Toronto was Chris Woodward’s first baseball family, and where he started his own
Chris Woodward has deep familial bonds to Toronto.
Not only because the Texas Rangers’ manager was drafted by the Blue Jays in 1994 and played 12 of his 19 professionals seasons with the organization, but because it’s where he started his family.
He met his wife Erin in Toronto. His daughter was born in Toronto. He even got his first dog in Toronto. All of them made the trip this week for Woodward’s first time back as a big league manager to the city he called home for four years.
“It’s obviously dear to me. I was ¾ Canadian,” Woodward joked, referring to his Canadian-born wife, daughter and first dog. “We’ve since Americanized the family, but it just reminds me of our first home as a family.”
He remembers, fondly, of course, of his first big league home run, two-run shot into the Blue Jays bullpen in behind the left-field wall against the Twins’ Brad Radke on May 31, 2000.
Woodward was staying in the hotel attached to the Rogers Centre at the time. Later that night, he remembers looking down from his room, looking at where his homer landed.
“I didn’t get much sleep that night,” he said. “I’ll always be grateful to this organization because it’s the first organization that gave me a chance. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Blue Jays. So I’ll always appreciate that.”
Patrick Wisdom earns PCL honor
Triple-A Nashville infielder Patrickk Wisdom was named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week after hitting a home run in six consecutive games and had eight total from Aug. 4-10. Wisdom, 27, hit .435 with nine runs scored, 11 RBI, eight homers, one double and 32 total bases for the week.
