A look into the team’s ascension to greatness and its heydays
Part 1: Establishing an identity and a winning culture
As a die-hard supporter of the Toronto Blue Jays who has followed the baseball club for nearly three decades, I believe they have come a long way since playing their first ever regular season game at Exhibition Stadium on April 7, 1977 when the field was covered with snow. While the franchise is still a long way from matching the New York Yankees’ twenty-seven World Championships, Toronto achieved some impressive feats in its thirty-seven years of existence: five American League East division titles (1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993); two American League Pennants (1992 and 1993); as well as two World Series Titles (1992 and 1993). By comparison, our expansion cousin, the Seattle Mariners, only won one Wild Card Berth (2000) as well as three American League West division titles (1995, 1997, and 2001).
Success eluded the Blue Jays initially as the team came out of the gate with a string of losing seasons from 1977 to 1982. However, the six consecutive sub .500 seasons (including the first three seasons in which the club lost over a hundred games) did not dampen the fans’ faith in the team since Torontonians understood that then-GM Pat Gillick was building an expansion franchise from the ground up and that we needed to be patient as the twenty-five-men rosters were comprised of draft picks and superfluous players whom other clubs had cut loose. By all accounts, Gillick worked with what he had and the Toronto Blue Jays in the late-1970s to early 1980s were AAA teams from a pure talent perspective.
The first sign in which Toronto was coming into its own as a contender was the 1983 season when the Blue Jays finished with eighty-nine wins, by far the most victories the team had ever gotten. In many ways, we saw emerging signs that the team was on the brink of being competitive even in the preceding season because even though the club finished the 1982 season with a 78-84 record, Toronto made significant improvement in all facets of its game and the seventy-eight victories were eleven more than its previous franchise record of sixty-seven established in the 1980 season. From 1983 to 1993, the Blue Jays had eleven consecutive winning seasons, eclipsing the ninety-win plateau on five separate occasions (1985, 1987, 1991, 1992, and 1993).
In 1985, the team won its first ever American League Pennant after fending off the New York Yankees in a tight late-season pennant race en route to establishing a franchise record ninety-nine wins which still stands today. The club had talent as it featured “the best young outfield” in baseball (George Bell in left field, Lloyd Moseby in center field, and Jesse Barfield in right field) and several strong infielders (e.g., veteran Catcher Ernie Whitt, all-star second baseman Damaso Garcia, and future all-star shortstop Tony Fernández), not to mention a productive bench (led by Infielder Garth Iorg and designated hitter Cliff Johnson). Moreover, Toronto had a strong starting rotation anchored by ace Dave Stieb, all-star left-hander Jimmy Key, and aging but effective front-of-the-rotation starter Doyle Alexander. The bullpen also received an unexpected yet significant boost when mid-season call up relief pitcher Tom Henke emerged into a bonafide closer who instantaneously stabilized the relief troops by converting thriteen of his fourteen save opportunities for a 93% save conversion rate. Topping it off, the Blue Jays had strong leadership on the field as the team was managed by future Hall-of-Famer Bobby Cox (whom the club would face again as manager of the Atlanta Braves in the 1992 World Series).
In retrospect, Gillick laid the foundation for the team from 1977 to 1985 by drafting its core players. Case in point, the club picked Barfield in the ninth round of the 1977 amateur draft. Similarly, Toronto chose Moseby in the first round (second overall selection) of the 1978 amateur draft and then took Stieb in the fifth round from the same draft. The Blue Jays also selected Key in the third round of the 1982 amateur draft. This strategy, while painfully slow and requiring plenty of discipline so as not to over-react and opt for short-term fixes (e.g., bidding for and most likely having to overpay for free agents in order to outbid opposing clubs) would have made little sense financially speaking (both in terms of overextending the club’s budget and severely handcuffing Toronto’s flexibility to make trades).
Of course, the Blue Jays were also lucky in the sense that they struck gold on several other fronts en route to their first true taste of success in 1985. For example, the team was able to take Whitt from the Boston Red Sox in the 1976 expansion draft with the tirthy-fourth pick. Similarly, the club signed Fernández as an amateur free agent. Likewise, Toronto selected Bell (who would go on to win the 1987 American League Most Valuable Player award) from the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1980 Rule 5 draft. The Blue Jays also plucked Henke from the Texas Rangers as a free agent compensation pick. On another note, the franchise was extremely fortunate when it was able to convert Stieb into a pitcher (since he was initially drafted as an Outfielder). All in all, while Gillick was certainly very crafty with his master plan when it came to building the team, luck was also on his side. In other words, while you have to be good to be lucky, you also have to be lucky to be good!
The historic 1985 season marked a turning point in the history of the club as it was the beginning of Toronto’s glory days. To understand why the Blue Jays were much more than just a one-hit wonder, be sure to tune in to Part 2 of my article.