70 Facts About Toronto Blue Jays

1.

Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto.

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2.

The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League East division.

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3.

Since 2000, the Blue Jays have been owned by Rogers Communications and in 2004, SkyDome was purchased by that company, which renamed it Rogers Centre.

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4.

From 1985 to 1993, the Blue Jays were an AL East powerhouse, winning five division championships in nine seasons, including three consecutive from 1991 to 1993.

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5.

The Blue Jays became the first team outside the US to appear in and win a World Series, and the fastest AL expansion team to do so, winning in its 16th year.

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6.

In both years, the Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers in the AL Division Series, but lost the AL Championship Series.

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7.

Blue Jays were approved as part of the 1977 Major League Baseball expansion discussions, after Toronto's original plan of getting a Major League Baseball team by luring the Giants from San Francisco fell through; they would be added alongside the Seattle Mariners.

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8.

Blue Jays played their first game on April 7,1977, against the Chicago White Sox before a home crowd of 44,649.

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9.

In 1985, Toronto Blue Jays won its first championship of any sort: the first of its six American League East division titles.

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10.

The Blue Jays featured strong pitching and a balanced offense.

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11.

The Toronto Blue Jays faced the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series, and took a three-game-to-one lead.

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12.

The Toronto Blue Jays obtained centre fielder Devon White from the California Angels.

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13.

In 1991, the Blue Jays became the first Major League club ever to draw over four million fans in one season.

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14.

The Blue Jays met the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS, winning four games to two.

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15.

Game 6 in Atlanta, with the Blue Jays leading 3 games to 2, was a very close game.

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16.

The Blue Jays became the first team based outside of the United States to win the World Series.

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17.

Pat Borders, the Toronto Blue Jays' catcher, was the unlikely player who was named MVP after hitting.

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18.

In 1993, the Blue Jays had seven All-Stars: outfielders Devon White and Joe Carter, infielders John Olerud and Roberto Alomar, designated hitter Molitor, plus starting pitcher Pat Hentgen, and closer Duane Ward.

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19.

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox four games to two in the ALCS, and then the Philadelphia Phillies, four games to two, for their second straight World Series victory.

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20.

Gaston was replaced with former Toronto Blue Jays Jay Tim Johnson, who was a relative unknown as a manager.

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21.

The Toronto Blue Jays were in contention for the wildcard spot until the final week.

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22.

On November 8,1999, Toronto Blue Jays traded star outfielder Shawn Green to the Los Angeles Dodgers for left-handed relief pitcher Pedro Borbon and right-fielder Raul Mondesi.

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23.

Buck Martinez, former catcher and broadcast announcer for the Blue Jays, took over as manager before the season began with a home game in Puerto Rico.

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24.

Blue Jays started the 2002 season with slow progress in performance.

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25.

Toronto Blue Jays was replaced by third base coach Carlos Tosca, an experienced minor league manager.

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26.

The Toronto Blue Jays were hit with the injury bug when third baseman Corey Koskie broke his finger, taking him out of the line-up, but the club was pleasantly surprised with the performance of rookie call-up Aaron Hill in his stead.

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27.

On December 18, the Blue Jays announced that they had re-signed centre fielder Wells to a seven-year contract worth $126 million, which came into effect after the 2007 season.

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28.

Toronto Blue Jays was replaced by assistant general manager Alex Anthopoulos.

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29.

The Blue Jays set a franchise record for the most home runs in a single season as they hit 257,13 more than their previous record of 244 set by the 2000 Blue Jays.

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30.

The Blue Jays tied the 1996 Baltimore Orioles for the third-most home runs by a team in a single season.

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31.

Toronto Blue Jays went 4-for-5 with two home runs, including a home run hit on the first pitch he saw.

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32.

Toronto Blue Jays became an All-Star for the first time in his career.

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33.

The Jays made a blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins, leading to a series of other blockbuster trades and signings, including with the New York Mets for National League Cy Young winner R A Dickey and free agents including Melky Cabrera.

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34.

The Toronto Blue Jays acquired Marco Estrada, Devon Travis, All-Star third baseman Josh Donaldson, and Michael Saunders in trades.

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35.

The Toronto Blue Jays claimed Justin Smoak, Andy Dirks, and Chris Colabello off waivers.

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36.

