Alomar will Join other Storied Jays at the Level of Excellence

Roberto Alomar, a very controversial figure in Blue Jays history will join teammates Joe Carter, Dave Steib and Tony Fernandez as well as manager Cito Gaston and other Jays notables George Bell and broadcaster Tom Cheek at the Level Of Excellence.

The Level of Excellence is the Blue Jays way of honouring its greatest figures. It is the equivalent of retiring a number. Alomar’s No. 12 will still be available to current Jays and future players.

Alomar’s five year stint with the Jays is arguably the best performance by a player in a Jays uniform. He was an All-Star every year, starting four. He won the Gold Glove at second base all five years. Won a Silver Slugger at second base as well as the 1992 ALCS MVP Award.

Alomar’s stats are the best for a Blue Jay after Carlos Delgado. Alomar, turned it up in the playoffs. In the two World Series he batter .347 compared to his .307 regular season mark. He stole and impressive 18 bases in 29 post season games with the Jays. In 3 of the five playoff series his OPS was around 1.000 while his career OPS is around .825.

In 1995 Alomar was entering free-agency and decided to sit out the last few games of the season to preserve his .300 average much to the shagrin of the last-place SkyDome faithful. On Sept 27 1997 Alomar was called out on strikes in the first inning and in the insuing arument spit in the face of home plate umpire John Hirschbeck at SkyDome. The one time hero of the SKyDome became Enemy #1 and probably the most hated player in Toronto.

Toronto baseball fans cannot ignore the fact of Robbie’s follies but they also cannot ignore the contribution he played during the francishes heydays of the early 1990’s. Sentiment towards possibly the best second baseman in history has softened in Toronto and Alomar should get applause from the Opening Day faithful.

Congratulations Robbie and good luck with the Hall of Fame in 2010.