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Slow news day here, so let's start a fun thread before the start of Game 2 of the World Series tonight.
Tell us about the first Toronto Blue Jays game you've ever attended. Who did you go with? How old were you (approximately)? And did the Jays win or lose? As you may know, the great Baseball-Reference.com has the boxscore of every single Blue Jays game ever so you can look for it there and post it for everyone to check out.
I unfortunately do not remember my first game. It was probably in 1995, but I'm not too sure. I remember my dad and I getting 100-level infield tickets from our neighbour on a weeknight, but I can't remember anything about who they were playing or even when it was.
The earliest game that I remember came on April 16, 1996 when my dad brought me to Windows Restaurant for my 10th birthday. We got a seat right against the window and that was really cool. And I was super excited to go because our big free agent signing from the Boston Red Sox, our ace Erik Hanson, was starting that game. I brought my 1996 Blue Jays media guide--a birthday gift from my grandpa--and was diligently looking up stats of each player that night.
Unfortunately for the Jays, Hanson was not very good that night (or for his entire tenure in Toronto), giving up 6 runs in 2+ innings (he faced 6 batters in the 3rd and retired none), and the Jays lost 13-8 to the Detroit Tigers. Other than Hanson's suckage, I did remember that Otis Nixon (of all people) hit a homer in that game. I was fascinated with that because I looked it up in the media guide and saw that Nixon only had 7 career home runs in some 3900 plate appearances. I shared that with our waitress and she gave me, a 10-year old kid with a pen, pencil, notebook, calculator and the media guide, a smile.
What I remembered the most about the game is that it was one of the last times I had plain cold milk--ever. For some reason, and I'm not saying that Windows Restaurant had bad milk, but after drinking a glass of it my stomach started feeling weird and I darted to the bathroom. Unfortunately I did not make it and ended up making quite a mess in the hallway, causing several waitresses to scream loudly. After that traumatic childhood experience, I just stopped drinking cold milk. I can drink warm milk, I can drink it with tea, I can drink cold chocolate milk, but not cold white milk ever again.
I don't remember much of Erik Hanson, but I'm sure that wasn't the last time I projectile-vomited during one of his starts.
What's your story?