The Ben Mulroney Show - The first world series game in 32 years -- anthem, first pitch... so many options

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

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So the best hapice in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at amex.ca slash yamex. Welcome to the show. My name is Ben Mulroney, but the Ben Mulroney show is made up of more than just me. I'm the host. We've got my intrepid producer, Mike Drolle, always here to help out when I forget a fact or two. Good morning, yes. I'm the fact checker, I guess. I've never actually properly introduced Amy Siegel. She is our, what is to say? You're our video producer. Welcome to officially to the show. You're always tucked away in that room over there. And when you're there, the lights aren't on. We don't even know if you're there. I'm hiding. No, don't hide. Don't hide. Welcome. I'm here. Thank you. And Dave Spargalah, our technical producer,

who makes sure that the trains run on time, and he's always got his Blue Jays hat. And Dave, real quick question for you. How do you feel is somebody who was, you know, you've been committed to the Jays since forever? And the bandwagon and the coattails got real long and got real busy. How do you feel about that? Just about bandwagers in general? I don't care. That's fine. Yeah. As long as you're supporting the team, that's fine. Just don't take away my seats when I'm trying to get them on Ticketmaster. Because I want to go. Well, you got your seats, right? Yeah, I got one game.

I really don't. I'm glad that the city is supporting the team. And the country. The country, and even other organizations, like the Raptors, I saw, they had their logo with the Jay's jersey on. There was the Argos. The Leafs, yeah. It's great to see that the entire country is

behind this team because, I mean, they've earned it. This season has been a magical season, and they've only need, they only need four more to cap it off and it's very exciting. It's very cliche, but it's very exciting and I'm stoked and I cannot wait for first pitch tonight. The first pitch, Traya Savage to show A. Otani is just going to be insane. I can't wait. Well, listen, and thank you for setting it up because you touched on a lot of stuff that we are going to talk about in this hour. We're obviously we're going to talk about Donald Trump having a hissy fit over words spoken by one of the

the greatest Republican presidents of all time. That's coming up. We're talking about how the Eggmonton LRT has resumed its testing. But as we know, yay. They go back to the beginning of the 30-day testing window. And does anybody think that they're going to go 30 days without any incidents again? I would say place your bets. I would say place your bets.

But we're sort of living in a world where you've got to tread very carefully in the world of online betting because that's another conversation. Cash Patel, the head of the FBI, yesterday unveiled a massive illegal betting ring involving the Gambino family, so the mob all the way to the NBA, including current players. And, well, we're going to get to that as well. So that's another big story. But let's talk about the here and now. Let's talk about what's happening in the city today, as we just said.

a game one of the World Series is happening. But before we do, let's go into the way back machine and remember the final out of, what is it, the 92 World Series? Let's listen to this. Timble. Nixon butts. Timber on it, throws to first.

For the first time in history, the World Championship banner will fly north of the border. The Toronto Blue Jays are baseball's best in 1992. They were the best in 92. They were best in 93. The Expos were the best in 94, but the world had other plans for baseball, baseball fans, and the expos, and baseball in Montreal in general.

And here we find ourselves today. But the question that I have, and this is kind of sticking in my craw, Mike, is Pharrell is going to be the guy. He's the musician. He's the guy. Now, I don't have a problem with Farrell. I like Farrell quite a bit. He's actually going to have a, there's a condo building in the city of Toronto that's

been designed by Farrell. I didn't know that. Yeah, just south of, just south of young an egg. No, he's, he's not an architect. He's just, no, the interior is designed by him because he's... I didn't realize he was an interior designer. He's got taste. He's got taste.

He's not an interior design. He's stylish. I'm stylish. What? Okay. You're lots of stuff. You're tall. I'll give you tall.

Will you accept tall? Tall and stylish. No, no, no. There's nothing stylish. No, listen. I'm not, listen, I'm not stylish. I'm monochromatic, which I guess is its own stuff. So are you, by the way.

She's wearing red socks. Well, that's a, that's a style. I'm wearing sweatpants. But so here's the problem. Here's it. We're getting off topic here, guys. Here's the problem. Don't we have any Canadian musicians that we would like to promote?

Now, there's a lot of arguments here. The World Series is set. You don't know where it's going to be. So maybe it's a moving target in terms of who you can get. Who's in charge of deciding who the musicians are? I think it's a national. I mean, it's not a Canadian thing. It's an international event.

