For many Torontonians, the last two years of spectating our "Boys in Blue" has been some of the best baseball we've seen out of Toronto in many years. Before 2015, the Jays made it to the postseason in 1993, where they won the World Series title with, what is without a doubt, the biggest moment in Toronto Blue Jays history. Joe Carter's walk-off homer to win the 1993 World Series at home, accompanied by those famous words, "touch 'em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life," said by the late Blue Jays radio voice Tom Cheek.

Being the only Canadian city in the MLB, when the Blue Jays make it into the postseason, they've got the whole country behind them, from sports fans and pastors to other Canadian athletes.

If you can recall the 2016 postseason, you may remember a person throwing a beer can at a player in the outfield during a home game versus the Baltimore Orioles. If you would like a refresher on the incident, please see our previous blog on this matter.

That man was later identified as Ken Pagan, previously a sports copy editor for Postmedia Network Inc.

He was charged with the following:

Under the Criminal Code, the test for mischief is: Mischief

  • 430 (1) Every one commits mischief who wilfully
    • (a) destroys or damages property;
    • (b) renders property dangerous, useless, inoperative or ineffective;
    • (c) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property; or
    • (d) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with any person in the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property.

If found guilty, the possible sanctions he might face are:

(4) Every one who commits mischief in relation to property, other than property described in subsection (3),

  • (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; or
  • (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

This past Tuesday while in court, he stated he was guilty to the charge of mischief that was laid.

The statements made in court listed a number of things such as where Pagan was sitting, left-field area of the Rogers Centre – Section 139, Row 3 during the game that took place on October 4th. The incident occurred at the bottom of the 7th inning around 10:17pm.

The statement goes on to include how the beer can "narrowly missed the player" and how the incident "caused a significant disruption in the game and created concerns for player safety."

Now, Pagan must wait for his sentencing hearing in June, where he could face up to two years in jail for his offence. A Toronto defence lawyer not involved in the case, Ari Goldkind, stated that in cases involving mischief under $5,000 convictions do not lead to anything serious, and may not even be reflected on his criminal record.

Typical punishment can be donating to charity, community service, letter of apology, or payment of property damage.

More updates to come as this story develops.

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