TORONTO – Blue Jays fans aren’t only feeling anxiety for Game 4 Monday afternoon, but they’re also feeling angry after a remark made by a Fox commentator during Game 3 Sunday night.
During the Game 3 live commentary Harold Reynolds said, “…because there’s not a lot of people who grew up playing baseball in Canada, they’re not used to catching a lot of balls in the stands.”
The offhand remark got the attention of many Canadians.
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“He’s calling out Canada for not being able to catch the ball, I mean I’ve played baseball my whole life, I’m pretty sure I can catch a couple balls,” said Jays fan Kris Negus.
“It was disgusting, as a Canadian I’m deeply offended,” said another Jays fan, Andrei Tokarev.
Twitter exploded with #HaroldReynolds and in less than 24 hours it was tweeted over 7,000 times.
Critical fans also noted that Reynolds, a former player himself, led the league in errors for three straight seasons (although he also won several Gold Glove awards).
Even former major-leaguer and 1997 National League MVP Larry Walker, of Maple Ride, B.C., waded into the mix.
Norm Kelly, who’s no stranger to Twitter wars, chimed in as well.
“Even Don Cherry saw it and he knows just about as good as anyone else out there,” said Negus.
Cherry unleashed a 12-Tweet rant Monday, saying “Harold Reynolds is just saying what most people in the States think of us as not knowing anything about baseball…Having the dome closed when we play better with it open and the noon weekday start. We just don’t play on a level playing field in Canada.”
Cherry isn’t the only one who thinks the Jays are getting the short end of the stick. A Change.org petition to get the RCMP to investigate the MLB for match-fixing and conspiracy against the Jays popped up Saturday and it already has well over 10,000 signatures.
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