Joey was the youngest kid, at the age of 7, to win the chance to throw the opening pitch at a Toronto Blue Jays Home Game. Joey was giddy and nervous as he talked to reporters.

It was the beginning of the baseball season in 1993. The Skydome was packed as the Jays had won the World Series only months ago. By the time Cito Gaston, the Jay’s manager, welcomed Joey into the ballpen, Joey had introduced himself to half the team. Roberto Alomar, the Jay’s second baseman and Joey’s hero, asked Joey to sit next to him for the whole game. With Joey’s dad’s permission of course.

The time came, Cito gave Joey the go-ahead as he ushered Joey to the pitching mound. Joey could barely hear the announcer call his name as the crowd roared.

When Joey threw the first pitch, the crowd roared even louder. Cito gave him a thumbs up and said, “Kid, if you pitch like that when you grow up, you give the Jays a call.”

Joey never forgot that as 12 years later, he stepped to the mound for the first time as a Blue Jay.