brandon belt blue jays chicken

Newest Toronto Blue Jays player is a proud connoisseur of chicken tenders

The Toronto Blue Jays have signed first baseman Brandon Belt to a one-year, $9.3 million deal.

While the Jays have yet to make the signing official, it's good news for the ball club, and it might be even better news for purveyors of chicken tenders in Canada's only MLB market.

You see, the 34-year-old Texan and former San Francisco Giant is apparently a huge fan of a mainstay on kids' menus worldwide: good, old-fashioned chicken tenders.

Despite being a full-grown adult with a wife and two sons, Belt is very serious about his chicken tenders, so much so that he even penned a 2019 blog post professing his love for the food, claiming that tendies were the highlight of a road trip to Toronto.

"I can't leave you today without sharing one of the highlights of the trip to Toronto," wrote Belt.

"What most baseball players look for on the road is a hotel that has good room service late at night. When I get to the hotel at 11 or 12 after a game or a flight, and I can get good chicken tenders and a slice of good apple pie or chocolate cake with it, I'm pumped."

Belt goes on to describe his bizarre ritual for consuming his tendies, and I feel a trigger warning is in order for what you're about to read.

"I get my ketchup and my ranch, and I dip the tenders - ketchup first, then ranch. Then lots of black pepper on the fries," wrote Belt.

But here's where it gets really weird.

The ball player isn't procuring his poultry from Popeyes or his tendies from Wendy's. No, the multi-million-dollar-earning baseball star gets his chicken tenders from the freakin' Ritz-Carlton.

"The Ritz Carlton in Toronto had the best chicken tenders I've ever had in my life. Just the right amount of crisp and super tender," wrote Belt.

Belt even credits a big game to the deep-fried bird parts, writing, "I had a homer and a double in that two-game series, and I think it was the tenders."

A quick check of the Ritz-Carlton Toronto website reveals that those chicken tenders will set diners back $25, which is indeed pretty pricey for tenders, but it's also room service at the Ritz.

Belt admits that it may have also just been the rest, writing that while other players used a team off day to visit Niagara Falls, he stayed in his hotel room watching Shark Tank on his phone and playing with a Rubik's Cube.

A delightfully weird individual who will be a welcome addition to our delightfully weird city.

Lead photo by

MLB


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