Sayonara Home Run Jacket – Jays Ditch the Distraction

The Toronto Blue Jays will not be sporting a ‘home run jacket’ this season.

For those unfamiliar with the celebratory gimmick, the home run jacket has worked its way through the Blue Jays’ dugout over the past two seasons, growing in popularity as a way of highlighting the long ball.

What started as an ode to The Masters’ green jacket ceremony two seasons back has slowly transformed into a goofy ritual each time that a Blue Jays batter hits a home run. It could be a game-deciding two-run blast, an early-inning solo shot or a grand slam when already ahead 8-0 in the top of the third.

“I think the overall message, whether it’s putting a jacket on or doing something in the dugout, we want to celebrate more than just home runs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider told The Sun last week. “We want to focus on catching the ball. We want to focus on getting on base. Things like that. It’s totally up to the players. We’ve talked about it briefly but we’ll see where we land with it.”

Following its debut in 2021, the home run jacket was revamped for 2022 to feature graphic and colourful imagery of the names of each country of origin for every rostered player on its back. The jacket was made by Blue Jays’ Spanish/English language interpreter Hector LeBron. The phrase ‘La Gent Del Barrio’ or ‘The People of the Neighbourhood’ was also displayed on the backside.

There’s a postseason edition of the Home Run #BlueJays jacket – complete with pirate symbol 🏴‍☠️ pic.twitter.com/N1gJQ48IKs

— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) October 7, 2022

Whenever a player hit a home run – at any point in the season and playoffs – the team’s previous home run hitter would meet the celebrant at the entrance to the dugout and help them put on the navy blue suit jacket. That player would then dance around down the dugout and receive high-fives, be drenched in sunflower seeds, perform handshakes with each teammate and then, ultimately, strike a pose for a team photographer at the end of the Conga line before removing the jacket and turning his attention back to the game at hand.

That whole ordeal would occur numerous times throughout a typical game, with each instance lasting upwards of two minutes.

“It’s a fine line between silly and fun,” Schneider continued. “There’s something to be said about acting like you’ve been there.”

You could imagine the distraction this would cause, especially when trailing 7-2 in bottom of the eighth inning… on the road.

Last week, Schneider – the team’s new clubhouse manager – told The Sun that the home run jacket may not be back for 2023. Beginning while the Jays were under the tutelage of the always smiley Charlie Montoyo, the tradition was allowed to continue throughout the remainder of the 2022 season, despite Schneider’s better judgment upon taking over the team.

“I love having fun,” he said. “You’ve got to have fun. It’s a long season and it’s a game. As long as you’re prepared and attentive, then winning becomes fun. The most fun to have in baseball is winning.”

Despite leaving it up in the air, the players did determine the best course of action for the season was to choose a different direction.

“It’s up to the players,” Schneider added in his conversation with The Sun. “I think that anything that the players want to do is going to be cool. We’ve had the jacket for a couple of years.”

The actual way the team will celebrate home runs this year has yet to be displayed or announced, but it will not involve the jacket.

“It wouldn’t be surprising if it was something different this year,” he said.

“It’s time to go from a talented, fun team to a talented, fun team that’s going to scrap and claw and find ways to win games.”

It wasn’t like the home run jacket wasn’t getting used either, as the Jays finished first and seventh place in total home runs hit in each of the past two seasons, respectively.

But, as is the case for most things in life, there comes to say goodbye.

Schneider’s more serious mentality, paired with the acquisition of veterans Brandon Belt, Kevin Kiermaier and Chris Bassitt this offseason indicates a change in the team’s core makeup and overall philosophy. While having fun is good and well, that fun should be had to a certain extent, at a very certain point in the season, according to the man in charge.

“We’re at the point where when we do get to the postseason, the games should be fun,” Schneider said. “Yeah, they’re nerve-wracking and emotional, but enjoy the fact you are in that spot.”

Toronto went 92-70 last season, but fell to the Seattle Mariners in two-straight games, including a disastrous collapse in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series that saw the Jays pull ahead 8-1, only to lose the game 10-9 and fall completely out of the postseason. Such performances will certainly not be tolerated in 2023.