Blue Jays superfan in Saskatoon 'ridiculously lucky' to be Toronto-bound

In April, Saskatoon's Don Sparrow invited CBC Saskatchewan's Eric Anderson to join in a special tradition at his home.

Sparrow draped himself and his home in blue, fired up his barbecueand celebrated the first Toronto Blue Jays game of the year.

Now, 169 games later, Sparrow won't be cookinghis own food for the next Blue Jays game. Lucky for him, the Rogers Centre sells hot dogs.

A dream come true

On Saturday, Toronto lost 6-3 to the Kansas City Royals, falling to 0-2 in the best of seven game series.

Like many baseball fans, Sparrow has been forced to watch or listen to most of the games while at work. But thanks to the people at his work, he'll be watching game three live.

They just wanted this for me knowing what it would mean. So I'm Toronto-bound.- Don Sparrow

"I'm ridiculously lucky," Sparrow told CBC Radio's Saskatchewan Weekend. "I got this weird phone call when I came back from lunch on Friday, and my boss said, 'Hey, what do you say to this? Monday morning, you board to Winnipeg.' And I'm thinking, 'Winnipeg? What? I've got to do a presentation in Winnipeg? What is this going to be?'"

That's when his boss dropped the news.

"'From Winnipeg, you'll travel to Toronto in plenty of time for the game, all on us,'" Sparrow said his boss told him. "It was just such a touching thing."

It was almost too good to believe.

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"I kept asking everybody, 'Like what's the catch?' And they were like, 'No catch.' They just wanted this for me knowing what it would mean. So I'm Toronto-bound."

Sparrow said he's already very anxious about this dream-come-true.

"I can barely watch these games at home without tearing my napkin to pieces or watching through my fingers," he said. "Being there in that environment, I don't know how my poor heart is going to take it."

Don't stop believing

Sparrow isn't surprised Kansas City who finished with the best record in the American League has an early two game lead on the Jays.

"They're not a high-scoring team, but they have an excellent defence. They don't make a lot of mistakes. They play small ball well. And then a very, very solid pitching staff."

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The Blue Jays return to Toronto for game three against the Royals on Monday at 6 p.m. CST. Especially now that he's going to the game, Sparrow is grateful it's not a five game series.

"I wouldn't have minded a split going into Toronto, but at least we've got seven games or I guess five more games to spend, rather than just really do or die every game."

And like many Blue Jays fans, Sparrow has faith they'll turn it around.

"They gotta win," he said.