Beloved ex-Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen makes MLB history after playing for two different teams in the same game

The stars aligned perfectly for Danny Jansen as the former Blue Jays catcher made some absolutely wild MLB history on Monday. Here's how it all went down

Kyle Cantlon
·Writer
·5-min read
Danny Jansen makes MLB history as the first player to play on both teams in a single baseball game. (Photo credit: AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Danny Jansen makes MLB history as the first player to play on both teams in a single baseball game. (Photo credit: AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Former Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen made some wild baseball history on Monday afternoon, becoming the first MLB player ever to accomplish an extremely rare feat.

Jansen, who was Toronto's longest-serving player at the time, was traded from the Blue Jays to the Boston Red Sox at the end of July for a trio of minor-league prospects. A month before the deal, on June 26th, the Blue Jays and Red Sox had their game suspended in the top of the second inning due to rain — a contest which Jansen started for the Blue Jays.

That postponed contest resumed exactly two months later on Monday, and Jansen, starting behind the plate for the Red Sox, became the first MLB player to ever suit up for two different teams competing in the same game.

Making this situation even more strange was the fact that Jansen was in the middle of an at-bat for the Jays when that June game was rained out. Since Monday's rescheduled contest had to pick up exactly where the previous game was halted, Jansen started behind the plate against Daulton Varsho — who was technically pinch-hitting for Jansen because the latter is no longer with the team following the trade.

Strange, wacky, beautiful stuff.

All eyes were on the Red Sox and manager Alex Cora in the lead-up to Monday's tilt as fans anticipated seeing one of the rarest sports feats imaginable, and Cora confirmed what everybody was hoping for on Friday.

"Yeah, he's catching," said Cora, per the Boston Herald. "Let's make history!"

Asked on a local Toronto radio show last week, Jansen detailed how "crazy" and "cool" it was to be a part of something like this:

"What an oddity, right?" Jansen said on Sportsnet's Blair & Barker podcast last week.

"What a crazy, crazy thing for baseball, this game. People have been asking me and coming up to me to talk about it and stuff, so it's going to be a cool one."

Blue Jays, Red Sox and baseball fans at large were in the same boat, as many took to social media to express their excitement and have some fun with this unique moment in baseball history.

Incase you were wondering, Jansen suiting up for both the Blue Jays and Red Sox in technically the same game is 100 percent within MLB rules.

Here's how MLB Rule 7.02(h) details player substitutions for suspended games, per CBC Sports:

A suspended game shall be resumed at the exact point of suspension of the original game. The completion of a suspended game is a continuation of the original game. The lineup and batting order of both teams shall be exactly the same as the lineup and batting order at the moment of suspension, subject to the rules governing substitution.

Any player may be replaced by a player who had not been in the game prior to the suspension. No player removed before the suspension may be returned to the lineup. A player who was not with the Club when the game was suspended may be used as a substitute, even if he has taken the place of a player no longer with the Club who would not have been eligible because he had been removed from the lineup before the game was suspended.

Though no player has ever played for two opposing MLB teams during the same game, there's been a few instances of opponents swapping clubs and playing for different teams on the same day, but that doesn't happen very often.

Back in May of 1922, as I'm sure you all remember, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs swapped Max Flack and Cliff Heathcote in between games of a same-day doubleheader. The former suited up for Chicago during the first game but played for the Cards during the second contest later that day. Heathcote, meanwhile, started the first game for the Cardinals and the second for the Cubs.

Jansen went 1-for-3 on Monday afternoon with a single for the Sox against his former Blue Jays teammates on his history-making day.

Over seven seasons with Toronto, the 29-year-old — who was selected by the Blue Jays in the 16th round of the 2013 amateur draft — hit .222 with 71 homers and 214 RBIs.

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