....Russell Martin's belief that baseball is full of kids with beards.

I love this quote. It was brought to my attention by Emily (@JaysGirlEmily) from an article written by John Lott in The Athletic, Blue Jays’ Russ Martin will represent Canada as a coach, but he’ll be one of the boys. In the article Martin talked about the disappointment of not playing for Team Canada for the WBC but how his title of "Coach" would not take away from the fact that, as John Lott writes, "He will be one of the boys."

Martin goes on to say:

If anyone watched Martin during Spring Training, there is no doubt that he really is just one big kid playing the game he loves. I've seen so many photos and made so many GIFs of him laughing on the field, playing around, and seemingly so carefree.

And of course with a line like that I couldn't just not do anything with it. Does it totally look like Martin no, but it's really the limits of what my "artistic" abilities will allow of me.

Daryl Quilao, or @ateDaryl as you may know her, is a brilliant artist as well as a massive baseball fan. She's one of my favourite follows because she's an master at the art of the GIF and really appreciates the joy of baseball.

2017 has been a tough season for Jays fans, but I find scrolling through @ateDaryl's GIF recap on her Tumblr site makes me feel just a little bit better. And I thank her for it. 

You can buy the featured artwork, which totally looks like Russell Martin, as a t-shirt here, as well as a bunch of other clever work.

I bought the 2016 version of this last year, which featured all six of the Jays starters (these dudes plus Dickey.) I bought it because I could easily tell who was who just based on face shape and beard style and I thought it was genius. I regret nothing.

On May 20th, 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies hosted the Toronto Blue Jays at Citizens Bank Park. Adam Eaton started for the Phillies and faced against Jesse Litsch in his second career MLB start. Despite homeruns from Alex Rios, Vernon Wells and Matt Stairs, the Jays came up short. 

Phillies beat the Blue Jays 5-3.