October 22, 2025 | By: Jennifer Stitt in For Love of the Game
Full-Circle Moments: From a Jays Kid to a Jays Parent
There’s something in the air in Toronto right now. You can feel it on the playgrounds, in classrooms, at every sports store selling out of Blue Jays gear. The city is buzzing, and for good reason.
For the first time in 32 years, the Toronto Blue Jays are headed to the World Series.
I was six the last time this happened. Too young to remember the city-wide excitement, the victory parades, or even the games themselves. I was just starting kindergarten. I didn’t know it then, but baseball was about to become one of the biggest parts of my life.
The year after the Jays’ championship, my parents signed me up for baseball. I was hooked from the start. Maybe a million other kids across the GTA were, too, all part of that first wave of Jays-inspired ballplayers who wanted to swing for the fences, slide into home, and wear that iconic bird on our caps.
Three years later, I made my first rep team, playing with the boys, and the rest is history.
I fell in love with the game, and not just for the wins. I loved the friendships, the tournaments, running around with my teammates through hotel hallways, and those long summer nights under the lights.
And through it all, I loved the Blue Jays.
I was that kid, the one who knew every player’s batting average, who mimicked their stances in the backyard (and during my team BP sessions), and the one who’d spend hours throwing a tennis ball against the side of the house pretending I was on the mound at the SkyDome (I “may” have also accidentally broken our next door neighbour’s window).
Confession: I was also a Yankees fan. I know, I know! But let’s just say I had room in my heart for both.
Through the late 90s and early 2000s, the Jays weren’t exactly contenders, but that never stopped me. My friends and I would take the subway downtown after school, grab a slice at Union Station, and wait for the gates to open just so we could watch batting practice. Sometimes it felt like we had the whole SkyDome to ourselves.
We’d sit anywhere, upper deck, first base line, even behind the dugout if we could sneak down. It didn’t matter. Being there was everything.
I still remember the sounds: the crack of the bat echoing through a nearly empty stadium, the echoing chants of “Let’s go Jays!” that came mostly from us, and the booming voice of the “ICE. COLD. BEER” guy, Wayne, calling out from every aisle and always making us laugh. Those sounds were as much a part of the experience as the players themselves.
I owned a pink Russ Adams jersey and a grey Aaron Hill one, both proudly worn. If that doesn’t scream super fan, I don’t know what does.
Those nights shaped who I became. Baseball became more than a sport, it became my constant. My escape. My joy.
As I got older, coaching and running baseball programs began to take over my life, in the best way. I built Field of Dreams Baseball Camp from the ground up, and for the last 15 and a half years, I’ve had the privilege of introducing thousands of kids to the same game that once captured my heart.
Between long summers at camp and coaching, COVID, and life with a young child, I haven’t made it to a Jays game (besides a trip down to spring training in Dunedin), since that magical 2015 playoff run. But this 2025 team has me glued to every pitch. They’re making baseball look fun again — electric, joyful, contagious.
And now, I’m watching it all with my 3-year-old son. He’s mesmerized. He loves Addison Barger and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and he cheers with the same kind of pure excitement I remember having.
It’s a full-circle moment, the same team that inspired me to fall in love with baseball is now inspiring him.
We live in a hockey city. Baseball isn’t always the first choice of sport here. But when the Jays are hot, the entire city starts to dream bigger. Every kid wants a glove. Every parent starts googling “baseball programs near me.” And every coach, including me, feels that magic all over again.
At Field of Dreams Baseball Camp, we see it every time the Jays make a playoff run like this. Registrations explode, not because of marketing or ads, but because baseball is alive again.
And that’s what we’re here for:
To take that spark, that “I want to play like Guerrero” energy, and turn it into confidence, friendships, and memories that last long after the World Series is over.
So as the Jays take the field later this week in their first world series in 32 years, I’ll be watching with my son, cheering like I’m 15 again, and getting ready to welcome a whole new generation of young players to Field of Dreams Baseball Camp this off season, and next summer.
Because when baseball’s in the air, there’s nothing quite like it.