Top 60 All-Time Greatest Blue Jays: #18 George Bell
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George Bell was born October 21, 1959, in
San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. His brother Juan Bell also made the majors and was a utility infielder for seven seasons for several different teams. He has two other brothers that played professional baseball. George was signed as an amateur free agent by the
Phillies in 1978. The
Blue Jays picked him up in the 1980 rule 5 draft, one of the best Rule 5 pickups ever.
Rule 5 draft pickups have to spend the season on the major league roster or get offered back their original team, so George played with the Jays in the strike-shortened 1981 season. He didn’t do terribly, though he was a little overmatched at the major league level; he got into 60 games and hit .233/.256/.350. Somehow, he got a couple of Rookie of the Year votes. The
Top 60 All-Time Greatest Jays: #22 Ernie Whitt
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Ernie Whitt was born June 13, 1952, in Detroit, Michigan, not far from Tiger Stadium. The
Red Sox picked him in the 15th round of the 1972 amateur draft, one pick before Jason Thompson, a terrific first baseman for the Tigers and
Dodgers. Ernie was blocked from making the Red Sox by future Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk and was left unprotected in the 1976 expansion draft, and we grabbed him up.
Whitt got 41 at-bats in our first season and got into a couple of games in 1978. In 1979 he spent the whole season in the minors, then in 1980, he was finally given a role in the majors at the age of 28. Ernie was the left-handed half of a catching platoon with
Top 60 All-Time Greatest Blue Jays: #47 Damaso Garcia
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Damaso Domingo Garcia Sanchez| 2B | 1980-1986
Damaso Garcia was born February 7, 1955, in
Moca, Dominican Republic. As a young man, he was more into soccer than baseball. He was captain for the Dominican Republic’s national soccer team at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1974. The
Yankees
signed him as an amateur free agent in 1975 as players from the Dominica Republic weren’t included in the amateur draft.
Damaso got up to the majors for a few games in 1978 and 1979, but the Yankees had
Willie Randolph, and Garcia wasn’t going to move him off second base. The Yankees traded him,
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CLEVELAND – The Indians certainly haven’t struggled with receiving dominant pitching performances over the years, but which games stand out as the best of the best? Let’s take a look at the top five single-game outings by a Tribe hurler in franchise history:
1. Len Barker: May 15, 1981 vs. Blue Jays
It’s a feat that’s been accomplished just 23 times in Major League history, and on May 15, 1981, Barker penciled his name onto the exclusive list. On a cold, rainy Friday night at Cleveland Stadium, Barker took the rubber against the Blue Jays in front of just 7,290 fans. Throwing 103 pitches, he recorded 27 outs without allowing a baserunner, becoming just the second pitcher in Tribe history to toss a perfect game.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Phil Niekro delivers to home plate in this 1987 handout photo. Ernie Whitt remembers the excitement about getting a chance to catch for Phil Niekro during the knuckleballer s brief run with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987. He d had such a long career and you just knew he was going to be a Hall of Famer, Whitt said. Just to have the opportunity to catch him, I was excited about it. I was thrilled. Niekro, who died Saturday at age 81, lasted just two-thirds of an inning in what would be his third and final appearance with Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Toronto Blue Jays