From one of Canada's top baseball writers and radio hosts: a retrospective of the Toronto Blue Jays that comes more than 20 years after Joe Carter's World Series-winning home run. A must-have for all Blue Jays fans, and a great read for Toronto and Canadian sports fans in general.
In Full Count, Jeff Blair takes us back to the days when the Toronto Blue Jays were "the Cadillac of franchises," and shows us exactly what they did right to become baseball's premier club. Then he explores the disappointing aftermath, when the league's fourth-largest market became an also-ran: seemingly destined to languish behind the big-spending Yankees and Red Sox and free-wheeling Rays--until the offseason of 2012. Full Count will appeal to the casual fans wanting to re-live Blue Jays history, and to the serious fans who relish the nitty-gritty business decisions and behind-the-scenes details that made this team what it is today.

Jeff Blair's profile page

Like Joe Carter, JEFF BLAIR has "touched 'em all" in more than 30 years of sportswriting and broadcasting. The Globe and Mail's sports columnist and host of The Jeff Blair Show on Sportsnet 590/The Fan in Toronto has covered Olympics, World Series, Stanley Cups and earthquakes while working in Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto. But his first love is baseball, which he covered from 1989 to 1997 as a beat reporter with the Gazette and has covered since then as a columnist with the Globe and Mail. Blair grew up in Morden, Manitoba, and attended the University of Manitoba. He lives in Hamilton with wife, Shelley, and daughter, Emma Rose.

Praise for Full Count:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"Blair is lucid, informed and intelligent.... We can appreciate...Blair's judicious commentary on a team that always seems to be on the wrong side of the baseball gods." Philip Marchand, National Post
"Full Count is learned and thorough, with a keen eye on engaging readers instead of drowning them in the deluge of the author's knowledge.... The book manages that rare narrative pull that eludes so much contemporary sports writing." Quill & Quire
"This history of the Jays is by one of the country's most accomplished baseball writers, so it's not just a love letter, but instead explores both the glory days and the ruthless business decisions that kept the team hovering near the bottom of the standings. Until this year. Maybe." NOW (Toronto)