Blue Jays fan who arrived speaking no English gets his dream day at Rogers Centre

Rodrigo Farias arrived in Canada from Chile at age eight knowing almost no English — only the numbers one through fifty, "hello," "how are you," and "bye." His first Blue Jays game became one of his earliest memories of feeling welcome in his new home.

"The experience was surreal," Farias recalled. "It was a sport I'd never seen before in a stadium I'd never been to, with a massive amount of people in the crowd. Everybody cheered and chanted. It was fantastic." He remembers getting a T-shirt, foam finger, and hat.

But one moment stayed with him: sitting a few rows behind the dugout, his stepfather encouraged him to call out to Carlos Delgado in Spanish. "He looked up, said something to me and waved," Farias said. "To me, I was just like, 'Wow.' Not only am I this close to the players, but they acknowledged me. They made me feel welcome in my first game."

That moment sparked a lifelong passion for the team. "You see somebody wearing a Blue Jays hat across the street, you make eye contact, nod or say, 'Go Jays,'" Farias said. "There's that connection, that passion of the team, that brotherhood."

Now, 25 years later, Farias has won the Rogers Game Day Owner contest, giving him behind-the-scenes access to Rogers Centre — including the clubhouse, dugout, and field — plus the chance to meet players and share ideas with club executives.

When he received the call telling him he'd been selected, he was driving to work. "I wanted to pull over and scream," he said with a laugh. The opportunity comes during what has already been a milestone year: Farias recently became a Canadian citizen and is preparing to get married in just two weeks.