70 Fun Facts About Toronto Blue Jays

Which brewing company originally owned the Toronto Blue Jays?

The name Blue Jays was chosen from over 4,000 contest suggestions, and the brewery's flagship beer, Labatt Blue, did not hurt its chances.

The Blue Jays played their first Major League season in which year?

They arrived with one other club in the same American League expansion, and the two met in the 2025 ALCS.

The Blue Jays' very first game, played in a snowstorm on April 7, 1977, was a win over which team?

Snow had to be cleared from the artificial turf before the first pitch, and Toronto won 9-5.

Before SkyDome opened, where did the Blue Jays play their home games?

The club's president later called it not just the worst stadium in baseball but the worst stadium in sports.

In 1976, which existing MLB club nearly relocated to Toronto before a court ruling halted the sale?

The Canadian consortium planned to call them the Toronto Giants; the deal collapsed and Toronto got an expansion team instead.

How much did the new Toronto franchise cost when it was purchased in 1976?

By 2025 the club was handing a single player, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., a contract worth more than 70 times that amount.

Which manager led the Blue Jays to their first AL East title in 1985?

He left after the season for a National League job and went on to win 14 straight division titles there.

Who managed the Blue Jays to back-to-back World Series championships in 1992 and 1993?

He had been the club's hitting coach on the 1985 division winner and returned for a second stint as manager from 2008 to 2010.

The Blue Jays' 1992 championship was a World Series first for whom?

That 1992 win was also the first World Series championship for a team based outside the United States.

The Blue Jays won their first World Series in 1992 against which National League club?

The clinching Game 6 went 11 innings and was decided by a two-run double from a 41-year-old outfielder.

Who drove in the series-winning run with an 11th-inning double in Game 6 of the 1992 World Series?

He was 41 years old, and the hit finally buried the 'Mr. May' label George Steinbrenner had hung on him in New York.

Which Blue Jay hit the game-tying ninth-inning home run off Dennis Eckersley in Game 4 of the 1992 ALCS?

He was named MVP of that series and in 2011 became the first player inducted into Cooperstown primarily as a Blue Jay.

In December 1990 the Blue Jays traded Fred McGriff and Tony Fernández to San Diego for which pair?

Both newcomers were All-Stars in each of the next five seasons, and the deal is usually ranked among the most lopsided in Padres history.

Joe Carter's walk-off home run to win the 1993 World Series came against which team?

Toronto trailed 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth of Game 6 when Carter connected with Rickey Henderson and Paul Molitor on base.

Which pitcher gave up Joe Carter's series-ending home run in 1993?

Carter had been 0-for-4 against him in his career before the 2-2 pitch that ended the Series.

Before Joe Carter in 1993, who was the only player to end a World Series with a home run?

Mazeroski's came for Pittsburgh against the Yankees in 1960; Carter remains the only one hit by a player whose team was trailing at the time.

In 1983 Toronto police charged a Yankees outfielder with cruelty to animals after his warm-up throw killed what?

The thrower insisted it was an accident; nine years later he was a Blue Jays hero, delivering the 1992 World Series-winning hit.

Who threw the only no-hitter in Blue Jays history, in September 1990?

He had reached the ninth inning with a no-hitter intact four times in the previous five years before finally finishing one.

The franchise's only no-hitter, on September 2, 1990, was thrown against which opponent?

The pitcher had lost three previous no-hit bids with two outs in the ninth inning, so nobody in the dugout was breathing.

Which pitcher won the first Cy Young Award in Blue Jays history, in 1996?

He went 20-10 with a league-leading 10 complete games that year, edging Andy Pettitte in the vote.

Roger Clemens won the pitching Triple Crown as a Blue Jay in which two consecutive seasons?

He led the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts both years and collected a Cy Young Award for each, then forced a trade to the Yankees.

Roy Halladay's nickname 'Doc' was a reference to which figure?

Broadcaster Tom Cheek coined it, and Halladay's Rogers Centre suite for sick children was naturally called Doc's Box.

Roy Halladay went 22-7 and won the AL Cy Young Award in which season?

He led the American League in complete games five times in seven seasons for Toronto, and later threw a perfect game for Philadelphia.

