University of Virginia alumni Jenny Weatherholtz and Ryan Hargraves have established a tradition as partial season-ticket holders for the Toronto Blue Jays.
When Blue Jays second baseman Ernie Clement comes to bat, Hargraves taps any friend who may be attending the game with them and quips proudly, “Hey, did you know he went to UVA?”
All Wahoos may deploy a similar strategy Tuesday during the Major League Baseball All-Star Game when Clement takes the field.
Clement readies to throw to first base during his time as a Virginia Cavalier. The All-ACC infielder – and 2015 national champion – was inducted into the Virginia Baseball Hall of Fame in 2023. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
The All-Atlantic Coast Conference player and key piece to Virginia’s 2015 College World Series championship team is only the second Cavalier to earn a starting position for MLB’s annual “Midsummer Classic.” (The first was Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals, who started at third base for the National League in 2017.)
But Clement’s achievement is more than that. He , a rousing 3.2 million of them that trumped even someone like Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, a three-time American League MVP.
Ernie Clement will be the American League’s starting 2B at the All-Star Game!
Clement earns an automatic bid after leading all AL players in Phase 1 voting.— MLB (@MLB)
So, yes, Hargraves and his wife, Weatherholtz, are unapologetically boastful about the popular Jay, who was first a Hoo.
“To see Ernie succeed and represent UVA and our community so well and just play so well and become so beloved in Toronto, it’s really been incredible,” Weatherholtz said. “It makes the city, the stadium, the fandom feel like home. You really feel that point of connection and that point of pride.”
Around 400 UVA alumni live in Canada. Weatherholtz, a 2003 graduate, and Hargraves, a double Hoo, moved to Toronto from Vermont in 2021.
Clement arrived two years later, but with little fanfare after losing his roster spot with the Cleveland Guardians and being released by the Oakland Athletics in a span of five months. His career revival in Toronto – and is among this year’s league leaders in hits and doubles – has added to his appeal among Canadians, said Ottawa’s Kris Nanda, a double Hoo and 1985 School of Law alumnus.
“We love Ernie’s story,” Nanda said. “I mean, he was cut a couple of times. He’s not, like, the golden boy, No. 1 draft pick, who immediately stepped into the starting lineup. I think people can relate to that.”
Nanda, a Northern Virginia native, has lived in Canada for more than three decades and developed a passion for the country’s lone MLB team. After learning that a UVA Today writer was asking why Clement has become such a fan favorite in the “Great White North,” Nanda surveyed his closest fellow Jays supporters.
UVA alumni in Toronto – left, Jenny Weatherholtz and Ryan Hargraves; right, Bruce Wu – show their support for Clement and the Blue Jays. They are three of around 400 Wahoos living in Canada. (Contributed photos)
Some mentioned – a sport always near and dear to Canadians’ hearts – and others highlighted his hometown of Rochester, New York, and its proximity to Toronto.
Mary Flowers, Nanda’s 97-year-old neighbor, said, simply, “He just looks like he’s having fun out there. And he’s at ease.”
Is Clement Flowers’ favorite player?
“He’s definitely one of them,” Nanda said. “I think Ernie’s a lot of people’s favorite player.”
An MLB.com story from October – – reported how it was Clement, and not someone like his superstar teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whose name was chanted throughout Toronto’s Rogers Centre during last fall’s World Series run.
Clement’s radiant personality makes him easy to root for, said 2019 UVA alumnus Bruce Wu, a Toronto native.
