In a first, Punjabi singer and artist AP Dhillon, who shot to fame with his chart-topping numbers like Brown Munde, Summer High and Fate, threw the official ceremonial first pitch for Canadian Major League Baseball team Toronto Blue Jays in their American League baseball match against the Tampa Bay Rays at the Roberts Centre stadium in Toronto on Tuesday night. The Gurdaspur-born 29-year-old Dhillon, who is now based in Canada and does shows across the world, was donning a blue and white two-time Major League Baseball champions Toronto Blue Jays jersey, and accompanied the team’s mascot Ace on the pitch before making the official ceremonial first throw of the match. “Don’t bounce it. They’ll boo you.”Derek Jeter’s interaction with George Bush before he threw out the first pitch at the World Series was one of the most memorable moments following the events that occurred on 9/11 pic.twitter.com/H8Wg7uYxtM— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 11, 2021 “Brown Munde!! Big thanks to the legend-AP Dhillon-for throwing tonight’s first pitch,” the official twitter handle of Toronto Blue Jays tweeted on Wednesday morning. Moments later, Dhillon posted on the social media platform Instagram congratulating the Canadian MLB and American League team for their 7-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. “Big win for the Jays tonight. Honored to be part of it,” Dhillon wrote on his official Instagram account. Tuesday’s game was the Canadian Major League Baseball team’s second of the 11 games in a space of ten days and the team scored a 7-2 win over the Tampa Bays after losing the first game earlier this week against Tampa bay Rays 2-4. Alek Manoah starred in the Rays win at the Roberts Centre and the win meant that the club stayed ahead of Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners in the race in the East Division for the wild card for the American League. Toronto Blue Jays, which has won two World Series titles since their inception in 1976, have won the American League East Division title six times and last won a wildcard berth for the American League in 2020. The team also commented on Dhillon’s Instagram post saying “Desi je geet aa, trap ji beat aa, Sirr kadd gakde, speaker’aan ch vajde, Brown Munde." (Our desi songs, have captivating beats, we hold our head high and roar, the speaker plays, Brown Boys.) ‼️Brown Munde‼️ Big thanks to the legend - AP Dhillon - for throwing tonight’s first pitch! pic.twitter.com/XX65thLPoF — Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 14, 2022 He then posted again “Honoured to have you here at the ballpark. Hope to see you again soon,”. Dhillon would later comment “This one is for the culture,” Ritual of first ceremonial pitch The baseball teams in Major League Baseball as well as the American League apart from World Series have a ritual of a celebrity or public figure making the first ceremonial pitch ahead of every game and the most popular ceremonial pitches have been the ones during the MLB Opening Day as well as World Series or All Star Games. The ceremonial opening day first ball pitch has seen US presidents making the first Opening Day pitch with the then US President William H Taft throwing the first ball to Washington Senators Walter Johnson at the Griffith Stadium, Washington in April, 1910. According to the website Bleacher Report, Johnson guided the Senators to a 3-0 win in the game. “The future hall of famer kept the ball, which Taft autographed for him,” states Bleacher Report. "There goes Wilson!" 😅👋Actor Tom Hanks brought 'Wilson' to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Cleveland Guardians' Opening Day! ⚾pic.twitter.com/pTd1zLEEgJ— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) April 16, 2022 According to the website, Taft would again make the ceremonial throw on the opening day in 2011 followed by the next US president Woodrow Wilson making the throw in 1913. Since then, 15 US presidents have thrown the first throw in the opening day of the MLB with the last being the then US president Barack Obama in National Park marking the 100th anniversary of Taft’s first pitch as US president on Opening Day in 1910. The first ceremonial pitch in all the games whether it be MLB, American League, World Series or All Star game sees the guest standing in front of the pitcher’s mound or on the mound in the baseball arena and throwing towards the home plate with the recipient being one of the opposition players. According to Bleacher Report, US presidents have thrown the first ball at seven World Series and four times in the All Star games with the then US president George W Bush wearing a fire department jacket and throwing the first pitch at the Yankees Stadium during the World Series third game, days after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Among the non-political ceremonial pitchers, the most famous has been by former Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki in April earlier this year at T-mobile park in Seattle. The 48-year-old dressed up in his playing days jersey for the Seattle Mariners and threw the first pitch ball with a 93 miles per hour fastball. Though Suzuki missed the target zone, the fastball was much faster than all the celebrities as well as US presidents in baseball history to make the first pitch in baseball matches across the world. Earlier this year, two-time Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks was called for throwing the ceremonial first pitch for the home side Cleveland Guardians against San Francisco Giants at Progressive Field during a season game. Hanks brought the volleyball prop from his movie Cast Away along with him to make the first pitch and made the pitch with the fastball being caught by Lary Doby Junior, son of Lawrence Eugene Dobby, the second black player in Major League Baseball and first black player in American League baseball.
