TORONTO -- George Springer is many things, a list that just grew again with his Game 7 heroics in the ALCS.
He’s a World Series champion, a World Series MVP, a four-time All-Star and now the author of one of the greatest moments in Blue Jays history, his three-run home run in the seventh inning Monday to beat the Mariners and send the Blue Jays to their first World Series since 1993.
Springer is also an advocate for kids who stutter. Springer stutters, himself, and has since he was a child, but as he’s grown into a big league star, he’s used his platform to encourage kids who stutter and empower them to say what they want to say. October 22 is International Stuttering Awareness Day, another opportunity to shine a light on the work Springer has done in his work with organizations like SAY (Stuttering Association for the Young).
“If you ask any of my teammates and coaches, it’s no secret. ... I like to talk,” Springer said at an event last season benefitting SAY. “I will talk your ear off all day, even if you don’t want me to. It didn’t used to be that way. For all of the kids or the parents who have a child who stutters, or has come across somebody who does, I hope that I can be proof that things do get easier. You can do what you want to do. You can say what you want to say. You can be who you want to be.”
The CN Tower, which climbs 1,815.5 feet into the air next to Rogers Centre and is visible across Toronto, will be lit green Wednesday night to recognize International Stuttering Awareness Day.
An estimated 1% of the world’s population stutters, which would account for over three million Americans and 400,000 Canadians. According to the National Stuttering Association, up to 5% of kids go through a period of stuttering, too, which often begins in the range of 2 to 5 years old. While many kids who stutter in their childhood ultimately stop stuttering, many others, Springer included, deal with it into adulthood.
Hosting his annual benefits, Springer has always turned the conversation back to the kids he works with, saying how much they’ve helped him in return. Besides, Springer is just a 36-year-old kid himself.
He’s the biggest personality on the Blue Jays. Sure, things tighten up in the postseason and grow more serious as October rolls on, but Springer is always the life of the party, filling every room he enters with sound and energy.
“You can’t let something that you can’t control stop you from being who you want to be,” Springer said. “There are a lot of really good people in this world who will help and a lot of really good people who don’t care [about your stutter]. One of the most important things I hope everybody understands is that you just need to embrace it. Embrace who you are. Embrace how you talk.”
Springer has been an important public figure for people who live with a stutter, especially kids. They can look up to an MLB star who has not just spoken openly about his stutter over the years, but embraced it as part of who he is. Now, he’s on the biggest stage in baseball, chasing the Blue Jays’ first World Series championship in 32 years.