A Toronto legend is retiring—and this could be his last day
Rockin’ Rick has been drumming outside Jays games since 1989
If you’re a regular at Blue Jays games, you know and love Rockin’ Rick, the friendly drummer who’s been set up outside the ballpark since he began busking in 1989.
A beloved figure in Jays fandom, Rockin’ Rick (whose full name is Rick Donaldson) recently announced that he’ll be packing it in at the end of this season. After 36 years, Donaldson told the CBC that he wants to take his own grandkids to Jays games.
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He’ll continue drumming professionally, currently with Juno-winning blues musician Jack de Keyzer.
The Jays managed to level out the American League Championship Series over the weekend, forcing a high-stakes game seven tonight at the Rogers Centre. If they win, they’ll advance to the World Series. If they lose, well, that’ll be too bad, and it’ll mark Rockin’ Rick’s official retirement.
Whatever happens tonight, we hope to see Rockin’ Rick on the jumbotron next year.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