Toronto Blue Jays later traded Jose Reyes and pitching prospects Miguel Castro, Jeff Hoffman, and Jesus Tinoco to the Colorado Rockies for All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and reliever LaTroy Hawkins.

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37.

On May 31,2016, the Blue Jays traded for Jason Grilli from the Atlanta Braves.

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38.

On October 2,2016, the Blue Jays clinched their first Wild Card berth with a Detroit Tigers loss to the Atlanta Braves.

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39.

On October 4,2016, the Blue Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Wild Card Game in extra innings, via a walk-off three-run home run by Edwin Encarnacion in the bottom of the 11th inning.

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40.

On October 9,2016, the Blue Jays completed a sweep of the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series to advance to the American League Championship Series for the second consecutive year.

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41.

On November 11,2016, it was announced that Toronto Blue Jays had signed designated hitter Kendrys Morales to a three-year, $33 million deal.

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42.

Blue Jays wore special red-and-white uniforms at select games during the 2017 season to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada.

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43.

Blue Jays declined their mutual option on Jose Bautista, allowing him to enter free agency.

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44.

Toronto Blue Jays then signed with the Atlanta Braves, later the New York Mets, and eventually with the Philadelphia Phillies.

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45.

Blue Jays traded two prospects to the San Diego Padres for Yangervis Solarte.

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46.

The Blue Jays acquired Curtis Granderson and Seung-hwan Oh as free agents.

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47.

The Blue Jays traded Curtis Granderson to the Milwaukee Brewers for a prospect.

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48.

On October 25,2018, the Blue Jays announced that Charlie Montoyo had been hired as their new manager.

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49.

Early in the season, the Blue Jays traded Kendrys Morales to the Oakland Athletics and Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants.

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50.

The Blue Jays signed Shun Yamaguchi from the Yomiuri Giants, the first player the Blue Jays successfully signed via the posting system.

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51.

Blue Jays reached the Wild Card series of the postseason, only to be swept by the Tampa Bay Rays in two games.

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52.

The Blue Jays scored only three runs total in the two games.

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53.

On successive days in January 2021, the Blue Jays signed relief pitchers Kirby Yates and Tyler Chatwood, and outfielder George Springer.

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54.

Blue Jays clinched home advantage for the American League Wild Card Series and hosted the Seattle Mariners.

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55.

In 1977, after just 50 home games, the Blue Jays set an MLB record for a first-year expansion team, with an overall attendance of 1,219,551 during those games.

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56.

Several Blue Jays became very popular in Toronto and across the major leagues, starting with Dave Stieb, whose seven All-Star selections is a franchise record.

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57.

Since 2012, every Sunday home game, the Blue Jays pay tribute to a member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

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58.

Blue Jays wore pullover uniforms during their first decade of existence.

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59.

Blue Jays adopted buttoned uniforms upon moving to Rogers Centre in 1989.

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60.

Blue Jays updated their logo prior to the 1997 season, with a new bird design and enlarged red maple leaf at the back.

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61.

In 1999 the Blue Jays unveiled an alternate sleeveless white uniform, featuring the same lettering style as the regular home uniform.

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62.

In 2008 amid complaints of illegibility, the Blue Jays tweaked their road uniforms to include 3D-style block letters and numerals in light blue trimmed in black and white, along with chest numerals.

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63.

The Blue Jays wore all-black caps with the "J-bird" logo for much of the uniforms' existence, save for the 2004 and 2005 seasons when they wore all-graphite caps at home, and in 2007 when an alternate all-black cap with the "T" from the previous road uniform was used.

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64.

In 2015, the Blue Jays began wearing a modernized version of the white-paneled blue caps they originally wore from 1977 to 1993 as an alternate.

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65.

Since 1996, the Blue Jays wore predominantly red or red-accented uniforms every July 1, Canada Day.

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66.

However, once the Blue Jays returned to Rogers Centre in late July 2021, dedicated radio broadcasts resumed.

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67.

Blue Jays have the largest geographical home market in all of baseball, encompassing all of Canada.

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68.

Sportsnet's broadcasts of the 2015 American League Division Series involving the Blue Jays were among the highest-rated telecasts in network history, with Game 4 drawing an audience of 4.

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69.

The Blue Jays have not appeared over-the-air in Canada in English since 2008.

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70.

In 2008, Rogers Communications, owner of the Toronto Blue Jays, was granted a license by the Canadian Radio-Television Commission for a "Baseball TV" specialty channel.

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