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Blue Jays’ Back-to-Back World Series Statue cements Joe Carter’s lasting Canadian baseball legacy
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Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Thomas Hall
Jul 18, 2026, 20:30 EDTUpdated: Jul 18, 2026, 21:02 EDT
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TORONTO — For many generations of Blue Jays fans, the highest moment of their baseball fandom can be traced to Joe Carter’s unforgettable walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series, the clinching hit that solidified the franchise’s place in history as back-to-back champions.
Now, Canadian baseball fans of any age, whether they were alive during the 1992-93 runs to the Fall Classic or weren’t even born yet, can enjoy one of this country’s most iconic pieces of history any time they walk past the Rogers Centre. All they have to do is look up at the 15-foot statue — weighing 6,200 pounds — of Carter’s memorable reaction to the home run that was seen and heard from coast to coast.
“It’s a tremendous honour. Something I’m very humbled by,” Carter said of the franchise’s decision to display the moment of his ’93 World Series home run. “To see that come to fruition, I mean, it’s huge out there.”
Prior to Saturday’s game versus the Chicago White Sox, the Blue Jays organization pulled out all the stops to honour those back-to-back championship teams. Out came the red carpets, and several white pick-up trucks that paraded players — Carter, of course, among them — sitting two-by-two in the back around the warning track inside the ballpark as they saluted the sell-out crowd.
Those same vehicles then brought everyone outside the stadium to Gates 5 and 6, where the unveiling of Carter’s statue took place. There, the players joined former manager Cito Gaston, assistant general manager Gord Ash, general manager Pat Gillick, president Paul Beeston and current president & CEO Mark Shapiro.
Then, it was showtime.
Hours before the pre-game ceremony began, Mother Nature — refusing to care about the Blue Jays’ back-to-back World Series celebration — unleashed a massive storm across southern Ontario, featuring pouring rain and even a tornado warning to top things off. But alas, when the time came to unveil the statue of Carter, the sun managed to peak its way through after the storm passed.
It’s a good thing, too, because it would’ve been such a shame if the conditions watered down such a tremendous and long-awaited occasion.
“This whole weekend, just having my family here, having the former players, my teammates, seeing all those guys. I mean, this is icing on the cake,” Carter said. “This is basically getting your flowers while you’re still alive.”
Carter visited the statue a few times during its creation, which took 15 months to complete following the start of its initial development. But what he didn’t see during those visits were the engravings on all four sides of the black granite base it sits on.
On the front, of course, it reads “Back-to-Back World Series Champions” below the Blue Jays’ logo. On the two sides, it includes every player from the ’92 and ’93 rosters — one side for each year. Then, on the back, was the biggest surprise of them all — former broadcaster Tom Cheek’s infamous call: ‘Touch ’em all, Joe! You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life’.
Cheek was right, as Carter joked on Saturday. He never would.
“I can’t go anywhere without it,” he laughed. “For him to come up with that iconic saying is just as big. It was a great moment, a touching moment, it fit the occasion 100 per cent.”
The statue itself received Carter’s approval, calling it “a phenomenal piece.” And it got Dave Stewart’s, too, which was important. Because if it didn’t, he would’ve let everyone know about it — and may have even gone to the company that forged it (Lou Cella and Omri Amrany of Roblatt Amrany Studio) to voice his complaints.
Players then made their way back inside Rogers Centre, and as they re-entered the stadium, they didn’t take one of the back entrances. Each of them walked onto the 100-level concourse and down the stairs to the field, high-fiving fans along the way. Carter then threw out the ceremonial first pitch, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. there to catch behind home plate.
Afterwards, Guerrero gifted Carter a home run jacket, but not any ordinary one. It was a custom-made, back-to-back World Series edition, embroidered with the infamous ‘Touch ’em all, Joe’ quote, along with a recreation of his home-run leap, a vintage Blue Jays logo and the CN Tower.
“To be honest, I have no idea,” Guerrero joked when asked about where the inspiration behind Carter’s personalized home-run jacked came from, translated by Hector Lebron. “They just told me earlier that I had to be in the dugout at 3:25 p.m. They handed me the jacket and I went out there and put it on him.”
Many moments in Blue Jays history rightfully deserve to be celebrated with a statue like this. But when it’s the first, likely of many to come in years down the road, you can’t afford to swing and miss.
And they didn’t. Like Joe, they, too, hit this one out of the park.
“If you hit a home run in the World Series, you deserve a statue. That’s all there is to it,” said Molitor, named the ’93 MVP of that championship series.
Those back-to-back World Series titles added another level of importance to the sport of baseball that had been missing in Canada. It also sparked a whole new generation for the love of the game.
Carter never accepts the overwhelming credit he receives for hitting the series-winning home run, always shifting the focus to his teammates. He’s stayed as humble as ever, and that’s why he still believes any one of his teammates could’ve delivered that moment, saying it was “just his turn” in the lineup.
“I thought the ceremony was great,” current manager John Schneider said following his club’s 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. “Between what went on inside and outside, and hearing those guys kind of come into the dugout and all stopping to say ‘hi’ to everyone was pretty cool.
“It kind of felt like a little bit of a family gathering, if you will.”
That same humbleness is also why, since the moment that ball cleared the left-field wall almost 33 years ago, Carter has yet to experience a day someone hasn’t come up to him — often a complete stranger — and recalled their personal where-were-they-then moment.
“It was an awesome ceremony,” Shane Bieber agreed, after throwing six scoreless innings of three-hit ball with six strikeouts — easily his best start of the season thus far.
For anyone born, say, in the 2000s or 2010s, those ’92 and ’93 years likely don’t hold much significance in their Blue Jays fandom. For them, the 2015-16 era is probably considered their “golden years.” Or even take last year’s magical, but heartbreaking run to the World Series. George Springer’s go-ahead, three-run blast in Game 7 of the ALCS helped spark a brand new generation of Canadian baseball fans.
But as important as it is to celebrate the present, it’s just as essential to remember and cherish the past. That’s what Saturday’s celebration was about, and now those accomplishments have, finally, been immortalized for everyone to see — not tucked away in a dark corner — outside the team’s home ballpark forever.
Exactly where it’s deserved to be for quite some time.
“It’s a pretty special moment and, you know, leaving a legacy here in Canada,” Carter said. “I’ve always tried to leave a good name for myself and for my teammates and for the team. And hopefully, I’ve done that, and we’ll continue to do that while I’m here in Toronto.”

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