But it's a time for Canada to be able to showcase. And it's not Toronto's team. It's Canada's team, as we are here all the time, right? I get, listen, I'm not one of these jingoistic. Oh, it's Canada, therefore, everything has to be about Canada all the time. And I like it very much when at the Juno Awards, we have international stars. I like it at the Grey Cup when we have international stars. But there has not been a World Series in this city in 32 years.

And in the past 32 years, it's been in 64. cities, right? Because it switches between two. So 64 cities in the United States have enjoyed it. That's a lot of U.S.-centric stuff. MLB should want, if this is the decision by Major League Baseball exclusively, they should want that representation because, well, not for nothing, there's a trade war going on. And you could play up that dynamic a little bit. You could play up the fact that there's a cross-border battle for the first time in 32 years. It's happening on the trade front that nobody wants. It's happening in baseball that everybody should want. So why not have that represented at the World Series? Who would you want to perform? Well, but that's the thing.

It could be anyone. And this is, this is the stuff that matters, right? You could find, you could pluck a young girl out of obscurity in this city and have her sing the national anthem. But you need to have it somebody with a name, right? Okay. Or not, but okay, hold on. Look, Julie Black, who works in this building on the morning show, could sing the, national anthem in a way that would absolutely have her in the conversation comparing her to Whitney Houston at the at the Super Bowl okay 100% that's how good of a singer she is yeah and I've never heard Amy sing never heard you sing you've heard me sing yeah it's terrible yeah it's awful it's awful uh it helps nobody but her singing would would absolutely do something and

that's a conversation we could that's moving the needle for Canadian culture in a really meaningful way. None of this performative stuff. Well, it's a performance, but it's not performative. So Farrell is singing the National Anthem. And then the Jonas Brothers are singing That I don't get. Like, why? Well, apparently they've got a song. They're performing

their song called, I don't know what it's called, but it's the same, the name of the song. I think it's called Sounds Like Everything Else. The name of the song is the tagline of one of the sponsors. So it's like sort of like, it's sort of like, It's sort of like... But we want it all.

Why? Yeah, I'm loving it by... McDonald's. Yeah, McDonald's and Timberlake. That was his song. So it's sort of like that. So part... There's a business behind it, but the national anthem is about identity.

Why don't they have two? Like, a Ferrell and then a Canadian. It should be a gimmie. Like, it should be a gimmie. If it's a Canadian national anthem, it should be an automatic, at least write a first refusal for your top pick for a Canadian. They do have a Toronto Orchestra. are some local performers who are going to be doing the O Canada.

Yes, Voices of Fire, which it sounds, it sounds like, it sounds like something out of the 80s. No, it sounds like up with people. Up with people. Or like a metal. Or like a metal band. Yeah. It's just, I just think it should be automatic in Canada. Should be a rule in Major League Baseball.

If you have, if the World Series is in Canada, the national anthem in Canada should be performed by Canadian. Unless the Canadian that you picked can't do it. and then you've got to go to the next person. Can I make a point, though, that's the irony of it all. The first, once the game gets going, every player gets a walk-off, like a walk-up music, and the first music that you're going to hear as this game gets going is going to be from Michael Boubley.

Yep. Because Shohei Otani from the Dodgers uses Michael Boubley's song as his walk-up music. So he's not going to be, Bubey's not going to be there to sing the anthem or anything, but his music's going to be there. I would just like to point out that, Yesterday, you, Mike Drolet, of the Ben Mulroney show,

sang beautiful. Took issue with, you thought it was weird that a Japanese player would have a Canadian, it's Canadian music. Yes, sir. I just want to, you won't hear that song here because they don't play the other team's walk-ups. Oh, they don't play the other ones.

No, no, no, no, you would hear it in L.A. So the first song you hear is going to be Travis Scott Butterfly Factor, wherever it's called, George Springer's one, if he's first. I have a stupid question before we go to break. As someone that used to be with it, Did Pharrell drop the Williams or we're just going on a first name basis here? Because it's Ferrell Williams.

But we've been addressing him as Farrell. I don't know. He's a one man. He's like Sharon. And like, hey, there are no stupid questions. Only stupid people. I got it. Only stupid people answering those questions.

All right. Thank you very much for that. Thank you to the team. And now we want to expand this to hear from you. Did the Blue Jays and Canada lose an opportunity? Did we get steamrolled by MLB and the United States? Yeah, you're listening to Benmore. You're also listening to a little bit of the beaches, which is an incredible band right from right here in Toronto.

