BOSTON — Blue Jays-turned-Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen didn’t just play for both teams in the same game — a first in major league baseball history.
He played for both teams in the same inning.
Jansen became the first major leaguer ever to appear on both sides of a baseball box score when he took the field for Boston on Monday in the resumption of a rain-delayed game he started for Toronto in June — before he was traded to the Red Sox.
“Pinch-hitting for Danny Jansen: Dalton Varsho,” Red Sox media relations coordinator Daveson Perez announced in the press box before the first pitch on Monday afternoon, which came 65 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes after the game was suspended by rain. “Defensive changes: Danny Jansen now at catcher.”
Playing for Toronto on June 26, Jansen fouled off the only pitch he saw from Kutter Crawford in the second inning before the tarps were called out. On July 27, Jansen was traded from Toronto to Boston for three minor leaguers.
With Jansen behind the plate on Monday, Nick Pivetta struck Varsho out to complete the at-bat Jansen started. Then Jansen came up for Boston with two outs in the bottom half, getting a nice cheer from a sparse makeup game crowd, and hit a lazy liner to first base to end the inning.
An authenticator was on hand to tag all of Jansen’s equipment, and the Baseball Hall of Fame said it requested the scorecard from official scorer Bob Ellis. Ellis was also working the game when it started in June.
“This scorecard will be a great tool to document and illustrate this history, showing Danny Jansen’s name on both teams,” Hall spokesman John Shestakofsky said.
When the ballpark opened to fans, the scoreboards were showing Jansen at bat for the Blue Jays — complete with a picture of him in his Toronto cap. Before the first pitch, the umpires held an extended conversation at home with the coaches who brought out some of the weirdest lineup cards in baseball history.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora embraced the quirkiness of the occasion, putting Jansen in the lineup for the makeup game instead of the regularly scheduled night game, saying, “Let’s make history.” (As the backup, Jansen’s primary job is to keep No. 1 catcher Connor Wong from overwork.)
Jansen said he was surprised it had never happened before in the sport’s century and a half of history but also embraced his spot in baseball lore.
“Any time you can be a part of this great game’s history,” he said, “it’s pretty unique.”