In the 19th century, Albert Spalding suggested the city of Toronto might be a good location for a big league club.  But, it took almost a century for Major League Baseball to finally plant its flag north of the border, although the winning city was Montreal where the National League placed the Expos in 1969.  In 1971, financier Robert Webster made a strong push to buy the San Diego Padres and move them to Toronto.  The effort failed, but it provided the city the motivation to make improvements to the existing Canadian National Exhibition Stadium in order that it be baseball-ready in the event of any future possibilities. In 1976, a group which included Webster and representatives of the Labatt's Breweries announced an agreement to purchase the San Francisco Giants for $13.4 million and bring them to Toronto, but the deal came to naught when San Francisco mayor George Moscone used delaying tactics which ultimately allowed time to find a local buyer for the team.    Shortly thereafter, though, it was announced that Toronto would indeed receive a team, via the American League expansion in 1977. 

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The Blue Jays, unlike their expansion partners the Seattle Mariners, banked on youth and quickly developed an outstanding farm system.  After only a few years of existence (and last-place finishes), their system had produced a number of fine youngsters including Dave Stieb, Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield, who would help turn the club into a contender by 1983, and a division winner in 1985.  Perennially fighting for the top spot in the division, they finally made it to the Series in 1992, when they won the first of back-to-back championships.  The latter 1990s and the 2000s saw the team mired in mediocrity (or worse), and they were unable to make the post-season again until 2015.     

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In one of MLB's greatest "what might have been" stories, the Jays reached an agreement to trade veteran pitcher Bill Singer, obtained in the expansion draft, to the Yankees for a young pitcher prior to their inaugural game in 1977.  Ownership nixed the deal because Singer was featured on the cover of their media guide for 1977, and it surely would have been unseemly for them to have traded their cover boy for some unproven youngster before they'd even played a game.  The Yankee in question?  Ron Guidry.  

 

The main purpose of this page is to illustrate those players, managers and coaches who have been the most prominent in the franchise's history.  Links below will take you to galleries highlighting each, by position.  Generally, an individual is included if he spent at least 2 full seasons (consecutive or cumulative) as a starter, relief pitcher, closer or manager. For coaches, I've generally used 5 years of service as the bar.  None of this is scientific, though, so there are exceptions.  Where possible and practical, I used pictures of actual baseball cards because that it is the medium through which I, and I suppose many others, first discovered the game. Where necessary, I designed my own images.  Images of actual baseball cards were obtained at the Card Cyber Museum, and for my own designs I used photos found at host of different sites, but none moreso than the wonderful forum at Out of the Park Developments.  

 

I claim no rights to, or ownership of, any of the photographic images I've used on these pages.   You are welcome to use them yourself.  All I ask is that that if you use any of my personal creations, you give credit to this site.