Fiyaz Kanji and Owais Farooqui no longer live in Toronto, where they grew up, but they remain Blue Jays fans nonetheless. So much so, they made the trip to Cooperstown from Boston over the weekend to see Roberto Alomar's enshrinement as the team's first Hall of Famer. But they still can't believe Alomar swiped one of their T-shirts from them during Saturday's parade. And they want it back.
Kanji and his wife, Azra, now live in Boston. Farooqui, who lives in Los Angeles, had flown to Boston to see his friends after a stop in Seattle for work. The three of them left Boston at 6 a.m. Saturday to make the four-hour-plus drive to Cooperstown. Once they arrived, they wanted to get an Alomar T-shirt, but on this day, anyway, they were tough to find in the right size (large).
"It was a shirt that everyone was buying," Farooqui said. "All day I was looking for that shirt."
Finally, after having bought the right shirt for around $50, they lined up for the parade, which was held the day before Sunday's induction ceremony. Farooqui held the shirt and waved it, hoping to get Alomar's attention, while Kanji took the video you can see above.
"He called me over," Farooqui. "I thought he was just going to shake my hand or give me a high-five. He took the shirt and waved it a little. I thought maybe he would autograph it or something. He just turned and kept going."
After realizing they probably weren't getting the shirt back, Farooqui and the Kanjis raced to the end of the parade route, hoping maybe to get Alomar's attention. But Alomar ducked into the Hall before they could get to him.
"We were excited he took it at first," Kanji said. "Then we realized we weren't going to get it back. I want the damn shirt back."