BRONX – Loud boos had been heard all through Yankee Stadium as “O Canada” was performed earlier than Recreation 3 of the American League Division Collection between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees.
The booing began as anthem singer Graham Rowat was launched on Tuesday evening by the stadium PA announcer. The boos picked up once more because the Broadway actor completed his rendition.
The gang then loudly cheered as a big American flag was unfurled within the outfield as Rowat started singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“Sports activities followers are passionate individuals,” Rowat stated when reached by cellphone later within the night. “So I can put it right down to that, and possibly not any bigger occasion.”
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The Blue Jays gained the primary two video games of the best-of-five sequence at Rogers Centre final weekend. It’s the first-ever post-season assembly between the AL East Division rivals.
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The boo-birds returned within the first inning when Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer to provide the Blue Jays an early lead.
Anthem booing was widespread all through North American sports activities venues final winter attributable to tariff-related tensions between Canada and the USA. The pattern finally misplaced steam.
Rowat, from Peterborough, Ont., is now primarily based within the New York space. He works as an audiobook narrator and has carried out in productions equivalent to “Guys and Dolls,” “Mamma Mia!” and “Magnificence and the Beast.”
He had carried out stadium anthem singings in a bunch setting earlier than however this was his first solo expertise, he stated.
Rowat couldn’t hear the boos, he added, as a result of his in-ear displays basically sealed off outdoors sound throughout his efficiency.
He stated a “well mannered” staffer at an earlier sound verify informed him that booing could also be a risk given the way it was widespread at sporting venues earlier within the yr.
“If I had not been warned, I most likely would have been thrown off,” Rowat stated.
Toronto led 6-3 after three innings within the must-win sport for the Yankees.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Oct. 7, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
