Memorabilia
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Blue Jays Top 10 Jersey Signed by Vernon Wells and Gregg Zaun
This was an event that has haunted me for years. It was the Blue Jays Reverse Draw. Here you mingle, play poker, enter raffles, and enjoy the evening with some players in attendance. Each of the attendees are entered into a draw for a grand prize Pontiac Soltice GXP. As the evening progresses they pull out names from a jar and after the names are drawn they are discarded until they have 1 name left in the jar. That person will win the car. There were over 300 attendees so a lot of names are called throughout the evening. I would expect most people didn’t hear their names and as I am hard of hearing, I was more interested in concentrating on my poker game. I had just won a vehicle at the Special Olympics fund raiser the month before.(Toyota FJ Cruiser). Now when I say won, it was a live auction and my car (Jag 12 cylinder convertible) was starting to give me problems after driving it for 17 years, so I knew I needed a new vehicle and thought I would be supporting the Special Olympics while getting a new vehicle. (So it did cost me over $40,000 to win it, almost the same price as at the dealership).
Finally they were down to 10 names for the Pontiac Solstice GXP as they continued to call out names at the Jays Reverse Event. They wanted the 10 people on stage as they would call the final names from the stage. Also the final 10 got both a Jays Jersey reading Top 10 and number 07 as it was year 2007 and a Blackberry phone. They were popular back then. I still use mine today in 2023.
I just wanted to get back to my poker game but the hosts Gord Stellick and Don Landry were having fun calling the final names. It all became real when the final 2 were myself and a young Lady around 20 years old. I was just hoping I did not win the car as my colleagues from the industry would be ready for a lot of boos and I know I would have to call Human Resources and Legal at Rogers to make sure I as an executive could even be allowed to win the car. (I did ask upon arrival if Sportsnet attendees can enter the draw and was given the ok then)
Gord started by asking the young woman what she thought of the Sports Car. She said it was “unbelievable” and then Gord asked her what she drives now. She said, “she did not own a car. The crowd went. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh”. Gord then approached me knowing that a drive a Jaguar Sports convertible and asked what I drive now. I just said no comment.
He then asked the audience “ who wants her to win the car and then who wants him to win the car”. I think you can guess who the attendees were rooting for.
I have to say honestly as they were pulling the last name from the hat to be eliminated, I really wanted it to be my name so I would not have to deal with the weeks of ribbing I would face. Well, the head of GM picked the last name to be eliminated and it was her name so I won the vehicle. The booing was very loud and continuous. I was asked to say a few words so the first words that came to my mind to lower the noise was I would like to donate $5,000 to the Jays care foundation. Little did I know then there were about $10,000 in option my wife wanted when picking up the car. But I love the Jersey that Vernon Wells and Gregg Zaun signed when they presented me with the car.