There were 48 million reasons to keep Alex Anthopoulos, all of them dollars, and by April that number could be closer to $70 million.

That’s how much the Blue Jays took in with ticket and merchandise sales between August and late October — all of that above what was budgeted for. And that’s not counting upcoming Christmas sales and new ticket buyers, all of which will certainly up those numbers for the coming season.

The economics alone are astounding in a corporate world in which bottom line figures trump all. But in this case, the architect of so many of the numbers will travel to Florida Monday to pick his baseball executive of the year award without a team to call his own.

Rogers Inc. didn’t err in fighting to keep Anthopoulos, offering him big money and long term, albeit too late in the race. The ownership erred in how it went about trying to replace Paul Beeston, how it settled on Mark Shapiro without comprehending in any way what it might mean to its general manager, how it never involved itself enough in the Blue Jays front office to get to know Anthopoulos or understand clearly why he couldn’t or wouldn’t work with the incoming president.

No one has ever made the Jays this kind of drop-from-the-sky-money before. Maybe no one ever will again. The man who managed the impossible is gone.

But he left behind a whole lot of dough for the owners to capitalize on.

THIS AND THAT

My Reader’s Digest version of why Anthopoulos left: He met with the new president. Shapiro offered him a two-year contract, which he took as a mammoth insult. From that moment on it was clear in Anthopoulos’ mind that he couldn’t work with someone who didn’t want him or respect him. The rest of the story is pretty much blue and white noise ... Anthopoulos has heard from almost half the teams in major league baseball and a number of media outlets since walking away from the Jays. His priority right now, sounding like every out-of-work executive, is to spend more time with the family. But he knows he’s a workaholic and soon he’ll be back working ... Last November, Anthopoulos and Beeston traded for Marco Estrada and Josh Donaldson and signed Russell Martin as a free agent. Over to you, Mr. Shapiro ... Curious about the appointment of Tony LaCava as interim general manager but not really a candidate to be general manager of the Jays. Either he’s the right choice or not the right choice to do the job. There shouldn’t be an in between ... No player has ever accepted a qualifying offer in baseball, but if I’m Estrada, I might consider it. The reason: In eight big league seasons, his career earnings are just over $10 million. If he believes he can have another year like the last one, take the $15.8 million qualifying offer, bet on yourself, and then turn it into $40 or so million more after that. He’s going to get $32-36 million or thereabouts in free agency this year in a three-year deal. The safe move is free agency. The go-for-it bet is accepting the qualifying offer ... Don’t be the least bit surprised if the Jays hire Bud Black in some capacity soon.

HEAR AND THERE

Ken Hitchcock said it was time. After four Olympic Games, five world championships and one World Cup, it was time for others to be on the Team Canada coaching staff. “We need new blood,” said Hitchcock. “We can’t keep using the same people.” He was referring to himself. Not to Mike Babcock. Maybe ... Now coaching the U.S. women’s hockey team: Ken Klee, the former Leafs defenceman ... I’m disappointed in Igor Larionov. He’s on the Hockey Hall of Fame committee and could advocate for Sergei Makarov. If he does that, he doesn’t do it very loudly. Makarov is the most deserving player not in the Hall. It’s a shame that hasn’t been corrected.. Not once in watching most of Phil Housley’s career did I think Hall of Fame ... The historic 1,000th career doubles win will wait for next season. Daniel Nestor ended the season at 999 ... Morgan Rielly should be included on the World Cup under-23 team. Why Babcock doesn’t include him on the Leafs power play more often is hard to figure ... I’m thrilled the Leafs Corsi Close has improved to sixth in the NHL and that they’re playing “the right way.” I’d be more impressed if they weren’t 28th in goals-for, 27th in goals-against, 24th on the power play, 22nd on the penalty kill and last in the NHL in wins.

SCENE AND HEARD

If only life was more like the NBA. You can be a lousy rebounder who doesn’t get to the line, who doesn’t dribble the ball, who doesn’t take advantage of his athleticism, who doesn’t really have a high basketball IQ, who doesn’t play great defence, who doesn’t pass much and all you’ll get for that is $33 million over three seasons. The gamble is that Terrence Ross becomes a somebody ... The Raptors go into Miami Sunday night with a 5-1 record. And you know what, they probably should be 6-0. This is much more of a Dwane Casey team than we’ve seen in past years ... If the Argos were going to honour Mike O’Shea, which was a great idea, why not wait till the beginning of next season? At BMO Field. With an engaged crowd ... Heading into Saturday night, Dion Phaneuf led the Leafs in scoring, good enough for 102nd in the NHL. At 101st, and they can’t seem to get away from each other, Phil Kessel.

