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Toronto
Blue Jays Baseball History |
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The Toronto Blue
Jays are noted as being the first team Outside the United States to
win the Priced World Series. The Toronto Blue Jays is a professional
Major League Baseball team based in Toronto, Ontario and play in the
Eastern Division of the American League. The Blue Jays will be the
only team based in Canada after the relocation of the Montreal Expos.
The Toronto Blue Jays was founded in 1977 as an expansion of the American
League. The home ballpark for the Blue Jays is the SkyDome, it's capacity
is 50,516 and has been home to the Blue Jays since 1989.It was the
first retractable-roof stadium built in the major leagues, and became
an immediate landmark in Toronto. The former Blue jays Home ballpark
from 1977-1989 was Exhibition Stadium. The Uniform colors for the
Toronto Blue Jays are blue, white (home), grey (away), black (alternate),
red is an alternate for Canada Day and other special national holidays.
The Blue Jays logo design is a stylized white and silver "Jays",
with a blue, white and silver blue jay's head pointing leftward in
the crook of the letter "J". The Toronto Blue Jays have
won five Division Championships in, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993.
The American League Pennants won were in, 1992 and 1993, the Blue
Jays went on to win in, 1992 and 1993. The franchise was originally
owned by Labatt Breweries, Imperial Trust and Canadian Imperial Bank
of Commerce. The team played its first game in April, 1977 against
the Chicago White Sox, winning the game 9-5. The team rose to prominence
soon after joining the American League. The team line up consisted
of some of the top players including Jesse Barfield, George Bell,
Joe Carter, and Tony Fernandez. Roy Hartsfield was the team's manager
and he was taken over by Bobby Mattick in 1980. The following was
the strike season, and the Blue Jays improved their winning percentage
but still finished in last place in the American League East. The
team's best first solid season came in 1982 when they managed to finish
78-84. In September 1982 the team set a new club mark for road attendance,
exceeding the previous mark of 1,285,409. Barfield topped the American
League with 40 home runs in 1986. Bell was named American League most
valuable player (MVP) in 1987 after driving in an AL-best 134 runs.
Gaston replaced Cox as manager in 1989 and it was under his guidance
that the club won four East Division titles between 1989 and 1993
and in 1992 became the first Canadian franchise to win the World Series.
At the end of 1991 season the team acquired pitcher Jack Morris, who
had led the Twins by pitching a 10-inning complete game shutout in
game 7 of the previous World Series. The Blue Jays started 1997 with
high hopes, and some good action when they signed former Boston Red
Sox ace Roger Clemens to a $24,750,000 contract. Buck Martinez, a
former catcher for the Blue Jays, took over as manager before the
2001 season. The current Stars for the Toronto Blue Jays are, Roy
Halladay, Eric Hinske, Orlando, Ted Lilly, Alexis Rios, and Vernon
Wells.
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Blue Jays Baseball Website |
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