Bob Reaume, owner of Bob Reaume Sports in Windsor, Ont., holds a new Toronto Blue Jays World Series ball cap and a new American League Champions t-shirt, on Tuesday.Dax Melmer/The Globe and Mail
It’s just past the 12th inning when Chris Kulman looks down from the big-screen TVs illuminating the near-empty bar and proclaims, “This is the longest I’ve stayed up in years.”
At 1:03 a.m., his wife calls to ask where he is.
“The game is still on,” he laughs into his iPhone. “Don’t worry, I’m not dead.”
Windsor, Ont., is not a hotbed of Toronto Blue Jays support. This is Detroit Tigers country. For those who have switched allegiances to the Blue Jays for the World Series, the reasons go well beyond sports.
At 80, Kulman is a lifelong Tigers devotee. Tonight he’s setting aside his loyalties. There are two reasons. Three weeks ago, his father-in-law, an ardent Jays fan, died. In his final years the family took him down to Dunedin, Fla., to watch spring training, where Kulman bought him a Jays hat.
Tonight, seated atop a bar stool at John Max Sports & Wings, Kulman is wearing that hat. “He wouldn’t have wanted to miss this,” he says, draining a glass of water (he’s watching his blood sugar).
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The other reason is U.S. President Donald Trump.
In much of Canada, the President’s tariffs and annexation talk have amounted to a political crisis. Here, it’s felt more deeply. Six thousand locals work across the bridge in Detroit. Thousands more Windsorites closely follow every feat and folly of the Detroit Lions, Red Wings and Tigers. Kulman is one of them.
The tariffs, the 51st-state rhetoric – it feels like the loss of a best friend.
“I won’t go there now,” Kulman says. “I just won’t do it. Look at what Trump’s doing to us.”
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays have pulled some longtime Windsor-based Detroit fans onto their bandwagon, as trade tensions with the U.S. continue.Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Windsor’s fortunes have always risen and fallen with the auto industry. But the President’s tariffs represent an existential threat. “We don’t want cars from Canada,” he has said. Both GM and Stellantis have recently announced that they’re moving some production south. Windsor’s unemployment rate is the highest in Canada.
The industry was already at a crossroads before Trump. Manufacturers had invested heavily in electric vehicles. Stellantis is building a $5-billion EV battery plant here that is expected to create 2,500 jobs. But demand for EVs is slowing.
“That’s another scary thing for people in town right now, people are worried that Stellantis plant might not pan out,” said Bob Reaume, owner of Bob Reaume Sports, which specializes in pro jerseys and hats.
Reaume says he hasn’t seen the trade war influence local sports loyalties much. This isn’t like Team Canada engaging in a proxy war on ice against the Soviets during the 1972 Summit Series. Things aren’t so clear-cut. About two-thirds of Windsor ball fans pull for the Tigers. The rest support the Jays, he says.
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One of Windsor’s better-known Tigers superfans thinks otherwise. Joe McParland lives three kilometres from Comerica Park, home of the Tigers, and maintains a shrine of team memorabilia in his den. As a kid, he would skip high school and walk across the Ambassador Bridge to catch batting practice. This season, he refused to cross that same bridge for political reasons, choosing instead to catch a couple of Tigers games in Toronto.
“Until we get this stuff resolved with Trump and Canada, I’m not going over,” says McParland, who spent 27 years with the Canada Border Services Agency before retiring. “Trump could not have a better neighbour, and it bothers me the way he talks about annexation and the way he treats Carney.”
Until spring brings a new hope for the Tigers, he’s all in for the Jays.
“Nothing would make me happier than seeing the Blue Jays bring the World Series trophy across the border tariff-free,” he says.
Los Angeles Dodger Freddie Freeman connects for a home run off Toronto Blue Jays' pitcher Brendon Little during the 18th inning of Game 3 of the World Series on Monday.David J. Phillip/The Associated Press
Back at the sports bar, Kulman and his late father-in-law’s hat remain even as the place empties out. At 1:37 a.m., the bartender issues bills and starts stacking chairs on tables.
Born and raised in Windsor, Kulman worked for Sears and then Chrysler doing interior trim. Next to him is Andrew Corchis, a hockey goalie coach and Tigers fan. They didn’t know each other before sidling up next to each other at this bar. Now they’re bonded in support for a team they don’t even particularly like.
“My obituary will say I fell off my bar stool watching the Jays,” Kulman says, as the game enters its 16th inning around 2 a.m. “And they’re not even my team.”
As the game stretches into the 18th inning, tying a World Series record, the bartender begins eyeing the three remaining patrons and the front door. “I’m not leaving of my own volition,” Corchis says.
“This is history, I’m staying,” Kulman says.
The merciful dagger comes at 2:50 a.m.: a Freddie Freeman home run to give the Dodgers the victory. Kulman looks at his two barmates, shakes their hands and heads out the front door. The bartender’s keys clink in the lock behind him. “We made it,” he says. “And we have a few more chances.”