If you were five years old when the Blue Jays won back-to-back titles and eleven when Adam Sandler was basically a religion, you probably remember Joe Carter in Big Daddy more vividly than Joe Carter live.
For a certain generation, the ’93 walk-off wasn’t a live event — it was a movie punch line.
The funniest Toronto cameo in movie history isn’t Drake at a Raptors game — it’s Joe Carter inside Big Daddy.
Adam Sandler’s 1999 comedy pivots on one immaculate, drunken confession in open court. Jon Stewart’s Kevin Gerrity stands up and blurts:
“Six years ago — Joe Carter. Toronto and the Phillies. World Series. Mitch Williams… We flew up for the night. There was a girl. I was so hammered. Chicken wings. Molson 3-0. Canadian beer is like moonshine.”
That one line ties Toronto baseball to Sandler cinema forever.
No Carter → no Toronto trip → no Molson → no kid → no movie.
Baseball literally writes the plot.
That’s where the generations meet — Joe Carter hit the swing that made Toronto believe, Sandler turned it into comedy, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is now turning belief into myth.
Reddit’s r/TorontoBlueJays caught the Easter eggs — a Joe Carter Sports Illustrated cover, a foam Jays logo, a big blue J on the wall. Those aren’t Julian’s toys; they’re Kevin’s souvenirs from that 1993 SkyDome night. Whether the Adelaide Street Hooters even existed back then doesn’t matter. Big Daddy plays in the realm of one legendary road trip that changed everything.
What makes the movie quietly Toronto is how it teaches man-children to grow up through baseball.
On a cracked city infield, Sonny Koufax fires grounders at his kid in a catcher’s mask:
“Stay in front of it. Don’t be scared. It’s coming right at you… You’re the next Willie Randolph.”
That’s the whole sermon — absorb the bruise, keep your head down, stay in front of the hop.
A few scenes later, after a first-day-of-kindergarten pep talk, Springsteen’s “Growin’ Up” swells — the midpoint transformation.
Sonny’s learning fatherhood one repetition at a time: block the ball, apologize when you miss, and when it’s time to let go, say something kind.
The last thing he hears before the next chapter begins:
“Hi. I like your hat. What’s Your Name?”
That’s the whole message — notice people, be decent, move forward.
FRIENDS! Toronto Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) and George Springer (4) celebrate after Game 7 of baseball’s American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Before Toronto’s father-son story could unfold, another Canadian team had to disappear.
Netflix’s new documentary Who Killed the Montreal Expos? revisits the collapse of Canada’s first MLB franchise — a slow-motion heartbreak of bad ownership, stadium decay, and civic neglect.
The film features Pedro Martínez, Vladimir Guerrero Sr., Larry Walker, and Felipe Alou, all reliving how the city’s dream unraveled.
Montreal’s loss became Toronto’s inheritance. The Expos’ death cleared space for a new generation — and, fittingly, a new Guerrero — to carry Canadian baseball forward.
It’s a story bigger than baseball — about how Canada keeps finding new voices, new heroes, and new reasons to believe.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will represent the Dominican Republic at the next World Baseball Classic, but in 2025 he already feels like Toronto’s prince — the face of a nation learning how to win, again.
Joe Carter hit the swing that made Toronto believe. Six years later, that same moment powered a Sandler plotline.
Now it’s back — Vladimir Guerrero Jr., born in Montreal after his father’s prime, carrying every generation in one swing.
Alejandro Kirk welcomed a daughter in 2023
George Springer’s kids run the Rogers Centre concourse postgame.
Chris Bassitt breaks down hitters with the patience of a Little League coach.
And Vladdy Jr., once baseball’s youngest phenom, now leans into “Papa Vladdy” on team videos
It’s the first roster in franchise history where fatherhood feels like part of the lineup card.
Not because they’re old — because they’re rooted.
After Game 6 of the ALCS, Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae asked Guerrero if he was ready for Game 7.
Camera operator Alex Frazao executed a perfect 360 as the Rogers Centre roared.
“I was born ready,” Vladdy said. “I want it all for this city.”
A generation arriving fully formed. The sequel to every father-and-son story this sport tells.
Joe Carter made Toronto believe.
Adam Sandler made it comedy.
Vladimir Guerrero Sr. and Jr. made it generational.
Baseball doesn’t just make stars; it makes families.
And right now, Toronto’s clubhouse might be the most cinematic one on earth — a team of fathers and sons playing for a city that’s been raising them all along.
Baseball on the Big Screen. Toronto built. World tested. Born Ready.
