Baby in baseball tug-of-war between Blue Jays dad, Yankees mom

Two baseball fans cheering for two teams in one family has put one baby girl in the centre of a friendly tug-of-war.

Nobody will be watching the Blue Jays during this post-season more closely than Regina’s Rob Ast. He insists that on a scale of one to 10, he’s a 10 in regards to how big of a fan he is.

By default, his wife Janelle will also be watching despite being a big fan of the New York Yankees.

Caught in the middle is six-month-old Rebecca.

“Rebecca obviously is going to grow up in a family that has one parent that loves the Blue Jays and one parent that loves the New York Yankees,” indicated Rob.

“When she was born it was kind of a joke as to which side she was going to lean towards,” added Janelle.

The couple described it as a light-hearted yet deep-rooted rivalry, one where little Rebecca is showered with an array of various onezies, sleepers, and other clothes with both teams’ logos on them. On this day, the baby wears a Blue Jays t-shirt to symbolize Toronto’s success in 2015. Rob insists she’s the team’s lucky charm. The Yankees, meantime, have been eliminated from the playoffs.

Both parents try and playfully persuade her to cheer for their respective team. Rob jokes around by saying “Boo Yankees!” in front of his daughter in an attempt to plant the seeds of hatred for the Bronx Bombers.

“It’s playful but there’s some competition going on for sure,” he said.

As she plays with her toys and giggles near the kitchen table, Rebecca has no idea she’s being asked to show an interest in one of her parents’ teams. For now all both parents can do is sprinkle fan spirit on Rebecca and hope it sticks. After all, it’ll be her decision which team to route for, at least one day.

“When the time comes we’ll let her decide. I’ll steer her in the direction I hope she goes but at the end of the day it’ll be her choice,” expressed Rob.

“It’ll break her dad’s heart if she’s a Yankees fan,” Janelle laughed. “She’ll always know in the back of her heart that the Yankees are her favourite team.”