the Toronto jersey he wore in June). He will keep one for himself and send one to the Baseball Hall of Fame; an authenticator was on hand to tag all of Jansen’s gear.
The Cooperstown Shrine said it requested the scoreboard from official scorekeeper Bob Ellis, who also served as editor when play began in June.
“This scorecard will be a great way to document and illustrate that history, as it shows Danny Jansen’s name on both teams,” Hall spokesman John Shestakofsky said.
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