A Flag is Flipped and a Nation Flaps: The Politics and Patriotism of the First International World Series

Abstract

title of has often been scrutinized as being a flagrant misnomer for Major League Baseball's best-of-seven championship event. While there is a long history of non-U.S.-born athletes competing in series, prior to. 1992 teams had always represented and played in U.S. cities. World Series between Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays marked first time an international city, albeit from same continent, was featured in fall classic. A decade prior, Toronto expansion team had just come off a six-year stretch of consecutive last-place finishes in their division. (1) In 1992, however, Jays were scorching hot, and Canada had officially contracted baseball fever. More accurately, Blue Jays fever. An article published in Canada's Maclean's newsmagazine described it well. It explained how Blue Jays carried hopes of Canada into premier event of America's national pastime. In a three-way compact, players, city, and country all sought a World Series victory--now. (2) With Toronto being home to one of only two Major League Baseball franchises in all of Canada (the Montreal Expos being other), Canadian baseball fans had slim pickings unless they decided to root for a team from States, an option many took then and still take today. success of '92 Blue Jays, however, captivated Canada from east to west. (3) After all, this team was stacked with likes of Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar, John Olerud, and soon-to-be World Series MVP Pat North of Borders. pitching staff had equal depth provided by starters Jack Morris, David Wells, Pat Hentgen, Juan Guzman, set-up man Mark Eichhorn, and ever-solid closer Tom The Terminator Henke. Although not a single member of Blue Jays' roster was Canadian, the twenty-five U.S.- and Latin-American-born players were understood to represent Canada as surely as twenty-five Canadians could have done. (4) After beating their rival Oakland Athletics in an intense six-game struggle for American League pennant, Blue Jays, backed by an entire nation were in position to make baseball history and receive due recognition on professional baseball's biggest stage. Blue Jays' designated hitter and 41-year-old elder statesman Dave Winfield may have said it best: We're aware that we don't represent just a city. We represent an entire country. Every team has its territory, of course, maybe a state or region, but we've got all of Canada. (5) media on both sides of border had a great time propping up international component of series. In United States clamor was all about baseball being game, and to Canadians it was a matter of sending their Trojan Horse stateside to shake-up America's game. (6) On day Jays arrived in Atlanta, a local writer described it like this: The Canadians are riding across border trying to wrest away Holy Grail of American sport and cart our game off to frozen North. (7) message was clear and, regardless of outcome, 89th World Series was predestined to be something special. While it is beyond scope or intent of this essay (not to mention expertise of this author) to delve into a comprehensive analysis of political and social landscape of Canada during early nineties, for sake of providing context it is worthwhile to note that this swell of national pride happened to coincide with a very interesting crossroads in contemporary Canadian history. A national referendum was scheduled for Monday, October 26, just days after series concluded, asking Canadians to vote Yes/Oui or No/Non on a package of proposed constitutional amendments. Charlottetown Accord, as it was called, contained new legislation pertaining to balance of federal and provincial powers and several other issues of longstanding importance to Canadians. Among most significant and polarizing issues at stake in referendum were those dealing with unique status of Quebec, Senate reform, and rights and political representation of Native peoples. …