The Only Baseball Game Played in the Snow Was At Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium

A snowstorm didn’t stop the American League debut of MLB in Canada.

by Rich Watson 

The Toronto Blue Jays entered Major League Baseball as an expansion team in 1976. A plan to move the Giants from San Francisco was blocked due to a court ruling. The Canadian metropolis was awarded an original team instead, in a wave that also gave birth to the Seattle Mariners.

The name “Blue Jays” had been used by the Phillies in the fifties for a time, but Torontonians selected it as part of a fan contest.

Canadian National Exhibition Stadium, a football venue built in 1948, was the chosen home site. It had been outfitted recently with AstroTurf, new at the time. The city council had also approved $2.8 million (Canadian) for stadium renovation.

An expansion draft assembled the players, among them Vancouver native Dave McKay. A schedule was drawn up, and tickets sold. The new team would play its first game on April 7, 1977 against the White Sox.

Everything went fine—as long as no one looked at the weather forecast.

Canadian baseball and ballplayers

Evidence of a baseball game played in the Great White North in 1838 appeared in print in 1886. This date is in dispute, though, due to whether or not it was what we recognize today as baseball. American-rules baseball was played in Ontario in 1860.

Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a pro on Toronto’s Centre Island in 1914. Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers’ minor league team in Montreal in 1946. Among the Canadian natives to play the game include:

• Ferguson Jenkins, the first Canadian to enter the Hall of Fame,

• Joey Votto, a National League MVP,

• Justin Morneau, an American League MVP,

• Larry Walker, a former Montreal Expo and another Hall of Famer, and

• Tip O’Neil, a two-time batting champ from the nineteenth century. An award named for him is given every year to the best Canadian ballplayer.

Baseball Canada is the sport’s governing body. A national men’s team has played in the Olympics since 2004. (There’s also a women’s team.) A Canadian Baseball League existed for a brief time. There have been lots of minor league teams. And of course, the Montreal Expos played in MLB for over thirty years before becoming the Washington Nationals.

Professional baseball in Toronto goes back to 1885, when a local club was part of a minor league Canadian League. 

In 1896 the Maple Leafs were born (not to be confused with the hockey club). At different times the team was Single-A, Double-A, Triple-A, and unaffiliated, but it always played in the U.S.-based International League until 1967. An amateur team currently operates under the same name.

Exhibition Stadium prior to baseball 

Exhibition Stadium was built for the Canadian National Exhibition, an annual World’s Fair-like event held at the end of summer. The stadium site, on Lake Shore Boulevard West and Ontario Drive, had a grandstand as far back as 1879 until it was lost to a fire.

The Argonauts of the Canadian Football League moved into the stadium, with an expanded bleacher section, in 1959. The NFL Chicago Cardinals played them in an exhibition game, the first time an NFL team played in Toronto.

The city, and the province of Ontario, footed the bill for baseball renovation to the tune of $17.5 million dollars.

Snow in the forecast not a deterrent 

Anticipation for the Blue Jays’ debut ran high—and then it snowed. It wasn’t a blizzard, but it came down hard enough for the groundskeepers to vacuum the snow from the AstroTurf. They used squeegees and even a Zamboni.

Blue Jays president emeritus Paul Beeston once called Exhibition Stadium “the worst stadium in sports.” At the time of the Blue Jays’ inaugural Opening Day he was vice-president of administration. In this 2017 article, he recalled his thoughts prior to gametime:

…There’s no doubt that when the snow was coming down, I was thinking, “How much is it going to come down? Is it going to stop and are we going to play the game?” If there was another inch of snow, it probably wouldn’t happen. People in the United States were expecting snow because baseball had come to Canada. We gave snow and gave ‘em a game and gave ‘em a picture.

The fans came, despite the zero degrees Celsius temperature. They came despite the parking and seating problems. They came despite the lack of beer—due to an Ontario law meant to discourage drunk driving and other bad behavior (a law which was overturned in 1982). 

It was the first-ever Blue Jays game. They wanted to say they were there.

Head umpire Nestor Chylak said “Play ball,” Anne Murray, in a parka, sang “O Canada,” the national anthem, and the Blue Jays took the field. Pitcher Bill Singer started against Chicago’s Ken Brett. Singer’s first pitch to the White Sox’ Ralph Garr was a strike.

The Blue Jays won the game 9-5 on the strength of two home runs from first baseman Doug Alt. He caught the final ball of the game from shortstop Jim Mason. 

McKay’s RBI single in the fourth gave the Blue Jays their first lead. Afterwards the weather didn’t bother him quite so much:

My hands were shaking from the cold, but the conditions improved as the game went on. Once the game started, I wasn’t the lone Canadian. I was a member of the Blue Jays.

Wayne Gretzky was there!

Among the 44,649 that braved the elements that day was future hockey demigod and not-so-secret baseball fan Wayne Gretzky. He revealed as much in a 2020 Sporting News article:

…I grew up such a huge baseball fan. I remember when the Blue Jays came to Toronto I was so excited. I went to the first game when it snowed and Doug Alt got two home runs, and I sat in the bleachers at the old CNE Stadium. I was a huge Ty Cobb fan, and I named my son Ty Gretzky after a baseball player, Ty Cobb. Unfortunately for me, my son Ty grew up loving hockey and hating baseball…. Every parent wants to live their life through their kids, right? I thought, gosh, maybe this son will love baseball and make Major League Baseball, and he never picked up a baseball glove but he loved hockey.

Gretzky’s other son, Trevor, did play in the Cubs’ minor league system. So there’s that.

Exhibition Stadium and the Blue Jays in later years

Weather was a problem in subsequent years at Exhibition Stadium. Being close to Lake Ontario in April and September didn’t help, for one thing. Rain factored into a forfeited loss by the Blue Jays during the first year. High wind led to a postponed game in 1984. Fog contributed to an inside-the-park homer in 1986, though that, at least, benefitted the Blue Jays.

And then there were the seagulls. Ask Dave Winfield about the seagulls in Toronto.

When a pouring rain fell during the 1982 Grey Cup (the CFL championship game), Torontonians first clamored for a domed stadium. Seven years later, they got one: Skydome, now called the Rogers Center. The Blue Jays moved there right away and won two consecutive World Series, in 1992-93.

Exhibition Stadium was demolished in 1999. If this Twitter thread is any indication, however, the memory of that Opening Day, at least, remains strong for Blue Jays fans.

————————————

Have you seen the Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium?