April 7, 1977: The Toronto Blue Jays' Snowy Debut

April 7, 1977: The Toronto Blue Jays play their 1st regular-season game. Toronto baseball fans had waited a long time for this moment.

Perhaps the team should have made them wait one more day.

The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team began play in 1896, and won 10 Pennants in the International League: 1897, 1902, 1912, 1917, 1918, 1926, 1934, 1960, 1965 and 1966. In 1927, the Toronto franchise of the NHL, previously named the Arenas (1917-20) and the St. Patricks, was renamed for them.

As a farm team, the baseball Maple Leafs had helped build several Pennant-winning teams: The 1934-45 Detroit Tigers, the 1939-40 Cincinnati Reds, the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies, and the 1967 Boston Red Sox. They were the 1st professional sports team owned by Jack Kent Cooke, who would later own the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, and the NFL's Washington Redskins.

But after the 1967 season, the baseball Leafs were purchased, and moved to Louisville, Kentucky. The hockey Leafs tried to buy them, but didn't want to also buy their home, the aging Maple Leaf Stadium, and the deal collapsed.

Maple Leaf Stadium

Toronto had been one of the cities chosen for a team in the Continental League, which was due to begin play in 1961, but the league fell apart. They did not get an expansion team in 1969, when their intranational arch-rival, Montreal, did, possibly because they made the mistake of already having torn Maple Leaf Stadium down.

Teams threatened to move to Toronto: The Kansas City Athletics threatened in 1964, the Chicago White Sox considered it in 1972 and 1975, and the San Francisco Giants very nearly did so in 1976. The White Sox had also threatened to move to Seattle, before being bought by Bill Veeck in late 1975.

So the American League decided to expand for the 1977 season, adding teams in Toronto and Seattle. The Canadian National Exhibition Stadium -- or just Exhibition Stadium, or "The Big X" -- built on the site of Canada's national version of a State Fair, west of downtown, and not far from the site of Maple Leaf Stadium, was expanded to 54,741 seats. Still, it looked like someone had stuck a baseball field into a football stadium. Indeed, the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts had played there since 1959.

And this was on a day with good weather.

The stadium was built right on the shore of Lake Ontario, and so it was besieged by wind, cold, snow, and seagulls. It made a game there something to be endured, as at Candlestick Park in San Francisco with its awful wind. So, if the Giants had moved to Toronto, they would have been no better off.

The new team, the Toronto Blue Jays, played their 1st regular-season game at Exhibition Stadium on April 7, 1977. The opponent was the Chicago White Sox. Chicago can get pretty cold, but Comiskey Park is a bit further inland, so the White Sox weren't used to it being this cold. And there was snow. The snow had to be cleared off the field. And it still snowed during the game.

Bill Singer, who had pitched no-hitters for each of the Los Angeles-area teams, was the Jays' 1st starting pitcher, and thus their "first player." He began by walking Ralph Garr, who had won a National League batting title with the Atlanta Braves. Richie Zisk hit a home run, the 1st in the stadium's history, and the ChiSox led 2-0 before the Jays even came to bat.

The Jays' 1st batter was left fielder John Scott, and Chicago starter Ken Brett, brother of Kansas City Royals star George, struck him out. But 1st baseman Doug Ault hit the 1st Blue Jay home run. In the bottom of the 3rd, with the score 4-2 White Sox, Ault hit a 2nd home run, tying the game.

Pinch-hitting for right fielder Steve Bowling, Al Woods hit a home run in the 5th, and it was 7-4 Toronto. The White Sox closed to within 7-6 in the 6th, but in the 8th, the Jays scored twice more, including on Ault's 3rd hit for his 4th RBI. The Blue Jays won, 9-5.

The game would be an outlier: The Jays would play the rest of the season like the 1st-year expansion team that they were, going 54-107. Meanwhile, the White Sox' "South Side Hit Men" led the AL Western Division until tailing off in August, finishing 3rd.

Exhibition Stadium was never a popular place to play, even for the home team and its fans. The 1982 Grey Cup, which the Argonauts lost to the Edmonton Eskimos, was known as the Rain Bowl. Toronto fans filled every seat, but ended up chanting, "We want a dome! We want a dome! We want a dome!" And so, the SkyDome, later known as the Rogers Centre, opened in 1989.