AND ANOTHER THING

My 16 Team Canada early invites: Carey Price, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Shea Weber, Sidney Crosby, Alex Pietrangelo, Steven Stamkos, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, John Tavares, P.K. Subban, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Jeff Carter, Braden Holtby ... John Gibbons ran into Scotty Bowman late in the baseball season. Bowman, a ball fan, wished Gibbons good luck in the playoffs with hope he’d win a championship. “If I get one,” said Gibbons, “I’ll only be 11 behind you.” Corrected Bowman: “You mean, 13 behind.” He said it with a smile. Sort of ... This seems off: Don Cherry getting Canadian Walk of Fame status on Hockey Hall of Fame weekend. Shouldn’t he be in the Builders category already? ... Easy casting: If there’s ever a movie made with a Ken Holland part, Daniel Craig would have to play Holland ... At last glance, 23 NHL teams were averaging fewer than three goals a game. That’s not good ... No Nursing shortage here: Darnell Nurse, Edmonton Oilers; Kia Nurse, star of Canada’s basketball team; First cousin Sarah Nurse, playing hockey for Team Canada and Wisconsin ... Happy birthday to the most popular Leaf of all, Johnny Bower (91), Giancarlo Stanton (26), Ed Kranepool (71), Ted DiBiase Jr. (33), Keith Jones (47), and Boobie Clark (65) ... And hey, whatever became of Tim Leiweke?

CRAVING MORE DOMI

Have you ever taken a bite of a sandwich and found yourself unsatisfied?

There was too much bread, not enough meat. There was a little bit there but you wanted more.

That’s how I felt reading Shift Work, the recently released autobiography of Tie Domi. It could have been, should have been, a great meal. Instead, it left me hungry.

There is a tremendous book to be written about the complicated, contradictory and sometimes controversial Domi, but unfortunately this isn’t it.

Domi played his career bashing into corners at full speed, upsetting the norm, but here he dances a little too much, tells parts of stories, leaves too many good ones out, tells an Eric Lindros tale but doesn’t mention Eric Lindros.

The book is nicely written by Jim Lang and easily read, but in a way it reminds me of the way Domi viewed his own career. He always thought he could be more than he was. He always thought he was a better player than most of his coaches believed him to be.

He touches on the life of a fighter, on how he made so many famous friends, on his remarkable and occasionally sad family life, on his street smarts, and — maybe the strongest few pages of the book — on taking on the hockey world and his teammates for how sparsely the funeral of Wade Belak was attended.

Maybe I know too much. Maybe I was around him too often to hear his views and thoughts for too many years.

I wanted the Tie Domi in print that I used to hear on the telephone. Instead, I got a surface version. If he had played the game this safely, you would never have known his name.

PRONGER WAS FRANCHISE-CHANGER

You can make the case on this Hall of Fame Weekend that Chris Pronger was one of the most impactful, franchise changing players in hockey history. Not better than Nicklas Lidstrom, who only played for the Red Wings. Not better than Bobby Orr, who no one was better than.

Just different and strong and tough and mean and full of more finesse than most may acknowledge. He understood winning like few players have ever understood winning.

He spent one season with the Edmonton Oilers. They hadn’t won a playoff round the seven previous years. He led his team to the Stanley Cup final and then left. And in the nine seasons since, the Oilers have not made the playoffs once.

In his first season in Anaheim, the Ducks won their only Stanley Cup.

In his first season in Philadelphia, the Flyers came within an AHL goalie of winning the Cup.

Three first seasons in three different places and three historical endings.

Combining Pronger and Lidstrom makes this the strongest defensive Hall of Fame class there has ever been.

Lidstrom’s career was understated yet magical. You could watch him play one game and never understood all he did and how easily he seemed to do it. You had to watch him a lot to see what he did and, just as importantly, what he didn’t do. He looked economical, effortless, almost perfect and never out of position.

Lidstrom spent 20 seasons with the Red Wings and in that time the club never missed the playoffs, and averaged — yes, averaged — 108 points a season. By a Toronto comparison, no Leafs team has ever had 108 points in any season. The best Toronto season in the NHL has been 103 points. Lidstrom’s Red Wings were better than that 11 different times.

MCDAVID MANIA UNPRECEDENTED IN CANADA

It is completely different, the way this country and its hockey fans have taken to Connor McDavid. It is, in a way, unprecedented.

It took a while to warm up to Wayne Gretzky and understand all the subtleties of how he played. It took a long time to feel good about Mario Lemieux, whose personality was the absolute opposite of his loud game. We took to Sidney Crosby almost immediately, but in a different, not emotionally attached kind of way.

For whatever reason, we have a taken a certain ownership in McDavid, like buying in on Apple at the right time and realizing you’re owning something on the rise. We follow his every move. And now we mourn in a hockey kind of way that we’ve lost a few months of this season after crashing into the boards sent him to surgery and us to the doldrums.

He lost it. We lost it. The game, especially in this country, lost it. It’s hard to invest in the Maple Leafs. The biggest hockey star in Canada is a goaltender in Montreal.

So now we wait, holding our breath just a little, hoping for the best. I’m figuring sometime around February for McDavid’s return. Until then, I have to find something to spend my time watching.

steve.simmons@sunmedia.ca

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