In November 1976, Dave Lemanczyk was enjoying himself immensely in the warmth of Puerto Rico, hanging on the beach, surfing and eating lobster â and playing some baseball. When he left the states to go south to hone his pitching skills, he was a Detroit Tiger. When he returned to the mainland he was a member of the expansion Toronto Blue Jays. A teammate (on his Puerto Rican team) came up to me one day and said, What s up, Blue Jay? recalled Lemanczyk. I was like, Really?
Yes, really. After three-plus seasons with the Tigers, Lemanczyk was taken by Toronto in the expansion draft. Three months later, in February 1977, he was in Dunedin for the Blue Jays first spring training camp. By then he had already had a contract disagreement with his new management. When he was in Puerto Rico he was in the process of being traded to another team that would have paid Lemanczyk an extra 30K that winter. But the Blue Jays told him no go â we don t want you to wear out your righ