"Broadway Joe" Namath ... lessons in Swagger & Style & Clutch

Every football fan knows "Broadway Joe" Namath. 

He's a legend.

There's a story about him.

The night before Super Bowl, he returned to the hotel following practice with a bottle of Kentucky whiskey and was in the company of a lady-for-hire. She apparently wasn't up on her football heroes and didn't know Joe. In the morning while the lady was getting dressed she said ...

"what about payment Joe"?

He responded, "it's OK just buy me a few ties"! 

But, enough about Joe ... he'll be back in a few minutes.

I’m a Blue Jay fan. But, this story really isn't really about baseball. It's about what we should expect from our sports heroes.

I met Jay's batting instructor Cito Gaston, in 1985.

A Young Clarence "Cito" Gaston

That's when we became friends. When he took over as team manager his game insights helped to frame my thoughts about the game and about my home team.

His coaching style was very unique and his accomplishments were remarkable. 20 years ago, when he was deservedly inducted into Canada’s Baseball Hall of Fame at St. Mary’s, Ontario, he shocked me.

He included my name in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech.  I was further shocked when he gifted and personalized his 1992 championship jersey to me it reads … 

“This is the jersey I wore when we won Canada’s first World Series”.    

Over the years, he’s told me that it takes a lot of energy and focus to be competitive when a 162-game MLB season moves toward September, then October.

He said ... "Players have to have something extra and be willing to play through an exhausting season of games and travel because if you're lucky to get to October, you have to have lots of gas left in the tank to be successful".

He became part of Canada's sports royalty in 1992 when he created a winning attitude amongst a really diverse group of superstar Blue Jay egos — three from that team would go on to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame @ Cooperstown.

Fun Fact: we all know that players in every sport today get paid huge sums of money to wear a certain brand of equipment. How about the old days ... in Jay's first year, 1977, and for 8 years following, every Jay starter wore Adidas baseball shoes. As payment, they were each given a $500 gift certificate which allowed them to "buy" Adidas sportswear items at the Toronto head office. Incredibly, at that time, Jay's Adidas baseball cleats were manufactured in Germany so "little Johnny" was outta luck trying to look like his baseball heroes ... the shoes couldn't be purchased in North America.

We've watched and cheered the most recent edition of the Jays in 2022 thinking this may be their year. But, we did the same thing last year because the team looked so good following that year’s All-Star break and 91 wins for the season.

This year, like the last one, we've had a season of great hits and defence along with the fabulous dugout celebrations and everybody on the bench smiling ... while they're winning.

The 2022 edition of my Blue Jay team had lots of swagger.

What they didn't seem to have was lots of clutch.

The lack of clutch is just my opinion. I had to consult the dictionary to uncover the actual meaning of the word ... as an adjective ... "denoting or occurring in a critical situation in which the outcome of a game or competition is at stake".

Maybe the sportspeak definition of the word also includes; tough and gritty and never-say-die and win-at-all-costs and never give up and take-one-for-the-"Gipper".

The talented Jays announcer, Dan Shulman, is enamoured with the team's newest superstar, Vlad Guerrero. I was too. Early in the year, the media called him a stud. It’s understood that he’s only a 23-year-old and is still finding his way so his age might give him a mulligan for his play in the back half of the past regular season. And, maybe I expected too much.

 "Vladdy" in a familiar pose ... we'd like to see more of this

I wanted him to be like “Killer.”  That’s the nickname given to an 18-year-old Major League player, Harmon Killebrew, who’d go on to have a 22-year career.  He coasted into the Hall of Fame by blasting more than 40 home a season, 8 times and leading the American League in home runs 4 times.

Harmon went "Downtown"  573 times in his fabulous career 

I understand Vlad is very good but he's not clutch (yet). He reminds me of the great Jay, Vernon Wells. 14 years ago, he signed a 7-year $126 million contract and got the Jays lots of home runs and hits ... just when they didn't need one.

I know ... Vlad is just 23.