But it would have been an incredible opportunity to give a stage like the World Series to a band like this. Or it doesn't have to be this band. This is just an example, right? Instead, and no disrespect to Farrell Williams. He is a global superstar. Farrell, what I said? Does I say, Williams? Yeah, Pharrell Williams.

A global superstar, super talented. He's helped a lot of musicians in his own right in a lot of ways. But, but, but I keep coming back to the fact that a Super Bowl, a World Series in Toronto is not something that happens all the time. Scratch out, take Canada out of it. A World Series outside of the United States has only happened twice before. Both times here. So can we just all acknowledge this is something that doesn't often happen?

and why not take advantage of the unique opportunity presented of being north of the border? We want to hear from you, 416-8-870-6400-1-3-225 talk. You could accuse me of being just a nationalistic for nationalism's sake, right? You could say that. You could say it doesn't really matter. Canadian artists are great regardless. But this is a hell of a stage. It's a hell of a stage.

Let's check in with Tom. Tom, what do you think? Yeah, I understand the emotions behind what you're saying, but you've got to look at the big picture. I have a feeling any major league break up or World Series, et cetera, all contractual agreements probably signed months and months and months in advance. Yeah, you're probably right. To say, on this date, you will be singing, we will fly you to that destination and we'll all expenses paid, All that would be prearranged.

So is what you're saying basically is we should have a Canadian just sign a contract just in case and then cancel that American contract. Well, listen, I see that's the, that's the pleasure, but also the problem with having a conversation like this because neither you nor I know exactly what's going on. And so we're filling in fact with emotion. You might be right. Actually, you're probably right. However, the national anthem does not require a whole lot of music. Like, listen, the national anthem, they find people to perform national anthems all the time for every single game. So organizing the World Series is not that hard.

It should be really easy. If the game is being played in Toronto, you get a Canadian to do the Canadian National Anthem. Like, we're not looking to boil the ocean here. That's a pretty simple contract, and I'm sure you could find a lot of great people who would want to do that. You don't need two, three, four, five months of lead time to get somebody of high caliber to do that. But Tom, thank you very much. Let's move on to Frederick. Thank you very much for calling.

Hi, Ben. Am I on? Oh, my God. Yes, you are. I think it'd be a great idea if they brought a Canadian artist at least at one time during the World Series since Toronto. and Canada is in there. Because my friend Rupert is flying in from Germany, and he would love to see Brian Adams.

I think he'd be a great Canadian voice, and he can sing the summer of 69, when the boys are playing with their bats and balls. Did you know that Babe Ruth swung a 54-round fat made out of hickory wood? I'm so excited, Ben. I love you. Thank you. Go, Jay's go! Thank you. Thank you, Frederick. that was that entire

conversation gave me joy I had a lot more questions for Frederick his friends coming in from Germany for the game that was

he brought the energy that was Fred energy that's what we need from now on BFE Big Fred energy Yes and less coffee a little bit less caffeine for Fred I don't know

Or maybe more You know that I I subscribe Think about the whole bad bunny thing Right? In the States. They're complaining about that. Yeah.

I mean, listen, people are always going to complain. Whatever choices are made in a situation like this, people are going to complain. I don't complain about the Super Bowl halftime show because it's not for me. They're not looking for me. I'm already spending money on the stuff that the NFL wants me spending money on. They're looking for other people. And you pick bad bunny. Okay, he doesn't sing in English.

And the words he says are, from what I said, patently. anti-American. That's what I've heard. So that's fine. But when it comes to this and here, and because it doesn't happen all the time, this is not, you can't compare the singing of the national anthem at the World Series to the singing of the national anthem at the Grey Cup. Why? Because the Grey Cup happens in Canada every year. This doesn't. Therefore, it should be treated as the exceptional thing it is. John, welcome to the show. yeah brian or or ben sorry ben it's okay yeah um his um that last caller frederick yes i would have a dozen of frederick's he's a dick and holders yeah okay who have more importance than

anybody else because it's not about it this is not a super bowl it's not about show it's about pumping up the crowd to pump up the players right away yeah that's what i think That's fair enough. Yeah, you know what? You know that you make a very good point. Keep your eye on the prize. And the goal is not the national anthem. The goal is the score at the end of the game.