Which uniform number did the Blue Jays retire in March 2018?

It honoured Roy Halladay, who had died in a plane crash the previous November; only two numbers hang retired at Rogers Centre.

How many consecutive regular-season Blue Jays games did Tom Cheek call before his streak ended in 2004?

The streak ran from the first game in 1977 until he took two days off after his father died; the number now sits beside his name in the ballpark.

Carlos Delgado set the Blue Jays' career home run record with how many?

He also holds the club marks for RBI and walks, and was a rookie on the 1993 championship roster without appearing in the postseason.

Which Blue Jays left fielder was named American League MVP in 1987?

Toronto still finished two games behind Detroit that year after losing its final seven games.

In 1988 a Blue Jays slugger became the first to hit three home runs on Opening Day, all off which pitcher?

The batter spent much of that season feuding with manager Jimy Williams over a move to designated hitter.

José Bautista led the majors with how many home runs in 2010?

He had never hit more than 16 in a season before, and it was the highest total in baseball since Alex Rodriguez in 2007.

José Bautista's famous 2015 bat flip came in the ALDS against which team?

The seventh-inning homer capped a chaotic Game 5 at Rogers Centre and became the image of Toronto's first playoff run in 22 years.

Which third baseman was voted AL MVP in 2015, his first season with the Blue Jays?

A fan campaign fronted by Don Cherry and actor Stephen Amell also made him the All-Star Game's record vote-getter that summer.

Edwin Encarnación's home run trot, right arm held out stiffly, was known as carrying what?

Fans flapped their arms in the stands and bought toy versions to strap to their own arms; he retired as the club's leader in walk-off homers.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was born in which city?

His father was starring in the National League there at the time, which gave Vladdy Canadian citizenship long before he was a Blue Jay.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s 14-year contract extension signed in 2025 was worth how much?

It made him one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, and he rewarded the club with a pennant that same October.

In which city did Vladimir Guerrero Jr. win the 2023 Home Run Derby?

His father had won the Derby in 2007, making them the first father-son pair to both take the title.

Where did the Blue Jays play their 2020 home games because of pandemic border restrictions?

Sahlen Field, home of their Triple-A affiliate, was upgraded in a hurry and hosted them again in June and July 2021.

In April and May 2021 the Blue Jays played home games at TD Ballpark in which Florida city?

It is their spring-training home, and the club did not return to Toronto until July 30 that year.

SkyDome was the first stadium in the world to have what?

Because nothing like it had been built, the engineers deliberately kept the dome shape simple and used proven technology to move it.

How many rooms in the hotel attached to Rogers Centre overlook the playing field?

The hotel has 348 rooms in total, and a few field-view guests have made unwanted appearances on the broadcast over the years.

The name SkyDome won a 1987 contest; which of these was one of the other three finalists?

The judges also considered Harbourdome and simply 'the Dome'; winning entrant Kellie Watson received lifetime seating that is still honoured.

SkyDome officially opened on which date?

It was finished two months late, so the Blue Jays spent the first part of 1989 at their old lakeside ballpark.

Rogers Communications bought SkyDome in 2004 for roughly what price?

That was about four percent of what the building had cost to construct, and it was renamed Rogers Centre the next year.

Who was the Blue Jays' mascot from 1979 to 1999?

Kevin Shanahan played the bird for two decades before it was replaced by a new duo in 2000.

Which mascot was dropped after the 2003 season, leaving Ace on his own?

Ace was later joined by a little brother, Junior, for Jr. Jays promotions.

Which singer recorded 'OK Blue Jays', the 1983 song fans clap along to during the seventh-inning stretch?

Credited to Keith Hampshire and The Bat Boys, it was remixed in 2003 and the shorter version now serves as the fight song.

What colour jerseys do the Blue Jays traditionally wear for their Canada Day home game?

A giant Canadian flag is unfurled by the Armed Forces and 'O Canada' is sung in English and French before the game.

The 'T-bird' logo that became the Blue Jays' primary mark in 2003 carried what nickname?

It showed a blue jay flexing its biceps; a year later the club moved on to a darker look altogether.

