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The day in September when the Toronto Blue Jays clinched a playoff spot against the Orioles at Camden Yards in Baltimore, a scene played out in the stadium that you simply don’t see in the world of professional sports. There was GM Alex Anthopoulos, sitting with his wife in the first row behind the Jays’ dugout, shoulder to shoulder with the fans.

The real fans, not the ones who hang out in the luxury boxes and schmooze while the game goes on somewhere far below.

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And when the game ended and the orange-and-blue celebration commenced in the midst of black-and-orange Camden Yards, there was Anthopoulos, shaking hands, patting backs, exchanging hugs, celebrating with the very people who pay the freight for the entire bloated edifice of professional sports.

It was gratifying, it was humble, it was down-to-earth. It was Anthopoulos, the Greek kid from Montreal who has made it to the pinnacle of an intensely competitive sport by simply being himself. Anthopoulos remained precisely that, right up to the moment Thursday when he announced his departure from the Blue Jays, the architect of their success stepping down almost at the moment of their near-triumph.