Jay's management needs to locate some clutch players if they want to duplicate Cito's championship teams. Ya know, the type of guy you can depend on to do something spectacular when the rest of the team doesn't seem to be dialled in. Guys like Alomar, Carter and Olerud and Devo and ’92 World Series MVP Pat Borders and Jack Morris.

I was really encouraged by this year’s midseason addition of Jackie Bradley Jr. I love him and his strong outfield arm. However, Jackie was ordinary. I guess Boston really only gave up a player who may be in the late innings of his career.

For me, a warning shot about what to expect from this year's team was fired when the Jays played the lowly Anaheim Angles at the end of August.

On that home stand weekend, the Jays were also celebrating the 30th anniversary of Cito's 1992 World Series win. His was the first by a black manager in the history of the game (and to prove it wasn't a fluke, he did it again in 1993 -- the first time a back-to-back World Series had happened since 1979).

George just being George

Oh yeah, and his 1992 win was also the first-ever World Series won by a team outside of the USA. That fact irked New York Yankee owner, George Steinbrenner. He claimed the Jays “bought their World Series win” ... the 1992 payroll for the whole team, coaches and players, was $42 million. 

FYI ... the 2022 New York Yankee team payroll is $245 million.

The 1992 team reunion celebration and Angels vs Jays game at Roger's Center was a sell-out -- the Jays lost. In fact, they lost in a weekend sweep to that terrible team. For me, it looked like our super-talented Jays were tired of the game but still had 36 left in the season.

Following their losses, a headline in the sports pages of the Toronto Star stated ... "Time for Jays to put up or shut up”.

The coach may have posted that headline in the clubhouse because the team rallied with a great winning run to the finish line with 92 wins. Bo Bichette hit 3 homers in a game and the team finished the regular season first as a wild card team.

It looked like they were on their way ...

Their opponent in the best 3 games wild card series was Seattle to be played before sell-out crowds at Rogers Center.

Fun Fact: The Seattle Mariners are the team of former player, Phil Bradley -- remember him? He was the guy who helped Jay's catcher, Buck Marinez, get a 25-year career in broadcasting. In a game at Skydome, Bradley stole home and broke Marinez's leg while sliding into home plate ... that's when Buck started calling games instead of playing in them. FYI ... Phil and I play hockey together each winter at the Igloo in Bradenton, Florida. He's a very good hockey player. 

During the first game of the wild card, team president Mark Sha pie rowe (it's Shapiro but don't ever call him that) was interviewed during the telecast. He rattled on about the quality of the team's pitching and that outstanding offence. He was, of course, talking about the regular season and he somehow convinced himself that the team's success would convert to the playoffs. I guess he doesn't know that much about the game ... pre-season games are different than the regular season and the regular season is way, way different than playoffs. 

Ask "Judgy", Aaron Judge of the Yankees ... he tore the cover off the ball in the regular season eclipsing Roger Maris's 61 dingers. The Yankees expected him to carry them to the World Serious on his back. In the regular season, he was super good but in the ALCS, he wasn't good enough hitting just 5 for 36 at bats. Remember the theme of this essay is clutch and although Judge is an easy target for his lack of it, he had lots of company like the $300 million dollar man, Stanton, with a 167 batting average and the former Blue Jay, self-proclaimed 

"Bringer of Rain", who managed only 5 hits for 29 at bats, Josh Donaldson. We heard the ALCS announcers mention these underachieving numbers every time one of those sluggers made a plate appearance. 

 

But, back to the Jays.

They simply didn't show up for game one of the wild card and took a snooze in game two while being ahead 8 - 1 in the early innings. Their playoff hopes died quickly and very painfully.

Just a thought … 10 years ago, the Jays announced the addition of a new pitching coach, Pete Walker. His job-one is to get the most out of his staff. Like any worthwhile trainer, he has to get the horse ready for the race. In game one of the wild card, their "horse" Manoah, had trouble finding the strike zone - he wasn't ready and got a mound meeting with Walker but not until the game was out of reach and their closer in game two didn't seem to have the killer instinct that's become part of his resume - he wasn't ready either. The Jays didn't just go to sleep, it was a full team meltdown - the Jays lost two in a row -- no road team has ever come back the way Seattle did in a playoff game in the history of baseball. Walker has to go.

