Jose Bautista played 599 regular-season games in the Rogers Centre as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The outfielder returned to the ballpark Tuesday as a member of the New York Mets and did something he hadn’t since 2004: He occupied the visitor’s locker room.
Bautista suited up for three games at Rogers Centre in his rookie season with the Pittsburgh Pirates but hadn’t been in the opposing locker room in 14 years. So, what was his review of the facilities?
“It’s still small,” Bautista said Wednesday during an appearance on Prime Time Sports. “Obviously, as you know, with all these new ballparks going up and Rogers Centre being one of the older ones in existence I think the facilities have changed over time. There’s not a lot of room to be playing with inside, but it’s very nice. The space is a little limited but they’ve brought it up to date as good as they could I guess.”
Bautista didn’t manage a hit in those 2004 contests but registered his first as an opposing player in the Rogers Centre on Tuesday. Overall, he went 1-for-2 with three walks and made a nice sliding catch in the second inning.
“It was a great feeling just coming back to familiar territory where I feel like I have a great connection with the fans,” Bautista added. “I felt extremely appreciative of everything that happened [Tuesday], from the tribute and the standing ovation before my first at-bat and just how people treated me in general. It’s been like that since Day 1 so I’m very fortunate.”
The current Jays-Mets interleague series is just a two-gamer so depending on if/where Bautista plays in 2019, Wednesday could conceivably be the final time the 37-year-old plays a game in the building he called home for a decade.
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