Ex-Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen honoured by Hall of Fame for double-duty game
Former Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen probably won’t make the Baseball Hall of Fame as an inducted player, but he’ll still be taking up a bit of real estate in Cooperstown.
And while he might be best remembered this season for the answer to a trivia question, it’s still a pretty sweet way to be known regardless.
Jansen, who was traded from the Jays to the Boston Red Sox earlier this summer, became the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game.
The June 26 matchup between the two teams was suspended in the top of the second inning. Jansen was actually at the plate when it happened, meaning the Jays had to slot Daulton Varsho in as a pinch-hitter while Jansen was catching behind the plate for the Red Sox.
“What an oddity, right,” Jansen said to Sportsnet’s Jeff Blair about the scenario. “What a crazy, crazy thing for baseball, this game. People have been asking me, and coming up to me to talk about it and stuff, so it’s going to be a cool one.”
Scorekeeper Bob Ellis worked the game on both days. Officials from the Baseball Hall of Fame were on hand to grab the official scorecard as well as multiple pieces from Jansen’s uniform.
“This scorecard will be a great tool to document and illustrate this history, showing Danny Jansen’s name on both teams,” Baseball Hall of Fame spokesman John Shestakofsky said, as per the Associated Press via Fox Sports.
Jansen hit .222 with 314 hits, 71 homers, 214 RBIs and 202 runs scored in 470 games for the Blue Jays in his career, playing for the team in seven seasons spanning back to 2018.
Despite Jansen being a longtime Blue Jay, it seems like he turned down the shot to stick around long-term before the 2024 season.
“The Blue Jays are believed to have offered Danny Jansen a multi-year extension before the season started, but clearly talks never got past the finish line,” Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith wrote earlier this month.
The Jays were leading 1-0 in the seventh inning at press time.
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