Most games in sports are played in a conventional manner. But every so often, something will happen in a game that’s either unusual or rarely seen.
An unassisted triple play or perfect game in baseball, for instance. A hole-in-one in golf. A basketball that gets stuck between the net and the backboard. A clean winner from outside the tennis court. A goalie scoring in a hockey game. Or, as recently witnessed, a CFL game decided on a walk-off rouge after a missed field goal. (For those not sports-inclined, a walk-off rouge occurs when a team scores a rouge (a single point) on the final play of the game, and that point is the decisive one that wins the game. The rouge is awarded when the ball is kicked into the end zone, and the receiving team fails to return it out of the end zone, such as on a missed field goal, punt, or kickoff.)
These sports oddities pale in comparison to what might be the most astonishing statistic you’ll ever see or hear about. It had never happened before, and it will likely never happen again.
This is the story of Danny Jansen, the first baseball player in history to have played for two different teams in the same game.
Jansen played in a June 26 doubleheader between the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays. A catcher for Toronto since his Major League Baseball debut in 2018, he was at the plate against Boston’s starting pitcher, Kutter Crawford. There was one out in the second inning with a runner on first base. Jansen fouled off the first pitch, and was getting prepared for Crawford’s next selection.
The rain then started to fall heavily. So much so that the game was suspended until the weather cleared up. Except it didn’t. Hence, the Red Sox and Blue Jays would have to make up this game at a later date.
That’s nothing out of the ordinary. Rain delays frequently occur in baseball. Some regular season games have had to be restarted or completed later. You can’t control the weather, after all.
Here’s where the story takes a dramatic turn.
Toronto traded Jansen to Boston on Jul. 27 in exchange for three minor league players, Cutter Coffey, Eddinson Paulino and Gilberto Batista. He was activated the following day and joined the Red Sox lineup against the New York Yankees.
Again, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Many baseball players are traded to different teams during their careers.
It quickly occurred to sports writers and MLB statisticians that Jansen had been traded between two teams involved in a rain-delayed game. He was at-bat when it was suspended, too.
The wheels started to turn. Has this scenario ever happened before? In the long, rich history of baseball, it would have been safe to assume so. After an extensive search through the archives, they were surprised to discover that it hadn’t.
“In a statistical oddity made possible by two of the quirkiest entities on Earth – the baseball rule book and the New England weather,” AP sports writer Jimmy Golen wrote on Aug. 26,” Jansen suddenly had a unique opportunity to play for two different teams in the same game.
When Red Sox manager Alex Cora learned that Jansen could become a “baseball first” and “cause celebré around the sport,” as Golen depicted it, he was more than willing to make it happen. “Let’s make history,” he said.
The game resumed at Boston’s Fenway Park on Aug. 26 at 2:06 pm ET. It had been delayed for 65 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes. Media relations coordinator Daveson Perez announced the changes to the small crowd in attendance, “Pinch-hitting for Danny Jansen: Daulton Varsho. Defensive changes: Danny Jansen now at catcher.”
Varsho and Jansen exchanged pleasantries at home plate. The former assumed the previous 0-1 count and faced off against Red Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta. He struck out on two consecutive pitches to complete Jansen’s at-bat for Toronto. It was over in less than a minute. Jansen would come up at bat for Boston with two outs in the bottom half of the second inning. He lined out, and the inning was done.
Toronto would beat Boston 4-1. Jansen finished 1 for 4 with a fifth-inning single and one strikeout. He will appear on both sides of the official box score for time immemorial. (His one plate appearance for Toronto isn’t recorded as an at-bat.)
“Building up until that point, maybe it was a bit strange,” Jansen said. “Once you stepped in the box and it was ‘Game on,’ I was just trying to stay present, stay locked in.” His wife and children attended the game and, like him, saw his photo on the scoreboard wearing a Blue Jays cap. “When I walked out there today, yeah, I saw myself up there, for sure. That was just kind of like, ‘Well, that’s where we’re at.’”
Cora, to his credit, provided the most astute analysis. “It was a very cool moment, just to be part of it,” he told Golen. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen again. It has to be kind of like the perfect storm for that to happen – starting with the storm. And I’m glad that everybody enjoyed it.”
Indeed, it was a fascinating moment in baseball history that few will forget – and one that Danny Jansen will surely enjoy recounting for years to come.
Michael Taube is a political commentator, Troy Media syndicated columnist and former speechwriter for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He holds a master’s degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics, lending academic rigour to his political insights.
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