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USA Today: Blue Jays hope to send Paul Beeston into the sunset

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:11 am
by Scott Hall
You look in his eyes, and yes, those really are rose-colored glasses he’s wearing.

You listen to the sound of his voice, and it’s perpetually filled with vibrancy and vitality.

Now, with only a few remaining months on the job as the Toronto Blue Jays president and CEO, Paul Beeston — the franchise’s first employee in 1976 — could be riding into the sunset in glorious fashion.

The Blue Jays, a franchise that hasn’t reach the postseason since Bill Clinton stepped into the White House in 1993, back in the days before the wild-card format even existed, suddenly has an entire country breathlessly watching their club morph into the hottest and most exciting team in baseball.

O, Canada!

“You wake up in the morning, and you can feel it, and see it,’’ Beeston told USA TODAY Sports. "We’ve had all of these pent-up emotions. You can see how badly everyone wants it.

“The support we’re getting is spectacular. This place is loud, and proud.

It has been a 22-year wait for the Blue Jays, who have gone the longest stretch of any team without a postseason berth. They haven’t finished within 10 games of first place since 2000, or won more than 88 games since winning back-to-back World Series titles in 1992-1993.

“To tell you the truth,’’ Beeston said, “it feels a whole lot longer than 22 years. You’re talking about players who have had 20-year careers, and they’re no longer in the game.”

Now, here the Jays are riding an eight-game winning streak after sweeping the New York Yankees for the first time since 2003, and pitching 26 consecutive scoreless innings. You no longer ask yourself if the Blue Jays (61-52) will catch the Yankees, but when it will happen. Maybe it’s why their three-game series at the Rogers Centre against the Yankees beginning Friday is already are sold out, with folks scrambling to watch the Blue Jays perhaps move into first place for good. They trail the Yankees by just 1 1/2 games entering Tuesday night.

“It’s great to see what they’re doing,’’ Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said. “Really, it’s great for our game to have the only team in Canada doing well.

“And there’s not a person in the world who doesn’t like Paul Beeston.

“You either like him, or you love him.

“I love him.’’

Beeston, 70, with his gregarious personality and people skills, is the sentimental reason why the Blue Jays’ bandwagon is overflowing these days. He has long been one of the game’s biggest power brokers, and was the president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball for five years, helping centralize the ultra-lucrative Major League Baseball Advance Media rights.

The Blue Jays, after a messy public-relations fiasco last winter when they privately courted White Sox president Ken Williams and Baltimore Orioles GM Dan Duquette to be Beeston’s successor, announced before the season this would be Beeston’s final year. Dave Dombrowski, who was let go by the Detroit Tigers two weeks ago, and Williams, now are considered the leading candidates to be their next CEO.

No matter, Beeston never refuses to let anything get him down, and he’s not about to start now.

“He’s always fired up, he’s the eternal optimist,’’ Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos said. “He’s meant so much for the organization from Day 1, impacted so many people and employees here, and has so much respect by everyone in our country.’’

There were plenty of days this season when Anthopoulos felt dejected, watching his team bludgeon opponents with their offense, but still muddling along in mediocrity.

It was Beeston who would call him, or walk into his office, picking him up at the lowest of lows. It was Beeston who constantly encouraged him, willing to increase payroll, and letting him become as aggressive as he wanted during the trade deadline. And it’s Beeston now who’s giving every ounce of credit to Anthopoulos and his staff for the shrewd moves that landed David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, LaTroy Hawkins and Ben Revere.

“It almost feels like fantasy baseball,’’ Beeston said. “Who do you want? Go get them. And we got them. Alex was relentless making these deals.

“We wanted to make sure September meant something to us, and now, we’ll see how far we can go.’’

Voila, they now are 11-1 since the Tulowitzki and Hawkins trade on July 29. They’ve outscored their opponents by a major-league leading 129 runs, and their 1-4 hitters have produced 17 homers since Tulowitzki’ s arrival, which is more than 26 entire teams.

They’ve made up 6 1/2 games in the standings in just two weeks, and come October, they’ve got that bona fide ace in Price who’s 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA in his first two Blue Jays’ starts, with 18 strikeouts in 15 innings.

Suddenly, those long and frustrating days of this season are vanishing.

“You have so many ups and downs in this job,’’ Anthopoulos said. “When things are going bad, you see his number come up on my phone, and you think, “Ok, now you’re about to hear about it.’

“But he’s telling me, “Hey, keep your chin up. It’s ok. We’ll be fine.’ We all get emotional in this game, and I’m sure privately he’ll vent, but he always puts that positive face on, and picks you up. That’s just so rare in sports.

It’s the same encouragement Philadelphia Phillies president Pat Gillick used to hear when he was GM of the Blue Jays in 1978-1994. They patiently turned an expansion franchise into a power, and after losing three times in the American League Championship Series, won back-to-back World Series titles.

Yet, it took last-minute trade deadline deals to seal the deal, acquiring ace David Cone on Aug. 27, 1992, and then Hall of Fame outfielder Rickey Henderson on July 31, 1993.

“When they made those trades last week with Tulowitzki, Price and Hawkins,’’ Gillick said, “I couldn’t help but think about our trades with Cone and Rickey..

“It would be only fitting to end his career going to the playoffs and World Series.’’

Certainly, it’s premature for any celebrations. The Blue Jays still have 49 games remaining, Beeston and Anthopoulos remind everyone, with 10 left against the Yankees.

“We know it looks good on paper, and we know the Yankees are good,’’ Beeston says, “but after all of these years of struggling, the anticipation and excitement is really building up.

“We haven’t done anything yet, but I know we have turned on a city, and 5 1/2 time zones of a country.’’

And, yes, maybe another country to the south, too, packed with Beeston admirers.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2015/08/11/blue-jays-paul-beeston-playoffs/31471453/

Re: USA Today: Blue Jays hope to send Paul Beeston into the sunset

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:36 am
by Randle McMurphy
I can't be the only one who read this at first as "into the sun." :lol:

Re: USA Today: Blue Jays hope to send Paul Beeston into the sunset

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:35 am
by EastBayBoy
Beeston can leave and take his damn max 5 year deal policy with him