B2B Reunion Friday

- Cito underhanding the ceremonial first pitch to Pat Borders.

It was a hectic day for many Jays fans yesterday.

It was a beautiful afternoon for the lunch time barbecue and autograph signing at the TD court on Wellington St. On a sour note, though, most of us were caught off guard by the extra $20 charge for the autograph portion of the gig that the organizers conveniently omitted from their announcements of the event. A woman behind me in line was even reassured on the phone that it would only cost her ten bucks.

I have no objection to the extra cost considering it was going to charity, but I find it extremely tacky that the organizers felt it necessary to resort to the old bait-and-switch. They made it sound more affordable than it was, and there were a lot of disappointed people who either didn't have the money or couldn't get it because there's no way they could have made it back from a bank machine and still gotten a spot in line.

At least I left with a full gut and a few decent pictures. I headed to Chapters and picked up "Fantasyland" by Sam Walker. Thanks for the suggestions on books, by the way.

There was a signing for season ticket holders, a Q & A with Tom Henke for fan club members, and five autograph tables set up throughout the Rogers Centre prior to the game. Not surprisingly, it was chaos. I don't think I've seen actual chaos at the Rogers Centre since Opening Day.

The nostalgic love-fest before the game was fun to watch. My favorite moment occurred as the Jays Vision cameras were panning along the alumni. Cheers followed as each name was announced. As Dave Winfield's face was shown on the screen, the loudest cheering of the night was given up for him before his name was even announced. May Winfield forever get noise.

...and then there was a baseball game, the results of which you can find at bluejays.com or elsewhere on the blogosphere.

Overall, though, it was an enjoyable day. I'm going for round two tomorrow (Sunday.)