BOSTON — Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen is enjoying his odd slice of baseball history as he prepares to become the first major league player to appear in the same game for both teams.
Jansen was in the lineup for the Toronto Blue Jays when they faced Boston on June 26, a game that was suspended because of rain and scheduled to be made up on Monday. In the meantime, he was traded to Boston, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora has said he will put Jansen in the lineup when the game resumes.
“Baseball has been around for so long, there’s so many things that’s happened in the game. So I was surprised when I found out I was the first,” Jansen said in the Red Sox clubhouse this weekend. “Any time you can be a part of this great game’s history, it’s pretty unique.”
A right-handed catcher who has spent his career as a backup, Jansen has never gotten enough plate appearances to even qualify for a batting title (though his .222 lifetime average is surely the bigger obstacle). Since the Red Sox acquired him on July 27 for three minor leaguers, he is batting .231 with two homers and five RBIs in 14 games.
But he could be on his way to the Hall of Fame — if only as a footnote — with an authenticator expected to be on hand on Monday to grab an artifact for the museum from the historic game.
“It’s a bit strange,” Jansen said. “But it’s one of those oddities of the game and it’s pretty cool. I’m still surprised that it hasn’t happened, but it’s a cool thing.”
Jansen was at the plate with a runner on first and one strike in the count when the umpires called out the tarps for the finale of Boston's series against the Blue Jays in June. The game will be resumed at that point as part of a day-night doubleheader on Monday afternoon, Toronto’s first trip back to Fenway Park since then.
Jansen likely will be behind the plate at catcher when the Blue Jays send a pinch hitter to finish off his at-bat.
“It’s pretty fitting that Jano will be the first guy to do that. He’s that kind of guy. Weird stuff happens to him,” Toronto manager John Schneider said after Sunday's game against the Angels.
“We talked with MLB yesterday; I’m sure Boston did, too,” Schneider said, noting that there are five players from the June 26 lineup that aren’t on the current active roster. “The biggest anxiety is with (associate manager DeMarlo Hale) now, because of typing up the lineup and how that’s going to work. He’s going to bring 14 markers and some Wite-Out.”
The Red Sox have three players in the original lineup who aren't with the team, including Reese McGuire, who started the game at catcher; he was sent to Triple-A Worcester to make room for Jansen. But one thing is certain, because Cora already has said he will get Jansen in the first game of the doubleheader.
“He will play Game 1, by the way, for all the people who have been looking at history,” the Red Sox manager said Friday. “You know what? Yeah, he’s catching. Let’s make history.”