That's a very good point. That's a very good point. I'll put a little bit of that in my coffee and see if I can, if my perspective changes a little bit. And I am sure that whoever they get to do will acquit themselves very, very well. And it's, I don't even know what they say they're set to perform. It's very weird that they're keeping it vague. The Jonas Brothers will be performing at game two. If they're performing the National Anthem, they would say that, right?

Yeah. I mean, are they putting up a stage on the field? I can't see that like before they, because beforehand the players are all warming up and they use the field. I can't imagine that they'd be in the outfield. Maybe, I mean, are they performing outside? I don't know. I don't know.

But I also. Where do you think, Dave, they would play? So remember, I don't know if you guys watched the post game celebration. when they beat the men. They built that little stage. I was thinking something similar there. It's easy to dismantle after it's done and like something like that, I guess.

Unless they just tape the whole thing. Yeah, maybe they get taped the whole thing. They might, but I'm sure there's a bigger, there's a bigger pre-show, right? Yeah. Than you would typically have in a regular game. And so, you know what? Now that we've talked about it for a while,

I may have gone completely off the deep end here. Not for the first time It happens Especially on a Friday It's been a long week But it's entirely possible That Ferrell is not Sing in either national anthem

They would have said that right They would have said he's performing the national anthem So maybe those are to be Those are either to be determined Or they're keeping it as a surprise He might do because in baseball They do America the Beautiful Yeah

There's a lot of songs That's one they do right God bless America Yeah Whatever Listen, I'm not retracting what I said. I'm simply putting, sticking a pin in it until we see the who sings tonight. But it's entirely possible.

Now that I see, because I was like, why aren't they saying Ferrell is performing the national anthem? Why aren't they saying that Jonas Brothers are performing the national anthem? Why is Sarah McLaughlin not performing the national anthem? Sarah McLaughlin would be fantastic. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying the opposite. I'm saying, why aren't they telling us that he's performing the national anthem? They're saying he's just performing.

So maybe he's just dancing. I might be, it might be that it might be that this voice is a fire with the door orchestra and they might have another perform. I don't know what it is. Featuring somebody, yeah. Featering somebody. I could have been, we could all be off base here and having a conversation about. It's going to be Robert Plant. That's who it's going to.

David Burns in town apparently. Yeah, exactly. Maybe they get David Byrne to come in and perform it. So yeah, so listen, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. And I will say as much because I don't have an. ego about being right or wrong. I just want to make, I just want to have good conversations. Well, it says

that they're supposed to perform on field. Yeah. Voices of Fire and Farrell before the game. All right. So you're not saying it's a national anthem. It's a performance. So again, listen, I may be completely wrong. In which case, I hope a great Canadian performs the national anthem

before probably the biggest viewership that they've ever had. All right. Up next, Is there still a way to get tickets to the game that won't break the bank? Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. Happy World Series weekend. It starts tonight.

It kicks off. It's what just after 8 o'clock. Every game's at 8. Because I guess we're living in a world of football. Is that what it is? Is that why? I think because... Sorry, Pink?

They just wanted to be... primetime. That's it. So every game, even the West Coast games, 8 p.m. Eastern. Because otherwise it would be 10 p.m. Yeah, I get it. I kind of like the daytime games, though. That's why you're playing it out there. I'm here for a 4 p.m. start. I'll tell you that. Yeah. Three hours, and then I can get ready for bed, and then boom, start the next day. Listen, well, I think the hope that we all have is to be bleary-eyed for at least four games in a good way. Yeah, next week's not going to be good. No, it's not going to be good. Hey, so, before the, before the break, we were talking about We were talking about baseball,

and we're trying to getting tickets to the games. And today, it seems like Rogers that did such a good job managing their brand and the Blue Jays brand over the course of years, right, to get us to this point. A lot of credit has to be given to that team, that family, and the group that they put together to get us as a city and indeed as a fan base across the country to this point. It seems like some of that good work has been undone, not by them, but by ticket resellers,

making it harder and harder for regular fans to afford a ticket to the World Series. Not to say the prices shouldn't go up. The laws of supply and demand dictate that, of course, it should be far more expensive to go to a game during the World Series than, you know, in late May. and when it's the two best teams in baseball and the only game in town, yes, it should be more expensive. But it does feel like something rotten was afoot.

And no one can really put their finger on it. We're not quite sure who to blame. And so people will blame the brand they know the best. And they'll blame Rogers. And Rogers has decided to sort of take matters into their own hands and try to do a little bit of good. and the owners of the Blue Jays are given away 500 free world series tickets, 250 pairs for game one to ease the backlash and part of the Bring It Home campaign.

