Scent of a Pitcher

	Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Gustavo Chacin cologne give-away promotional poster.

By Lisa Altobelli

When begoggled lefty Gustavo Chacin debuted for the Blue Jays in 2004, baseball announcers kept mangling the pronunciation of his last name. After a clarification from the Jays (it's shah-SEEN), Toronto's FAN 590 host Don Landry declared that the name sounded "like a high-brow men's fragrance." That led Landry and his morning show partner, Gord Stellick, to begin a running gag about concocting a Chacin cologne. That led the promotions company Tri-Star to contact the Blue Jays to see if it could make the fragrance a reality. And that will lead to Chacin Cologne Night on June 27 in Toronto. The first 10,000 fans will receive a small vial of a scent that the southpaw helped design. "It's not better than a Cy Young," says Chacin of having his own fragrance, "but it's big time."

In April, Chacin visited Ontario's Leslie Cosmetics, where president Mark Rival had beakers of essential base oils for him to smell. Chacin picked three, a "citrus," a "woodsy" and an "amber" scent, and Rival mixed them together to create the official Chacin Cologne for Men. "It started as a joke, but it actually smells quite good. I wear it myself," says Rival.

Chacin's teammates -- "They tease me about it a lot," says the 25-year-old Venezuelan native -- like to spritz one another with bottles they find lying around the locker room, and several wear black promotional T-shirts reading are you a chacin man? under their uniforms. "I think it smells great," says Jays manager John Gibbons. "This couldn't have happened to a better guy than Gus." Rival says he's just glad Chacin is having a good year. "Thank God, he's 6-2. I could see the headline: chacin stinks like his cologne."

Smell Check

Diego Gallego, a fragrance expert with Men's Chanel, likes Chacin's cologne.

"It's warm and fresh with some sweet notes. It's an easy grab-and-go fragrance. You can keep it in your gym bag and wear it to the coffee shop or away for the weekend."

• Rated 3 out of 4 noses

Issue date: June 26, 2006

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