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Jansen Plays for Both Teams in MLB Game

Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts —(Map)

On Monday, an unusual Major League Baseball (MLB) game took place in Boston. It was the second part of a game that started on June 26, but got rained out. Even stranger was the fact that the catcher, Danny Jansen, played for both teams during the game.

Danny Jansen is a catcher who played baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays for over seven years.

On June 26, the Blue Jays were playing the Boston Red Sox, when it started to rain. At the time, Jansen, who was playing for Toronto, was at bat. He’d already had one strike. (If a player gets three strikes, they’re out.) But the rain got heavier, and the game was stopped. That meant it would have to be finished later.

Danny Jansen is a catcher who played baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays for over seven years. Above, Jansen playing as catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays in July 2020.
Danny Jansen is a catcher who played baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays for over seven years. On June 26, the Blue Jays were playing the Boston Red Sox, when it started to rain. The game finished on Monday, two months after it started. Above, Jansen catching for the Blue Jays in 2020.
(Source: All-Pro Reels [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)

The new date to finish the game was set for August 26, two months after the game first started. During baseball season, MLB teams have busy schedules, so it can be hard to re-schedule games.

But the delay led to an unusual situation. In July, Jansen was traded to the Boston Red Sox. After playing for Toronto since 2018, Jansen had a new team. That meant that when the game from June 26 continued, he would be on the opposing team.

At first it wasn’t certain that Jansen would play in Monday’s game, since he doesn’t play in every Red Sox game. But last Friday, Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said, “Yeah, he’s catching. Let’s make history.”

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The delay led to an unusual situation. In July, Jansen was traded to the Boston Red Sox. After playing for Toronto since 2018, Jansen had a new team. When the game from June 26 continued, he would be on the opposing team. On Monday, Jansen became the first player to play for both teams in an MLB game.

And so for the first time ever, on Monday, the same player played for both teams in an MLB game.

Since Jansen was batting for Toronto when the game was stopped, Toronto sent in Daulton Varsho to take over. Varsho had one strike against him, just like Jansen did when the rain started. But this time, Jansen was behind home plate, catching for the Red Sox.

As it turned out, Varsho got two more strikes, so he struck out. When it was Jansen’s turn to hit as a Boston player, he got out the first time. But later he made it to first base, getting one of the Red Sox’s four hits of the game. In the end, though, it wasn’t enough. The Blue Jays won the game 4-1.

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When the game started back up, Jansen was behind home plate, catching for the Red Sox. When it was his turn to hit as a Boston player, Jansen got out the first time. But later he made it to first base (above), getting one of the Red Sox’s four hits of the game. But in the end, the Blue Jays won, 4-1.

A lot of people were excited about the unusual history that the game created. “Everybody keeps saying history is being made,” said Jansen. He said he was surprised when he learned that he was the first one to play for both teams in an MLB game. But he added, “It’s a cool thing.”

Jansen wore two jerseys (shirts) for the game, so that he could give one of them to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame also wants a copy of the official score card, which includes lists of the players who played in the game.


Did You Know…?
The long delay created other unusual situations, too. The game will go down in the history books as being held on June 26, since that’s when it started. But two players in Monday’s continued game joined MLB after that date. Officially, it will look like they played in an MLB game before they ever got to the major leagues.

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