NFR: Baseball 'Hat Trick'

[cmg]

A question for our North American friends.
I was watching the Toronto Blue Jays game last night in which Josh Donaldson hit three home runs.
When he hit the third one many of the fans threw their hats onto the field in recognition of a hat trick.
Is this the usual response to a three homer game or is it just a Canadian thing?
Seems a neat enough gesture - but those baseball hats aint cheap, $can40 a go? at least ?20!

[BarryP]

I've never seen that happen before so I am guessing it is a Canadian tribute similar to the hockey hat trick.

[YankeeJim]

I've never heard of it either. Our northern neighbors are a strange lot. Always nice and never American, to be sure.

[The Rock]

Well, hitting 3 homeruns in a game is almost unheard of, and even more uncommon than scoring 3 goals in hockey (a hatrick). When someone scores 3 goals in hockey, you throw your hat on the ice then someone comes out and has to pick them all up then the game carries on.

Thus, in Toronto, where hockey is pretty popular, the logical reaction would be to throw your hats on the field.

The end.

[cmg]

Thanks.
I think the hockey/Canada thing is the answer. Hockey (I quickly learned to drop the "ice" when I was over there) being THE Canadian sport, however well the Jays are doing.

Edwin Encarnation hit three out in a game about a year ago for Toronto and, looking back to the reports, I see he got the 'hat' treatment too.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Never heard of this in baseball. Seems likely that it's a Canadian thing. I remember Reggie Jackson hitting three in game 6 of the 78 World Series. If ever there was a time to throw hats, that would've been it. I don't recall it happening.

As an interesting aside, hockey's Detroit Red Wings used to have a tradition of fans sometimes throwing octopi onto the ice after a hat trick was scored.

[cmg]

As an interesting aside, hockey's Detroit Red Wings used to have a tradition of fans sometimes throwing octopi onto the ice after a hat trick was scored.

...seems the natural thing to do.

[f5shooter]

What do you do if no one scores a hat trick?  Keep the octopus in your pants til the next game?

Who on earth would bring an octopus on the off chance someone scored three goals??

[Beamer]

In a hospital where do they put old Germans who score three goals in a game - in the Gerry 'at-trick Ward , boom boom.

[HatterDon]

It's not a Canadian thing. I think it just happened spontaneously.

It IS a National Hockey League thing, but that includes all the USA teams in addition to the Canadian.

Toronto's star player hit three home runs in one game for the first time ever and SOME creative supporter started a landslide. It probably won't happen again for a while.

[cmg]

see above...


also Carlos Delgado did it 5 times for Toronto, including the one in which he hit 4 against the Rays.
No information regarding hats, though.

[Mokes]

It does happen, but it's pretty rare. It's more of a hockey thing, they do it all the time. I was at a Jays game v Detroit last year when Encarnacuon hit 3 Homers,  the last one a grand slam. It was insane. A few people threw their hats but it didn't really the off.

Donaldson has this nickname thing where he gets called "the bringer of rain" so the fans made it rain hats when he got the hatrick. Any other player and I doubt it would of happened. Altough maybe it will become a thing they do now.

The Jays have the best support in the major league, I went to an away game against the Yankees last night and it seemed like there where more jays fans than yankees fans.

[jreid19]

...As an interesting aside, hockey's Detroit Red Wings used to have a tradition of fans sometimes throwing octopi onto the ice after a hat trick was scored.

Wings fans actually throw them a lot more often than just hat tricks, mostly in the playoffs though. Here's a quick overview of how it started from the Wings website...
http://redwings.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=43781

[Holders]

What are they doing playing hockey on ice - the game should be called off if the pitch is frozen.

[Wolf]

The sports are named hockey and ice hockey respectively. The international governing body for hockey is the International Hockey Federation. The international governing body for ice hockey is the International Ice Hockey Federation.