How many miles must McCoy fly around before he can stay for awhile?

by Minor Leaguer on Apr 25, 2011 9:35 PM EDT

Mike McCoy, the Blue Jays' utility infielder and outfielder, is probably the most travelled player since the beginning of the season. In fact, it's become sort of a running joke here on Bluebird Banter of how many times he has flown back and forth (the jokes dampen the sadness of the Jays' many injured players). Of course, I can't just be happy with just knowing that he's been flying a lot, I had to go out to find out just how many frequent flyer miles he earned and map his journey out.

He started the regular season with the Jays, but was optioned to the Las Vegas 51s (AAA) on April 10, recalled on the 15th when Edwin Encarnacion was on a bereavement leave, re-optioned to Las Vegas on the 18th, re-recalled on the 23rd when Jayson Nix was placed on the DL. Team travel plus his travels between these cities from March 30 to April 24 totalled to an amazing 12,166 miles (19,579 km)!

Of course, besides these actual flights, there were at least a couple of incidents where he was on standby to fly out at any moment.

His travel itinerary:

Date	From	To	Distance (mi)
2011/03/30	Dunedin (Tampa)	Toronto	1245
2011/04/07	Toronto	Anaheim (Los Angeles)	2176
2011/04/09	Anaheim (Los Angeles)	San Diego*	120
2011/04/11	San Diego	Sacramento**	480
2011/04/15	Sacramento	Boston	2630
2011/04/18	Boston	Las Vegas	2376
2011/04/22	Las Vegas	Toronto	1940
2011/04/24	Toronto	Dallas	1199

*After being optioned to Las Vegas, McCoy returned home for a day. It is uncertain whether he travelled from Los Angeles to San Diego by plane or car.

**After spending April 10 at home, McCoy joined the 51s who were in Sacramento playing the River Cats.

Sources: http://www.lvrj.com/sports/blue-jays-keep-mccoy-on-his-toes-120534889.html, http://www.prokerala.com/travel/airports/distance/

Tweet Comment 21 comments | 6 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

That´s a lot! I reckon we need a ´Mike McCoy miles meter´ to keep track of his travels.

by JaysSaskatchewan on Apr 25, 2011 9:44 PM EDT reply actions

ahaha

Choose me, Ash!

by Pikachu on Apr 25, 2011 11:22 PM EDT reply actions

12,166 miles is nearly half-way around the world, not 1.5 times, like the map says. The HR trots figure is correct.

Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic

by bluejaysstatsgeek on Apr 26, 2011 12:07 AM EDT reply actions

Good catch

Holy crap I don’t know how I missed that. I looked up “diameter of Earth at the Equator” rather than circumference. Ooopsy. Thanks!

by Minor Leaguer on Apr 26, 2011 12:26 AM EDT up reply actions

And you didn’t believe your math teacher when he told you you’d need to know the difference between diameter and circumference one day… :P

Nevertheless, nice post.

by jabalong on Apr 26, 2011 4:37 AM EDT up reply actions

It would be cool if this was tracked all year long. I imagine he will be making several more trips between Vegas and Toronto this year.

by Al Bundy is my hero on Apr 26, 2011 8:15 AM EDT reply actions

Fantastic!

This is great.

by masterkembo on Apr 26, 2011 8:49 AM EDT reply actions

I wonder if records on this are kept?

… it would be kind of interesting.

Who was it recently that every time he was told he was heading to Vegas, someone would get injured and he’d get recalled before he had even left town? Inglett, maybe? I seam to recall someone on the Jays saying “We can’t afford to send him down. Every time we do, someone else goes on the DL.”

Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic

by bluejaysstatsgeek on Apr 26, 2011 9:33 AM EDT reply actions

it was inglett

Voodoo Joe

"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"

by jessef on Apr 26, 2011 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Awesome

I love it! It would definitely be great to track this for the season :)

by TFOF on Apr 26, 2011 10:18 AM EDT reply actions

We could do a Mike McCoy mileage pool? Whoever guesses the closest wins an imaginary dinner with Mike McCoy.

by JaysSaskatchewan on Apr 26, 2011 1:19 PM EDT reply actions

The Real McCoy can’t make it? I assume he has a flight to catch.

by Minor Leaguer on Apr 26, 2011 1:31 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 3 recs

This is actually an excellent idea!

Maybe Tom can contact the Jays and see if they will get McCoy to do this. Figure out how the Jays Care Foundation could benefit and this could be a win-win-win.

Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic

by bluejaysstatsgeek on Apr 26, 2011 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions