Former Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons had plenty of memorable moments in his career in Major League Baseball.
A usually mild-mannered presence with the possibility to get fiery when he wanted to, Gibbons racked up 53 ejections over the course of his 11-year managerial career with the Blue Jays.
But it’s actually one game heĀ wasn’t able to be kicked out of that sticks out to Gibbons.
Joe West, who first started umpiring in the major leagues in 1976, supposedly once decided it would be a better idea to keep a heated Gibbons in the game.
In an “Ask Me Anything” thread on Wednesday on the r/Torontobluejays subreddit, Gibbons shared a hilarious story about one of his interactions with West when asked if there was an ejection that stood out to him.
“One time Joe West told me our team stinks so if he has to stay out there and watch it, I do too, so he wouldn’t throw me out,” Gibbons wrote on the thread.
West retired after a lengthy MLB career in 2021, while Gibbons hasn’t worked for the team since Toronto let him go in 2018.
Gibbons didn’t offer much more detail about what year the incident took place, but there was plenty to pick from. Five of the 10 full seasons Gibbons managed in Toronto across two different stints were losing years, a stark contrast from the two memorable playoff runs in 2015 and 2016. In his 1,582 games in charge of Toronto, Gibbons carried a .501 record, winning 793 games while losing 789.
Gibbons also weighed in on a few other topics, including the team’s polarizing decision to yank Jose Berrios after just 47 pitches in Toronto’s final playoff game this season.
āWould not have had the guts to pull him,ā Gibbons said. āIt had to have been the game plan and everyone signed off on it, reluctantly Iām sure.ā