And the question that I have for you at 416880-6400 or 1-3-8-225 talk is will this be enough to calm tempers? And also, do you think Rogers, as I just said, lost a little bit of goodwill? And I'm not saying they deserve the loss of goodwill. In fact, I'm saying they deserve a lot of the... I mean, they were criticized for a very, very long time for bad decisions. You know, even at the beginning of this season, the Rogers family isn't taking things seriously. And sure enough, they steady, with a steady hand,

they got us to the World Series. And credit must be given. The quality of the fan experience at Rogers Center has been improved. They didn't have to do that. They didn't have to spend, what, $400 million renovating the inside of that stadium, but they did it. Roger spent, that was not money. That wasn't taxpayer money. That was private funds. Private funds

that they invested in that stadium. And now it's, I mean, it's an amazing experience. An amazing experience. And so I want to hear from you, 416-8-2-60-400 or 1-3-8-2-25 talk. What are your thoughts on, so the brand of the Blue Jays, the brand of Rogers as it applies to baseball. Because it feels to me like they're good owners. Feels to me like they...

They seem like they're better owners than that interbrew, which owned them before. I forgot about interbrew. Remember that? It was like a... Well, what about the team? A Belgian brewery company. Yeah.

And then, of course, you had... And then you had... Because they care. Like, these are... It's not like what happens when your team is owned by a company. and they care about the bottom line necessarily. I know the Rogers family personally, and I know what this team means to them,

because I know what this team meant to their dad. And so it matters to them. And so I think as the Blue Jays have taken flight, so too has the Rogers brand and good for them. Honestly, good for them. Yeah, and it does feel like they are thinking about the fans, and it's a shame that on this day, day of the World Series

that is a 15-minute walk from where I'm sitting right now. The two best teams in baseball are going to be challenging each other for supremacy. And that hasn't happened in 32 years. My God, it really makes me feel old for a second.

And then I remember that I like my chicken tenders to be in the shape of dinosaurs. And then I'm back to be in 12. Stegosaurs, dinosaur, chicken nuggets are the best ones. Dino Bites, baby. Dino Bites. Matt, welcome to the show. Hey, Ben, how are you? I'm doing okay. How are you? Not too bad, man, not too bad. I just wanted to comment on what you're talking about with the ticket sales.

I remember many years ago, I think about 10, 11 years ago, I remember being able to go to a baseball game, sitting a 500 levels for a hand good because they weren't doing very good. Yeah. Now all of a sudden, I'm looking at ticket prices, and they're $2,500 for two seats. and, you know, thinking, they're good right now, but in about maybe five, six years, they start getting older, they start doing bad again.

Yeah. They might want to start thinking about the future and what they're doing to the actual diehard fans that watch the game because right now all you got is a bunch of people up there, you know, like the diaries like me who want to go to the game, can't afford it. But now you've got a bunch of millionaires who know nothing about baseball going up there taking selfies with each other.

And then like 10 years from now when you want the dire to stick around, what are you going to get? You're not going to get that because we're all. ticked off. We couldn't go to the game when we wanted to go. Yeah, but if you're ticked off or you're really a diehard. Well, yeah, I guess I kill what your point is there, but it's like anything. Like, yeah, I watch the Js. I'm watching them the 9-3, but I, I still watch, but am I going to go

to a game now? Or, you know, I'm going to, I live like about an hour drive in Toronto. Am I really going to pick up because now there's available seat? No, I'm not. You don't think, and listen, and I appreciate the candor, and I appreciate the sort of the introspection. But I I'm playing it out in my mind. If somebody's a fan and all of a sudden

the team's not doing well but you can get tickets for 25 bucks you're gonna go. You'll go, of course you will. I'll be honest with you. I'm not going back. No, and that's a shame.

Listen, and I know what you're talking about. I know what it feels like to be hurt by a sport. I was talking about it yesterday. For the better part of a decade, my love of baseball disappeared after the strike. I was heartbroken

I loved baseball more than anything I lived and breathed it I had every card imaginable my brother and I would collect them we went crazy for baseball I could not get enough I followed every statistic

and then the strike happened at a time where the resurgent expos were going to rewrite history and it just broke my heart I doubled down for a moment I flirted with it during the home run race, and then everybody was juiced. And I was like, what is going on here?

