Josh Donaldson just can't escape Toronto

The Twins slugger, a former Blue Jays star, made a stir gearing up for hockey action at an Ontario store and tweaking the struggling Leafs.

October 30, 2021 at 3:41AM
Minnesota Twins Josh Donaldson.
Josh Donaldson of the Minnesota Twins (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

When he isn't busy tweeting live updates about playoff baseball, Twins infielder Josh Donaldson is thinking about hockey.

The Bringer of Rain, who helped lead a Toronto team to the playoffs when he played with the Blue Jays, showed off some other Toronto colors. Later he tweaked the struggling Leafs on Twitter with his photo.

According to a Toronto Star account that also ran in the Newmarket Era newspaper, Donaldson stopped in All Pro Source For Sport in the York area of the Greater Toronto Area "to be outfitted with hockey equipment," which was for "an outing with family and friends in the area at a local rink."

Store owner Darren Ertl said a masked Donaldson and some friends came by, and they took the opportunity to kid the Florida-born Donaldson about his struggles with the equipment.

"He had a couple of his good friends with him and they were gumming him the whole time," Ertl told John Cudmore. "If you've never put on a jersey over hockey equipment, it's not easy."

Word of Donaldson's visit spread via social media, and he ended up spending three to four hours there, including trying on the Leafs gear featured in a Donaldson tweet. The Toronto Sun ended up with an account as well, and Donaldson's photo (not in Leafs gear) was featured on the store's Instagram account.

Store employee Joel Morelly, who hooked Donaldson up with the Leafs gear said that "he was a genuine, nice humble person. It was cool he took the time to talk with everybody."

Read more about the visit here:

about the writer

Vince Tuss

Night home-page producer

Vince Tuss is a producer working on the StarTribune.com home page most evenings. Before that, he was a copy editor and a night police reporter. 

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