History of the Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays came into existence in 1976, as one of two teams slated to join the American League for the following season (the other being the Seattle Mariners), via the 1977 Major League Baseball expansion. Toronto had been mentioned as a potential major league city as early as the 1880s, and had been home to the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team of the International League, from 1896 to 1967. They have played their home games at Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) since 1989. Creation of the Blue Jays Possible Toronto Giants In January 1976, San Francisco Giants owner Horace Stoneham agreed to sell the team for $13.25 million to a Toronto group which was led by Don McDougall and consisted of Labatt Breweries of Canada, Ltd., Vulcan Assets Ltd. – owned by The Globe and Mail chairman and president Howard Webster – and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). The team was to have begun play in the season at Exhibition Stadium on the CNE grounds, which had undergone a reconfiguration to be suited for baseball as part of the city's push towards an MLB team, and would have been called the Toronto Giants. However, the plan to move