So I get it. I understand what you're saying, that you feel you have an emotional connection to baseball that is not necessarily being reciprocated right now. But if they win, come on. You don't think you don't think you're getting something for that love? You know what? No, I honestly, I still watch them. I still love baseball, but I can, I'm not going to a game spending $20 on beer,

50, 60 bucks on tickets, all that stuff when it goes down, when they started sucking. Yeah. And when I can sit at home and buy a case of beer for the price of what, two beers? Yeah. Well, and Matt, a team never sucks. They're just rebuilding. No, no, they can.

Hey, thank you. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, take care. Can I make a point here? Yeah. The only statue of any sort of Blue Jay star outside of the Rogers Center, there's no Blue Jay Star. Yeah.

It's only Ted Rogers. Yeah. Who notoriously knew nothing about baseball. Yeah. Nothing. His son, Ed Rogers, certainly does. Yeah. No, Ed, I know Ed, and he's doing right by his dad because the company is his baby. And yeah, I've walked by the Ted Rogers statue. I think it's great, man. It's hilarious. Well, the story goes is that the first, as new owner, he was at the first game, and he was in the box, and he said to somebody, so how many goals do we have?

I don't know if I ever told you this story, but the best story I have from the old Skydome, I never got to the game. I told you my brother was with my dad at the 93 World Series. I don't know if they were at the 92. I know I watched both on TV. But my brother, Mark, was there. And we were at the All-Star game in 93.

It was a hell of a year. All-star game and World Series win. And we were sitting in the Major League Baseball box because Dad was the prime minister. And, oh, we're going to go over here. And, okay. And my brother and I sat next to Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio for the entire game. Entire game.

And my brother, God, this is why my brother is as successful as he is, as he identifies opportunities. He presented himself as a middleman between Major League Baseball that were bringing baseballs into the suite so that they could get signed for the players by Joe Damage and Ted Williams. And my brother presented himself as the innocent middleman who would bring the balls back and forth. And he pocketed one with every box that was brought. We have three balls sitting in a majorly baseball, all-star balls sitting in a vault signed by Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. Really quick question. The best story about Ted Williams, for people who don't know, was a great baseball Hall of Famer from the 1940s. But after he died, notorious because he had his head cryogenically frozen.

Isn't that just a rumor? Nope. It's a thing. His body was preserved separately at this extension foundation in Arizona. That's just... But he actually wanted to be cremated, but I guess his family was like, no. All right. We're going to take a break, and we're going to talk more Blue Jays when we come back. Don't go anywhere.

This is the Ben Mulroney show. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. It's Friday. So we are, you know, we're slowly getting into the show by talking about things that should make us happy. And even the stuff we're talking about that is frustrating. We're privileged to be able to talk about these things. Every other city in North America should want to be able to talk today about who's going to throw out the first pitch at a World Series game in their hometown. There's only two cities in North America that get to do that.

Los Angeles and right here in the greater Toronto area. at the opening of the Skydome, not the opening itself, because that was quite the spectacle. I think there was a massive CBC produced special about the world's biggest retractable dome stadium. If you go back and watch that on YouTube, it's available. It was hosted by Alan Thick and Andrea Martin.

And I swear to God, it looks like it was, first of all, it looks like it was produced in the 70s. That's what it looks like. And it also looks like the executive producer was somebody straight out of North Korea. Like it looks like a North Korean propaganda video. And it does not age well. And they've got a song, Skydome, Skydome, Skydow. It's really good.

But after that, and they got to the business of playing baseball, I believe that I could be getting it wrong, but let's just for the sake of the story, say that it was the first game ever and it was against the Texas Rangers and the Blue Jays and George W. Bush was a partial owner of the Rangers. George Bush Sr. was from Texas, so he came up and both teams had, it was a big moment of rah-rah

cross-border cooperation. We'll talk about how that's fallen apart a little bit later. But in that moment, it was a good time between Canada and the United States. And George Bush And Brian Mulroney, who in 1980-something, I'm sure there was a vast swath of Canadians that took issue with my dad and his government. It wasn't necessarily the most popular guy ever in the city of Toronto. So you can imagine that when they both took to the mound to throw the first pitch and they did so together, there was a lot of booing, like a lot of booing. And after the game, my dad was met with the press and he was very upset.