Exhibition Stadium was torn down in 1999. BMO Field, now the home of the Argonauts and soccer team Toronto FC, was built adjacent to the site.

UPDATE: The Blue Jays have a team Hall of Fame, the "Level of Excellence." Its inductees, through the 2025 season:

* From their founding era, 1977 to 1984, but not their 1985 Division title: No one. But the following have been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame: Manager Bobby Mattick, 2nd baseman Dave McKay, and broadcaster Tony Kubek.

* From their 1985, '87, '89 and '91 American League Eastern Division Champions: Kubek; pitchers Dave Stieb, Jimmy Key, Tom Henke, Duane Ward; shortstop Tony Fernández, left fielder George Bell, center fielder Lloyd Moseby, catcher Ernie Whitt, 1st baseman John Olerud; team president Paul Beeston, general manager Pat Gillick, executives Peter Hardy and Howard Starkman (both Toronto natives), scouts Jim Ridley (a Toronto native) and Gladwyn Scott (a Manitoba native); and broadcaster Tom Cheek. Beeston, Gillick, Cheek, Bell, Fernández have also been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, as has right fielder Jesse Barfield.

* From their 1992 and/or their 1993 World Champions: Stieb, Henke, Key, Ward, Fernández, Olerud, Beeston, Gillick, Hardy, Starkman, Ridley, Scott, Cheek, right fielder Joe Carter, 1st baseman Carlos Delgado, pitcher Pat Hentgen, and manager Clarence "Cito" Gaston. 2nd baseman Roberto Alomar was included, but was removed after unsavory allegation about him arose. Beeston, Gillick, Cheek, Stieb, Fernández, Carter, Alomar, Delgado, Gaston have also been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. So have outfielder Rob Ducey (a Toronto native).

* From between their 1993 and 2015 Playoff berths: Pitcher Roy Halladay. He has also been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. So have pitcher Paul Quantrill, 3rd baseman Corey Koskie, and outfielder Matt Stairs, all Canadian natives; Gord Ash, a Toronto native who was their general manager in this period; and executive Paul Godfrey.

* From their 2015 AL East title: Beeston and right fielder José Bautista. Both men have also been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. So have broadcaster Jacques Doucet (mainly for his previous tenure with the Montreal Expos), pitcher Jeff Francis (a Vancouver native), catcher Russell Martin (an East York, Ontario native).

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April 7, 1977 was a Thursday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball, most of them Opening Days:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-0 at Yankee Stadium. Jim "Catfish" Hunter allowed 3 his over 7 innings, and Sparky Lyle finished the 5-hit shutout. In his 1st game with the Yankees, Jimmy Wynn hit a home run. In his 1st game with the Yankees, Reggie Jackson did not hit a home run, but he did go 2-for-4.

* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. It was the Mets' 1st game of the season, so Tom Seaver was the starting pitcher, and he went the distance for the win. He would pitch only one more opener for the Mets.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski had an RBI single, then had to leave the game with an injury. Frank Duffy scored on a fielder's choice in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Elliott "Bump" Wills, son of Maury Wills, won the game by singling Juan Beniquez home in the top of the 11th.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 12-6 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Lou Brock went 1-for-4. Willie Stargell went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. George Brett went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 5-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The California Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Nolan Ryan pitched a 3-hit shutout. This was the 2nd game in Mariner history, and they still hadn't scored a run: The day before, the Angels beat them, 7-0, with Frank Tanana pitching a 9-hit shutout.

* And the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, the Houston Astros the Montreal Expos, the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Diego Padres each began their seasons over the next couple of days.

Football was out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Indiana Pacers, 114-100 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Nets lost to the Golden State Warriors, 124-86 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets, 108-94 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Kansas City Kings, 121-110 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

There were 4 games played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:

* The New York Islanders beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* Elsewhere in Toronto, at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-4.

* And the Buffalo Sabres beat the Minnesota North Stars, 7-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

The World Hockey Association had its regular-season finale. The Winnipeg Jets beat the Calgary Cowboys, 6-4 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary.