DUNEDIN, Fla. -- José Bautista, the heart and soul and attitude of the Blue Jays teams that put baseball back on the map in this country, has been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Announced early Wednesday as part of the Hall of Fame’s 2025 class, Bautista will be joined by Érik Bédard, Greg Hamilton, Amanda Asay, Arleene Noga and Gerry Snyder.
Speaking soon after the announcement, Bautista relived not only his major moments playing for the Blue Jays, but the impact those moments had on baseball across Canada during his time with the organization.
“I hope that I served as an inspiration to the next generation, maybe some kids who were somewhat disconnected from the game,” Bautista said, “or wanted to get into it and there just wasn’t enough buzz around it. Maybe they didn’t have access to it. I’d like to think that with the impact my teams had in Toronto and my contributions, we elevated the interest in the game within the country. That kind of has a trickle-down effect. I’d like to think that reactivates the grassroots level and gets the kids excited, gets them back into playing.”
Bautista represented the best of the Blue Jays for a decade from 2008 to 2017, his individual accomplishments first demanding the league’s attention before the rest of the organization caught up to him.
In 2010, Bautista produced one of the greatest seasons in franchise history with 54 home runs, a club record that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and friends are still chasing. He followed that up with a 1.056 OPS in ‘11, and while it still took the Blue Jays a few more years to reach the postseason again, Bautista gave the organization an incredible, surprising new star to build around.
That’s what makes Bautista’s legacy in Toronto so remarkable. It was never supposed to be spectacular. Bautista was supposed to be just another player.
Traded to the Blue Jays on Aug. 21, 2008, for a player to be named later -- eventually Minor League catcher Robinzon Diaz -- Bautista was a utlity man who had shown flashes of power in the past, but he was already 27 and had bounced around the league. Something clicked, though. Hitting coach Dwayne Murphy and manager Cito Gaston worked with Bautista, pushing him to get ready earlier in his stance, which resulted in that incredible load in Bautista’s lower half before his body violently uncoiled.
Bautista became the face of this organization along with fellow late bloomers Edwin Encarnación and Josh Donaldson, who formed one of the scariest one-two-three punches in baseball by the time the postseason runs of 2015 and ‘16 rolled around. Those teams were beloved not only because of their on-field success, but because of how they did it. Manager John Gibbons used to call them “a bunch of renegades.” They were the team that could beat you in a ballgame and a bar fight, and Canada loved it.
It all came together in one perfect moment on Oct. 14, 2015. The Bat Flip.
In Game 5 of the ALDS against the rival Rangers, Bautista had the world in the palm of his hand in the bottom of the seventh with two runners on and two outs in a 3-3 game. What happened next will forever live in Blue Jays lore. Behind Joe Carter’s walk-off home run and a handful of moments from those World Series years in ‘92 and ‘93, there may be no other moment in this club’s history that rival’s Bautista’s home run.
“The 1-1 from Dyson. Bautista with a drive! Deep left field! No doubt about it!”
It perfectly captured Bautista, the showman who always rose to the biggest moments. The quick glance back to Rangers reliever Sam Dyson was part of it. He didn’t just want to beat you, he wanted you to know it. Then, glancing away, Bautista launched his bat a mile into the sky, crashing down in foul territory as Rogers Centre shook. If statues ever stand outside this stadium or the next one, Bautista’s belongs, capturing the man who shook baseball back to life for so many in this country and did it with a little attitude.