Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Hello and welcome to the fourth article in the series ‘Postcards from Toronto '. These articles are written to help you learn about life in Toronto and teach you some useful expressions for spoken and written English.

Spring is here ? finally ? and that means the baseball season will be starting soon. Toronto is the only city in Canada that has a major league baseball team: the Toronto Blue Jays, named after a common bird. In the early 1990s, the Blue Jays were the best team in baseball. The team won two World Series titles back-to-back and usually made it to the playoffs at the end of every season. These days, unfortunately, the Blue Jays are not such a great team, but the team is improving each year, and it has some very good players.

Toronto has several major league teams for visitors to watch ? the "Toronto Blue Jays baseball team", the "Toronto Raptors basketball team" and the "Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team". All of them are entertaining teams and it is fun to watch a game, but compared to the prices for the other two sports, baseball is the best value by far. It is possible to get a good seat for a baseball game for just $9, and for a few special midweek games in the middle of the season, the price per ticket is just $2! Not only that, but the Blue Jays are the only team that plays during the summer, and the only team that plays in an outdoor stadium. Watching a baseball game outdoors on a summer Sunday afternoon is a great Toronto experience.

The Blue Jays play in a stadium called the Rogers Centre. Until last year, however, the stadium was known as the Skydome. Whatever the name, the stadium is an interesting place to visit. It is one of only five baseball stadiums in North America that has a retractable roof (the roof can open and close). There is a hotel inside the stadium, with 70 rooms that overlook the field. The field is made of pieces of artificial grass called Astro-Turf. Surprisingly, the parts of the field are connected to each other using zippers! It is possible to take a tour of the Rogers Centre and learn more about the history of this innovative arena : "www.rogerscentre.com".

The Blue Jays play in the American League, which is the same league as Matsui's New York Yankees, Ichiro's Seattle Mariners and of course the 2004 World Series winning Boston Red Sox and many other exciting teams. Probably the best time to see a game is when the New York Yankees visit Toronto . This is not just because you might see ‘Godzilla' hit a home run. When other teams visit, the number of spectators is usually around 20,000, but when the Yankees visit the size of the crowd is often 30,000 to 35,000, many of whom are Yankees supporters. This means that watching the Yankees play is usually a very exciting experience. So, make a point of going to at least one ballgame this spring or summer, if you can, and enjoy a real North American experience with other baseball fans.

Toronto Blue Jays Unofficial site for Japanese people
JAYSONLINE
http://www.torontonline.net/jays

Vocabulary Challenge
Answer these questions to find useful expressions for spoken English

1 Which phrase in paragraph two means the same as ‘in 1990, 1991, 1992 or 1993'?
2 Which adverb in paragraph two mean ‘one after another'?
3 In the third paragraph, which phrase means something is much better than other things?
4 Which word, also in paragraph three, means ‘during the middle of the week'?
5 In paragraph four, which adjective means ‘new, different and exciting'?
6 Also in paragraph four, which word means the same as stadium?
7 In the last paragraph, which plural noun means people who watch something?
8 Also in the last paragraph, which phrase means ‘make a special effort to do something'?

answers

Bonus Challenge
In the final paragraph, how many words can you find that have a similar meaning to ‘spectator'?