TORONTO — As Buck Martinez walked through the Toronto Blue Jays dugout and turned down the steps toward the batting cage following the ceremony inducting him to the club’s new Hall of Excellence, he spotted someone running up toward him.

“He stuck his hand out and said, ‘I'm Brett Bateman.’ I said, 'I know who you are.’ He goes, ‘Congratulations. This is very special, what you've done,’” Martinez recalled afterwards. “That blew me away. He didn't know me from Adam. I never had any contact with him before. But he took the time to say how much he appreciated what I did. I told Paul Beeston and I certainly told John Schneider, I said, 'You've got a special kid, right there, to take the time to say to an old man thank you very much and congratulations.' That was pretty awesome.”

The private exchange — on an emotional Saturday that began with the Hall’s unveiling, continued with a brilliant on-field ceremony for Martinez and ended with a 4-3 win for the Blue Jays over the Seattle Mariners — highlighted the wider significance of creating a destination celebrating the team’s history. 

In transitioning the names on the current Level of Excellence on the Rogers Centre’s façade to the new display centre, the Blue Jays are bringing the honourees' accomplishments to life, in a space where stories can be passed from one generation of fans to the next.

Similarly, the ceremonies reinforce to players that if they accomplish great things on the field, what they do won’t simply disappear with time. 

Bateman recognized all of that.

“I feel like that's how it always should be," he said. "Baseball is more than just a sport, it's about the relationships that you build and you saw that today with all the fans and all the legends and players that were in the building. What better time to meet him than now?........

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