From 2004 to 2011 the Blue Jays' visual identity was built on black, silver and which third colour?

Fans complained the road lettering was illegible, and in 2012 the club went back to a modernised version of its 1977 logo.

The Blue Jays' 2024 City Connect uniform, inspired by Toronto nightlife, is nicknamed what?

Its 'pitch blue' shade is meant to evoke Lake Ontario's reflection at night, with the skyline drawn across the chest.

In the 1985 ALCS the Blue Jays led three games to one but lost to which team?

It was the first year the LCS was best-of-seven instead of best-of-five, which is precisely what let the series get away.

The Blue Jays became the first MLB team to draw more than 4,000,000 fans in which season?

They did it again in 1992 and 1993, and the 1993 figure stood as an American League record until the 2005 Yankees.

The Pearson Cup, an annual exhibition from 1978 to 1986, pitted the Blue Jays against which club?

It was named for former prime minister Lester B. Pearson and briefly revived in 2003-04 once interleague play existed.

The Blue Jays won the 2025 ALCS in seven games over which team?

The two clubs had entered the league together in 1977, and Toronto went on to face the Dodgers in the World Series.

The Blue Jays' 2025 World Series against the Dodgers went how many games?

The decider went to extra innings before Los Angeles, the defending champion, closed it out.

Which team is the Blue Jays' traditional geographic rival, four hours down Highway 401?

The rivalry cooled after Detroit moved to the AL Central in 1998, cutting the meetings to six or seven a year.

Which Red Sox legend served as the Blue Jays' hitting coach from 1977 to 1981?

His 1986 Cooperstown election made him the first person associated with the franchise to reach the Hall of Fame.

Which Hall of Fame 300-game winner was a Blue Jays radio broadcaster with Tom Cheek from 1977 to 1981?

He had been elected to Cooperstown in 1972, five years before the Blue Jays played a game.

Who was the Blue Jays' first employee, hired in 1976 and later the club's president?

He served two separate stints as president and is honoured on the club's Level of Excellence.

Which general manager, in charge from 1978 to 1994, assembled the back-to-back championship teams?

He later built pennant winners in three other cities and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011.

Why did the Blue Jays permanently switch to all-blue caps midway through 1993?

They wore the road caps at home, won the first game back, and kept them on all the way to a second straight title.

Which pitcher suggested bringing back the white-panelled caps for the final home games of 2025?

Toronto had lost six of seven in a tight race with the Yankees, then won its last four games to take the division.

In 2018, Omni Television began airing Sunday afternoon Blue Jays games in which language?

The station had already made history in 2013 with the first Canadian MLB broadcast in Mandarin, for a Chien-Ming Wang start.

Which channel has carried Blue Jays games in French since 2011?

Former Expos radio voice Jacques Doucet called games there until retiring in 2022.

Who was announced in 2026 as the first inductee into the Blue Jays' new Hall of Excellence?

He had been a player, manager and broadcaster for the club and retired from calling games after the 2025 season.

Along with the Blue Jays, which is the only other MLB club wholly under corporate ownership?

Rogers Communications has owned the Blue Jays since 2000; the Braves belong to Liberty Media.

Whose seven All-Star selections are a Blue Jays franchise record?

Halladay and Bautista were each picked six times, while Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter were picked five times apiece.

Which Yankee broke up a Blue Jays perfect-game bid with two outs in the ninth in August 1989?

Kelly doubled and then scored on the next at-bat, so the pitcher lost both the perfect game and the shutout; the franchise has still never had a perfect game.

Which team did the Blue Jays face in their 2014 exhibition games at Montreal's Olympic Stadium?

The Montreal spring series became an annual event, with the Reds, Red Sox, Pirates, Cardinals and Brewers following in later years.

Which pitcher in 2023 became the first Blue Jay since 2011 to wear number 12?

The number had been retired for Roberto Alomar in 2011 but was unretired after he was banned from baseball in 2021.

The Blue Jays played pre-season series at Vancouver's BC Place in 1984 and 1985 against which club?

The matchup made sense because the Vancouver Canadians were the Brewers' Triple-A farm team at the time.