This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
TORONTO – Around this time of year, a teenage Liam Hicks would look outside a school window to see if the rain was heavy enough to cancel his baseball game. After cold fall and winter seasons, the Toronto native just wanted to play ball.
In his first homecoming as a big leaguer on Monday, the Marlins’ breakout star didn’t need to worry about that as he greeted family and friends on the Rogers Centre field. A clear blue sky and low-60s temperature ushered in the ballpark’s roof being open for the first time all season.
“How many games [Hicks' dad] Bill and I sat through in May in Canada, where we were wearing Ugg boots and down-filled coats and freezing,” Liam’s mother, Jennifer, said. “As a parent, sitting there for hours and hours, there were some pretty bitter cold games, so it's been a nice treat to have this. Gorgeous.”
Although the Marlins fielded three Canucks – Hicks, Otto Lopez and Owen Caissie – in their series-opening win over the Blue Jays, baseball still trails hockey as the country’s most popular sport.
Growing up, Hicks played soccer, basketball and hockey. He tried baseball as a 6-year-old one summer and loved it – much to the bewilderment of his parents. At the time, they didn’t know any other parents whose kid played the game.
“I was a hockey fan, so baseball I found really, really slow,” Bill said. “So to stand around and the pace of the game, [that] took a while to get used to that.”
Added Jennifer: “We had a cottage, and it wasn't conducive to playing baseball, because we wanted to get up to the cottage in the summertime, so we didn't necessarily encourage him to play baseball.”
In hindsight, it’s a very good thing they went along with it.
The family would attend games at Rogers Centre a few times a year, often sitting in the cheap seats and showing up early enough for batting practice. A young Hicks would seek out autographs from his favorite Blue Jays like Roy Halladay.
As he got older, Hicks juggled hockey and baseball until the age of 15, when he gave up the former (he was a goalie!) and focused solely on the latter (he’s a catcher!). Hicks often traveled in the summer and fall on bus trips to the United States for several weeks to visit universities and play in youth tournaments. It was very similar to the Minor League lifestyle.
Hicks once participated in tryouts for a tourney at Rogers Centre. Another time, he faced the Canadian women’s national team and doubled off the wall.
“When we got the schedule, it was definitely a day I had circled,” Hicks said. “It’s pretty crazy how it all worked out in the end. It's super cool now. Definitely excited to see family, friends here, and a cool opportunity for them, too.”
Added Jennifer: “It's pretty exciting. I can't tell you how many times we've come down here, watched games here. I don't think we ever anticipated we'd be coming down to watch Liam play.”
Jennifer bought 50 tickets to disseminate between friends and family, including her uncle, who flew cross-country from Vancouver. Hicks had others reach out to say they would be coming to show support for the hometown kid, even requesting Marlins merch to wear over their typical Blue Jays garb. Some friends work for the Blue Jays, so this would test their allegiance.
And it all comes at the perfect time for the 26-year-old.
Entering Tuesday, Hicks (44 RBIs) was shy of the Major League lead and tied for third-most home runs (11) among Major Leaguers whose primary position is catcher. Hicks reached base twice in the series opener, and manager Clayton McCullough singled out his heads-up baserunning on two run-scoring plays.
If Hicks keeps this up, he could be finalizing a case for his first All-Star selection a month from now.
“I think just this whole year I’ve had a little bit more confidence after a year under my belt,” Hicks said. “Obviously, you don't want to put too much pressure on myself. It's three games. Anything can happen. You can have a good three days, a bad three days. It's a long season. It's all going to end the way it should, but yeah, definitely excited.”