History of the Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays came into existence in 1976, as one of two teams slated to join the American League for the following season (the other being the Seattle Mariners), via the 1977 Major League Baseball expansion. Toronto had been mentioned as a potential major league city as early as the 1880s, and had been home to the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team of the International League, from 1896 to 1967. They have played their home games at Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) since 1989. Creation of the Blue Jays Possible Toronto Giants In January 1976, San Francisco Giants owner Horace Stoneham agreed to sell the team for $13.25 million to a Toronto group which was led by Don McDougall and consisted of Labatt Breweries of Canada, Ltd., Vulcan Assets Ltd. – owned by The Globe and Mail chairman and president Howard Webster – and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). The team was to have begun play in the season at Exhibition Stadium on the CNE grounds, which had undergone a reconfiguration to be suited for baseball as part of the city's push towards an MLB team, and would have been called the Toronto Giants. However, the plan to move the Giants was quashed by a U.S. court. Following the court ruling, Bob Lurie purchased the Giants and kept them in San Francisco. American League expansion As above mentioned, the City of Toronto had reconfigured Exhibition Stadium to accommodate Major League Baseball (MLB), in anticipation of the Giants' relocation there, and continued to push for an MLB franchise. MLB decided to expand in 1976 to settle a lawsuit filed by the local governments in Seattle, Washington, against the American League for breach of contract, due to the relocation in 1970 of their Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee after only one season. To keep the league with an even number of teams with the addition of a new Seattle expansion franchise, a formal expansion proceeding was held, with a second team being awarded to the city of Toronto. A consortium composed of Labatt Breweries (45%), Webster (45%) and CIBC (10%), purchased the rights for the franchise from MLB for $7 million. However, even after the franchises were awarded, the future of baseball in Toronto appeared uncertain. Then-U.S. President Gerald Ford had attempted to put pressure on MLB to give Washington, D.C., an expansion franchise instead of Toronto. Washington had been without Major League Baseball since the Senators were moved to Arlington, Texas to become the Texas Rangers following the season (and would continue to do so until when Canada's first MLB team, the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, D.C., to become the Nationals). Following this development there was brief speculation by Metro Toronto chairman Paul Godfrey, among others, that Washington would be awarded Toronto's American League franchise and Toronto would instead be awarded a National League expansion franchise. However, Ford's attempts did not amount to anything and Toronto was allowed to keep its American League expansion franchise. The Blue Jays and Mariners