For his entire 25-year baseball career (save for one season) Héctor Espino played in Mexico.  In Mexican professional baseball, he was the premier slugger, hitting 783 home runs in his career (combining Mexican League, Mexican Pacific League and International League numbers).  This is how he earned the nickname “The Mexican Babe Ruth.”

Espino was born June 6th, 1939 in Chihuahua, Mexico.  A 5’11″ 185lbs. …

In Spring Training in 1988, then-Blue Jays Manager Jimy Williams announced that left-fielder George Bell would be the full time DH, both to save his knees and to improve the defense. The reigning MVP resisted the role-change and channeled his anger into 3 home runs on opening day of 1988 – the first player to ever do so.

Bell’s career ended …

Currently enjoying the best season of his career, Sancti Spiritus 3B Yulieski Gourriel is on the verge of breaking the Cuban National Series home run record.

In 65 games this season Gourriel has hit 25 homers.  Pro-rated, Gourriel is on pace to hit 34 home runs by season’s end.  This would eclipse the single-season home run record of 34, held by …

That is, if you believe his tweets.

He follows that up with a re-tweet from his fangirl Jacob Palmer. 

Is he referring to an upper deck blast at the SkyDome while with the Jays? Or the one he hit in the 1989 ALCS between Toronto and Oakland?  If you would like to find out, you can follow him at @josecanseco on Twitter.  …

Joey “Whoa” Lawrence was 25 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 8, 2002, with the Toronto Blue Jays.  He was the Blue Jays’ 1st round draft pick in 1996 (16th overall) and quickly became the apple of then newly minted GM JP Ricciardi’s eye.  Lawrence, a former St. Catharines Blue Jay, was called a “tremendous …