Pitching aside, much of the loss in wild-card game two could be pinned on that same fan favourite, Bichette. He tried to do too much with the bases loaded -- he decided to become a centre fielder and chase a dying quail that was about to be caught on a bounce by the centre fielder.

If Bo hadn't interfered, one run would have scored instead of three, and our superstar centerfielder would've avoided a trip to the hospital for his concussion.

FUN FACT … After getting bounced so quickly this year, I was curious about the cost of 2023 tickets. According to their website, a pair of regular-season Jay tickets ranges from $1,900. to $26,000.

Last year, a friend sent me a note near the end of the season.  "The Blue Jays are a really good team with great hair.”  His observation may still apply.

He was referring to Vlad's Rastafarian look. Lourdes' multi-coloured, mile-high swoop hairdo. Tapia's dyed blond dreadlock look. And Bo's little lord Fauntleroys’ cut with a bandana.

(whoever allowed bandanas to be part of an MLB uniform?)

I guess it's a way for them to gain attention and channel artist Andy Warhol’s famous remark about everyone’s search for “15 minutes of fame”.

I have no problem with any of them or their style choices. A player can wear "Mister T" jewellery, paint their faces blue, stand for the anthem, or not, be for greening the planet, or not, decide to vaccinate or not or be gay or straight ...

I DON'T CARE ... just as long as they can produce in a game.

Now, it's time for Joe

  

Do you remember NFL quarterback, "Broadway Joe" Namath wearing white football shoes? 

White football shoes in the NFL were outrageous.

“He shouldn't be able to do that" the media shouted.

“It shouldn't be allowed ”sports announcers claimed. Namath didn't care.

Namath may have been the one who invented swagger. He said "look at me" and then produced, winning the Super Bowl and snatched the game's MVP award to boot (sorry about that).

Joe Willie talked the talk and walked the walk. 

If he hadn't, he'd be driving a cab in Hoboken.

Names/Names/Names ... the best quarterback name, of all time, "Bart Starr" ... the best punt returner name, of all time, "Fair Hooker" ... the best hockey name, of all time, 

"Bart Crashley."

Major League Baseball isn’t about the way you look (don’t tell card collectors that -- Mickey Mantle's rookie card featuring his movie star good looks just sold for $12 million at auction).

Baseball is a grind, it’s about what happened yesterday and the day before.  It's about numbers ... lots and lots of numbers. And, if you're a player, you have to know your numbers and how they compare to the other guy's numbers ... y'know, that guy who's looking to take your job.

It's also about being hot and being not so hot and finding the balance. It’s about 162 game-play-every-day energy and team chemistry that will allow a player to move beyond the regular season with ... clutch.

There’s something in this baseball soup I’ve just mentioned that doesn’t seem to describe my Jays this year. Note to Jays ... if you want to say … LOOK AT ME ... all you have to do is produce.

Be clutch. You have to earn swagger.

Maybe next year?

During his time with the Jays, Cito Gaston gave Toronto sports fans something extraordinary to cheer about. He led my team to 4 American League Division Titles + 2 American League Pennants and Back-to-Back World Series wins.

It surprised me that not one of Toronto's 4 daily newspapers or SPORT Magazine or BASEBALL Magazine or SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Magazine asked Cito to pose for a photo with his two World Series trophies? After all, he was the first African American MLB manager to earn the championship. He most definitely earned the right to some swagger but that's not Cito.

 

He's not about self-promotion ... 

he's conservative and quiet and polite.

So I asked him to pose for that historical baseball photo. It's below. He agreed to pose to support Special Olympics Canada. He signed 50 copies and we sold them at Special Olympic fundraisers at an average price of $800.

Each photo was framed with museum quality by a very unique framing artist.    So, while he was sleeping, he and his fabulous photo earned $40,000 for what he called ... his fellow athletes.

If you would like to read more about Clarence "Cito" Gaston, just click on the link here and it will take you directly to my blog … “Cito Gaston … what’s he really like”?