He was very upset. He said something like, well, that was. just embarrassing. That was disgusting behavior. The fact that Canadians would turn up or turn up and boo, the president of the United States like that. And everyone erupted in laughter, but it begs the question, who is going to be thrown out the first pitch? Because as my producer, Mike just said, this is the one thing that the Blue Jays control completely, right? Completely. They can pick whomever they want to throw out this very important first pitch. And I want to hear from you at 4168-7-0-6400 or 1-3-8-2-2-5 talk.

Let's blue sky this, right? Let's blue sky this. Who should do it? Because there's a number of different threads you can pull, right? You can pull the baseball nostalgia thread. And you could get Cedogastin, who was the skipper behind both of our World Series wins. You can bring Joe Carter back. You could bring – what's that?

Touch them all, Joe. Joe. I mean, there's any number, any number of those guys you could bring back. Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy Siegel walked in because I think she's got an idea. I'm voting for Eugene Levy. Eugene Levy? He's already at the game. Yeah, he'll be at the game. He's like the biggest Blue Jays fan I've ever met. He has seasons tickets. He doesn't even live here

half the year. He is He doesn't live here. I see him walking around all the time. Yeah, but he lives enough. I mean, he has a house now. I mean, he's here when the weather's nice, I guess. That's that's the dream. That's the dream. Be here when the weather's nice. Well, is 78 years old,

you kind of earned that right. He looks good for 78. Oh my God, he looks fantastic. You know what? I love that. Eugene Levy. Okay.

So in that way, you'd be, you'd be, um, uh, popping up the, uh, the fan base.

How about just, how about like, finding someone who has been at every single game for the past 10 years? Like there's got, like there are the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, But yeah, but how about making today about the fans? It's just an idea. It's just an idea. It gives a call 416-8-8-0-6400

or 1-3-8-2-25 talk or, again, and here's one to harken back to my dad throwing out that first pitch, and we all know how well that went for him. How about Mark Carney? But hold on. But hold on for a second.

As I said, we've got a Canadian team and American team. It's a cross-border battle that we haven't had in 32 years. We are currently in a very real cross-border battle with the American administration. It could signal, it could be a symbolic,

something really symbolic and something really positive to have the prime minister do that. I don't know. It's just an idea. It would be a very awkward pitch. I would it? I mean, listen,

there are some people who should throw a really mean pitch and they're terrible. And then there's, then they're the people that you wouldn't expect. I mean, was it Simone Biles, who did like a weird flip and she threw a strike? Yes.

Yeah. There's some people who throw, they miss so, so badly. So bad, so bad. Who would get booed more do you think? Mark Carney or the NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman. Because he gets booed everywhere. Hold on. We're not living in a time where politics means what it used to.

I don't know that Mark Carney would get booed at all. I don't think so. I think he would be cheered on by Team Canada. I think he would get a standing ovation. Agreed. Not necessarily for anything he's done, but what he represents and what people hope he does, right?

And so, yeah. And if I had to guess, I would say that he would get, I think he would get a very warm reception, very warm, and I think the cheers would outpace the booze by two to three. I agree.

Yeah, yeah. So that's my hot take. So we don't know who's throwing the, it's a surprise? Oh, here we go. That's surgery. Sergio on the show. Sergio, I want you to wade into these waters. Who do you think should give us, should throw the first pitch?

Well, I heard you say Cedogastin, so I like him for game one and Joe Carter for game two. So you think we should really be playing up the nostalgia and the success of the past? I have a jacket from 92, 93 World Series champs. So those are the guys. Yeah, those are guys. And what do you think about the idea of like finding a super fan, somebody who's been in every game come hell or high water, whether the team was good or bad, they've been at every single game.

I like your idea of the Navajo, so I can do that for game six. That game six. Oh, so you're thinking it is going six? Going six. You're going... All right. Time for... Thank you very much, Sergio. Go J's Go.

We got Jerry on the line. Jerry, who should throw out the first pitch at this game one of the World Series? Hello, Jerry? I think we lost Jerry. But he was... He was... All right, he set it up like this when I spoke to him.

He's a baseball historian. He goes to a lot of games. He's in ticket holders. And I was like, Getty Lee. He goes, yeah. Yeah, Getty Lee, the lead singer of Rush. He's a great, yeah, great Torontoian, great Canadian band, loves the Jays. There's a lot to like about that pick, too.

There's a lot to like about that pick. So Carney, where's Carney going? Oh, no, Carney's not here. We can't be Mark Carney. He's on his way to the apex of it. They're sending him to the other side of the world. So he's not going to be here. But anyway, the conversation continues.

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