When you are famous for having a dog named Blue, it’s no surprise who your favourite baseball team would be.
“Go Blue Jays,” Don Cherry said from his Mississauga home on Monday as he readied himself, like the rest of the country, for the biggest baseball game in Canada since Joe Carter’s World Series-winning home run in 1993.
“I am ready,” the 91-year-old said with a smile ahead of the game. “Let’s play ball.”
Not only is The Coach in the Toronto Blue Jays’ corner for Game 7 on the American League Championship Series, he liked their chances in the big dance against the Los Angeles Dodgers too, if that matchup was in the cards.
Cherry understood, however, that a difficult contest with the Seattle Mariners at the Rogers Centre stood in the way.
“I like Seattle’s players as well (especially Mississauga’s Josh Naylor), but I do think the Blue Jays will win this game,” Grapes predicted on Monday ahead of first pitch. “The Blue Jays are a gritty team, and they play a blue-collar game and that will help them. Plus, the fans making it so loud are amazing.”
Now if you are wondering why we were asking a hockey legend about a baseball playoff game, keep in mind Cherry is one of the biggest Blue Jays fans there is.
DON CHERRY’S DAD WAS ALL ABOUT BASEBALL
“I always have been since they came into Major League Baseball in 1977,” Cherry said. “And my dad, Del Cherry, was one of the best baseball players in Kingston when I was a kid. He played centrefield and I later played centrefield.”
Even though both he and his brother Richard both played in the NHL, their dad Del, who could hit home runs out of the stadium, actually never played hockey.
“Baseball was dad’s game,” Don said.
As a result, baseball was always a very close second to hockey for Grapes. Cherry is also one of the few two-sport broadcasters in that when Canada Day came, he would trade in his puck knowledge and go on the Sportsnet broadcast booth with Gregg Zaun back in the day and talk about the Boys of Summer who always wear red and white on July 1.
“I have always loved baseball,” Grapes said.
BASEBALL WAS THE REASON DON CHERRY ENDED UP ON COACH’S CORNER
In a strange way, if it was not for baseball, Coach’s Corner and his almost 40 years on Hockey Night in Canada may not have happened.
After his NHL debut in March 1955 for the Boston Bruins in the playoffs versus the Montreal Canadiens, Cherry went back to his hometown Kingston to play semi-pro baseball to stay in shape for the upcoming training camp in which he was penciled into to make the team.
“I broke my ankle first,” Grapes said, laughing. “And then I separated my shoulder.”
Needless to say, he went into training camp hurt and the Bruins were not amused.
“I was sent back down to the minors and that’s where I stayed,” teased Don, who joked “in the end, I guess it worked out okay.”
He later coached in Rochester of the American Hockey League and then was coach o the year for the Boston Bruins, and, if not for Guy Lafleur’s famous Game 7 goal, would have most assuredly won a Stanley Cup in 1979.
“You win some and you lose some in sports,” Don said.
BLUE JAYS SHOULD BE PROUD OF SEASON
Win or lose on Monday night, it’s not a catastrophe for the Blue Jays.
“They have done themselves proud,” Don said. “I really like this year’s Jays team because it’s a team where everybody is part of it.”
While Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And George Springer are the most high-profile stars, “all of the players on that team play a role in the success they have had this year.” Cherry loves Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement and Mad Max Scherzer and rookie Trey Yesavage, but mostly he loves the whole team as a complete unit.
“I love that Canadian Vladdy. I think he could have been a hockey player. As for his teammates, they are scrappy team who play hard every night, and I give a lot of that credit to manager John Schneider,” Grapes said. “He loves his players and trusts his players.”
And that’s the way Cherry coached.
CHERRY DOESN’T BLAME SCHNEIDER FOR LITTLE MOVE
As for the decision in Game 5 in Seattle to bring in reliever Brendon Little for the eighth inning instead of Seranthony Domínguez or Jeff Hoffman to try to close out a 2-1 lead, Cherry’s also in the skipper’s corner.
“I am not mad at John one bit,” Grapes said. “As a coach, you make a decision you think is right and if it isn’t, you don’t second guess it. You get them next time. That decision didn’t work out but a lot of decisions he’s made as a manager have worked out. I am with John Schneider.”
And they were just one win from the World Series, so Grapes believes the manager has done pretty well.
As for the game, Cherry said he can’t wait. And, of course, he’s cheering for the team with his beloved dog’s name in the title.
– This is part one of the interview with Don Cherry. Part two will cover some interesting new developments in Cherry’s life as we head into the 2025-2026 hockey season.
