Ex-Blue Jays player from Mississauga becomes Hamilton police officer

Dalton Pompey, a former outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays who hails from Mississauga, will be chasing criminals in Hamilton instead of fly balls on the baseball field.

Pompey has changed his career and joined the Hamilton Police Service.

While Hamilton police did not want to comment yet on its new high-profile officer, the force did tweet a photo today (June 28) that included a picture of Pompey wearing a baseball cap. The tweet did not mention Pompey or his new role with the force, but instead announced that police could now wear baseball caps. They said the major change in Hamilton police’s uniform policy was a way the force is modernizing and trying to make officers seem more approachable to the public.

Pompey, 30, played as a centrefielder, leftfielder and rightfielder professionally. He attended John Fraser Secondary School in Mississauga.

He was drafted by the Jays in 2010 when he was 17 and he made his major league baseball debut for the Toronto team on Sept. 2, 2014, according to his bio on mlb.com.

He ended his career with the Jays in 2018. He last played for the Intercounty Baseball League with the Guelph Royals in 2022 and the Los Angeles Angels’ minor league baseball team Salt Lake Bees in 2021. When he was with the Royals, he had  reportedly expressed his desire to switch careers.