Blue Jays' Winter Tour to traverse around Ontario

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays' annual Winter Tour is back for its fourth installment, and this time it will feature multiple stops across Ontario.

The tour will consist of two legs, and it will include the cities of Oshawa, Kingston, Peterborough, St. Catharines, London and Mississauga. The 2014 tour will run from Jan. 9-18, and it will feature appearances from nine players and manager John Gibbons.

Adam Lind, Steve Delabar, Josh Thole, Colby Rasmus, Brandon Morrow, Dustin McGowan, Esmil Rogers, Todd Redmond and Anthony Gose will take part at various stops along the way.

The annual Winter Tour is a modern version of the winter caravans that represented the Blue Jays across Canada in the early years of the franchise. The program was absent for a long time, but president Paul Beeston and senior vice president of business operations Stephen Brooks brought it back in 2011.

The Blue Jays have since spent the past three years touring various parts of the country while making public appearances and attending promotional events. The first year featured stops in western Canada, the second year focused on the east coast, and central Canada received the bulk of the visits last year.

The club will shift its focus to the home province of Ontario. The tour gets underway with an autograph session at the Oshawa Centre on Jan. 9. The following day, a Blue Jays contingent will visit the Canadian Forces Base in Kingston, attend a Frontenacs hockey game and take part in an autograph session at Cataraqui Centre.

The first leg of the tour will then wrap up with an autograph session at Lansdowne Place in Peterborough on Jan. 12. It will resume the following week with stops in St. Catharines (Jan. 16), London (Jan. 17-18) and Mississauga (Jan. 18).

Official details on player appearances at each location will be released closer to the event date. A tentative list of events can be seen by visiting bluejays.com/wintertour.