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Danny Jansen becomes 1st player in MLB history to play for both teams in same game

By Stephanie Weaver
Published  August 26, 2024 4:40pm EDT
Sports
FOX TV Digital Team

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BOSTON - The start of a previously postponed game between the Red Sox and Blue Jays was history-making.

Blue Jays-turned-Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen played for both teams in the same game — a first in major league baseball history.

Jansen became the first major leaguer ever to appear on both sides of a baseball box score when he took the field for Boston on Monday in the resumption of a rain-delayed game he started for Toronto in June — before he was traded to the Red Sox.

"Pinch-hitting for Danny Jansen: Dalton Varsho," Red Sox media relations coordinator Daveson Perez announced in the press box before the first pitch on Aug. 26.

Danny Jansen #28 of the Boston Red Sox hits a single during the fifth inning of game one of a doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays on August 26, 2024 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Credit: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

"Everybody keeps saying history is being made," Jansen told MLB.com. "It’s such a strange thing. I never would have imagined myself in this situation with it being history. I guess I would have assumed it would have happened before. That’s one of the first thoughts that went through my mind."

Playing for Toronto on June 26, Jansen fouled off the only pitch he saw from Kutter Crawford in the second inning before the tarps were called out. On July 27, Jansen was traded from Toronto to Boston for three minor leaguers.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora embraced the quirkiness of the occasion, putting Jansen in the lineup for the makeup game instead of the regularly scheduled night game, saying, "Let’s make history." 

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Jansen said he was surprised it had never happened before in the sport's century and a half of history but also embraced his spot in baseball lore.

"Any time you can be a part of this great game’s history," he said, "it’s pretty unique."

While Jansen is the first person to play for both teams in the same game at the Major League level, there's at least one example of it happening in the Minor Leagues.

Dale Holman played for both the Syracuse Chiefs and Richmond Braves in the same Triple-A game in 1986.