Blue Jays fans celebrated Michael Saunders' home run hat trick by tossing their hats onto the field
The Blue Jays, as you might have heard, are located in Canada -- a country which, as you might also have heard, is pretty passionate about its hockey. And in hockey, whenever a player scores his third goal of the game, the hometown fans will toss their hats onto the ice in appreciation.
Wondering how any of this relates to baseball? Let's go to Baltimore, where Toronto rolled over the Orioles 13-3 behind a career night from Jays outfielder Michael Saunders. In each of his first two at-bats, the slugger went yard:
And then, in the top of the sixth, he did it again -- he tallied his third homer and 8th RBI of the night, and got to enjoy himself rounding third.
But wait, what was that falling to the ground. Was that ... headwear? Yes, yes it was: Jays fans behind the visitors' dugout at Camden Yards decided to toss their hats onto the field in honor of their hero. Don't worry, though, the batboy was there to clean things up:
As Saunders' teammate Aaron Sanchez explained, though, this was nothing new. "The first time I saw it was last year with Eddie [Encarnacion]," he told MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm. "I kind of wish we were at home. The excitement they had around that game when Eddie was there, I remember there was like a 10-minute delay with hats all over the field."
While we're at this baseball-hockey cultural fusion, might we make one suggestion: Play-by-play announcer and MLB fashion consultant Don Cherry.