Blue Jays’ Chris Bassitt offers grieving fan free tickets

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This Toronto Blue Jays’ season has not provided a lot of bright spots for the team or its fans, but one player is doing his best to lift some spirits.

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Starting pitcher Chris Bassitt recently reached out to a fan who lost his mother — herself a devoted Jays fan — and offered the grieving son tickets for “as long as I’m here.”

Social media user Blue Jays Dad (Grand), who has more than 21,000 followers on X, posted the news about the death of his mother alongside a picture of the two of them.

He wrote: “She’s the reason I’m a baseball fan … Heaven just received the greatest Blue Jays fan ever!”

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Despite neither Bassitt nor the team being tagged in the post, the pitcher reposted it with a message to the fan.

“DM me. As long as I’m here… I got your tickets. God bless your mom. We need more women like her,” Bassitt wrote.

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During his time in Toronto, Bassitt has been no stranger to helping out the community with charitable work.

Since joining the Blue Jays last season, he and his wife Jessica have pledged to donate US$10,000 to Jays Care every time the team wins when he pitches, going back to the start of 2023.

‘Bassitts Pitch In’ supports Jays Care’s RBI Summer Edition, a free sport-for-development program designed to enhance the mental and physical health of kids in under-resourced communities across Toronto.

The initiative raised $279,818 for RBI Summer Edition in 2023.

During his start on Tuesday against the Baltimore Orioles, Bassitt threw five innings of no-hit ball before giving up a home run. He ended up going seven innings, giving up three hits and two runs with a season-high nine strikeouts to pick up the win, improving his record to 9-10 on the year.

For the season he has an ERA of 3.95 after notching a mark of 3.60 last year in his first season with the Jays. In 2023, his record 16-8 gave him the most wins on the team.

The former New York Mets, Oakland A’s and Chicago White Sox starter will be a free agent after the 2025 season.

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