Growing up in southern Ontario, I was a Blue Jays fan. One of my favourite shirts in grade three was a Jays t-shirt, and as a tomboy and farm kid, I wore it proudly.
My grandfather – Poppy, as we called him – was hugely into baseball and his love for the game definitely influenced me. The ball game was always on when we went to visit him and my Nana for dinner on weekends. He took me to see a few games as a kid – one in particular, I remember, back in the early 80’s, was a Detroit Tigers double-header against the California A’s. He also went with our family to a game now and then at the CNE and when I was old enough to get my license and his eyesight was beginning to fail him, I drove him and I to the final game at the CNE, where George Bell hit a 2-run homer to win the game. I went to a few games after that throughout my early 20’s – including one of the playoff games in 1992 before they made it to the first of two World Series they would win two years in a row.
But, even with all of that, I was probably more of a fair-weather fan than anything during that part of my life. Then, I moved out west for 22 years and promptly forgot about organized sports altogether – except for jumping on the Vancouver Canuck bandwagon for a season or two of hockey when they made the playoffs, I think, somewhere around 2010-2012.
Then, when I moved back to Ontario to continue graduate studies at the University of Toronto, I realized my new partner’s love for sports was deeper and more intense than I was previously aware. At first, I struggled with what seemed like her un-ending appetite for baseball, hockey, and even curling…imagine! I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to be in a relationship with someone who loved sports THAT MUCH. I’m not going to lie – it wasn’t easy to have sports on TV so often. After all, for most of my adult life, I didn’t own at TV. If I did have one in the house, it belonged to a partner who I had moved in with and I didn’t know how to work the converter.
But, I loved this new partner of mine and so, I had to find a way to understand her love for sports and in turn, better understand her.
That’s when I figured, what better way to do that than to interview her about her love of sports and write a song about it? Songwriting has always helped me make sense of the world, and understand people and myself, so why not use songwriting as a tool to get to know my new partner a little more and help me grasp why sports are so important to her?
Turns out there are lots of different important reasons why sports mean a lot to people. I can certainly say that my Poppy ignited my love of baseball and it’s something that my partner and I now have in common.
This is where “The Blue Jays Game” comes from. And, it sure was a blast watching our beloved Blue Jays rock the baseball world this year. Thanks for the fun season, boys! It means more than you know.
I hope you enjoy “The Blue Jays Game.”
The Blue Jays Game
The Blue Jays Game Lyrics
I lived on Wrigley Road when I was a kid
My dad did custom farm work in our township
My mom cooked and cleaned and made a home for my dad, my brothers and me
And in her spare time, she tried to make herself happy
Late at night, I would hear them down the hall
Yelling at each other through the paper-thin bedroom walls
Till one day, my mom packed the car and found an apartment in town to rent
She took me with her when she left, I was barely ten
Chorus
I would lie on my back alone on my bed
With my hands behind my head and watch the summer sun set
Listening to the Blue Jays game on my AM radio
Bases loaded and our batter’s count is full
And I’m hoping that pitcher gonna pitch a perfect throw
Not long after we moved out, my dad got a new wife
She moved in with her anger and her kids
I’d visit on weekends, and she’d smoke and play cards at the kitchen table
Saying, “don’t think you’re daddy’s little girl cuz you ain’t”
Chorus
I would lie on my back alone on my bed
With my hands behind my head and watch the summer sun set
Listening to the Blue Jays game on my AM radio
Bases loaded and our batter’s count is full
And I’m hoping that pitcher gonna pitch a perfect throw
On an autumn night, the Jays were hosting the A’s at the CNE
My mom came in and sat with me for a while
She told me she was sick, but I was too young to understand it
Then, a curveball pitch and Moseby swung and missed it
Chorus
A few months passed, I got home from school one day and she was gone
My dad was there, packing my clothes into a suitcase
I never saw her again and then few weeks later
We buried her in a graveyard off the highway
I spent the summer with my dad on his combine in the fields
He didn’t say much but being with him was enough for me
I also had the umpire’s call, all the way from spring ‘till fall
And Jerry’s play by plays carried me away
I said, Jerry’s play by plays carried me away
Chorus
I would lie on my back alone on my bed
With my hands behind my head and watch the summer sun set
Listening to the Blue Jays game on my AM radio
Bases loaded and our batter’s count is full
I would lie on my back alone on my bed
With my hands behind my head and watch the summer sun set
Listening to the Blue Jays game on my AM radio
Bases loaded and our batter’s count is full
And I’m hoping that pitcher gonna pitch a perfect throw
I’m hoping that pitcher gonna pitch a perfect throw
Credits:
Kael Reid: vocals, acoustic guitar
Don Kerr: cello, drums
Doug Friesen: bass
