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Celebrating the souvenirs of the original-logo Toronto Blue Jays (1977-1996), and a bit of the Montréal Expos (1969-2004). Mostly from my collection.

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Ahead of his induction this weekend into the Blue Jays’ newly re-named Hall of Excellence, here’s an autographed 1982 O-Pee-Chee card of Blue Jays icon Buck Martinez.
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Buck began his long and storied Blue Jays service as a right-handed platoon catcher complementing Ernie Whitt (another great Blue Jay) during the first great period of Blue Jays baseball, the early to mid-1980’s.

A brutal home plate collision in Seattle eventually led to Buck’s retirement as a player in 1986. Soon after that, Buck worked for cable TV broadcaster TSN, as an analyst and field reporter from 1986 until 2000.
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Martinez was called by the Blue Jays to manage the team from 2001 until mid-2002. Buck then worked on Baltimore Orioles TV and radio broadcasts as their colour commentator from 2003 through 2009.

After a 5-season tenure as a co-host of Baseball This Morning on XM Radio, while doing colour commentary on national U.S. game broadcasts on TBS, Buck had a homecoming back to Toronto when in 2010 he began a long tenure with Blue Jays’ broadcaster Sportsnet.

With Rogers Sportsnet, Buck served as a TV play-by-play announcer (alongside Pat Tabler as colour analyst), before switching to colour work himself when Dan Shulman had his own Blue Jays homecoming and took the play-by-play chair.
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In 2022 and 2025, Buck was forced to temporarily step stay from the mic, in order to battle cancer. In August 2025, Buck returned to Blue Jays TV broadcasts - just in time for the Blue Jays’ historic 2025 World Series run - for what would turn out to be his final tenure with the Blue Jays.

On February 6, 2026, Buck announced his retirement from broadcasting. Since then, Buck has been spotted in the audience at Tropicana Field, sitting alongside his @bluejays BlueJays teammate Garth Iorg, taking in Blue Jays games against the Rays.
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For generations of Blue Jays fans, Buck Martinez is the voice of the Blue Jays, as iconic as previous voices of the Blue Jays Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth.

Congratulations, Buck! Thanks for bringing being a great Blue Jay on the field, and for broadcasting and bringing the game to multiple generations of Blue Jays fans!

#BuckMartinez #MapleLeagueBaseball @sportsnet taken in Skydome by @mapleleaguebaseball

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It’s been over a week since the sad passing of Duane Ward, but it’s still a tragedy for the @BlueJays family. For those who weren’t around to watch his brilliance, Wardo was a bullpen weapon for the great World Series winning Blue Jays teams of 1992-93. With David Wells as long man, Ward as setup man, & Terminator Tom Henke as closer, the Blue Jays bullpen of the early 1990’s basically shortened games into 6-inning affairs. The combo of 2 devastating fireballers in Ward & Henke was equivalent to having 2 Louis Varlands at the back of the bullpen.
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Ward was a hard-throwing Braves pitching prospect who, like a lot of young pitchers, had yet to develop his control. In July 1986, Blue Jays GM Pat Gillick traded veteran starter Doyle Alexander (who 9 months prior pitched a complete game to clinch the Blue Jays’ 1st ever division title) to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for 22-year old Duane Ward.

Ward was initially wild, but with time and practice he gradually developed the control needed to become a true bullpen ace. His BB% in 1988 (his 1st full season at the majors) was a high 12.3%, but by 1991 that was reduced to 7.7%.
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After several seasons as a superb setup man behind closer Tom Henke, Ward ascended to the closer role and had a dominant 1993 season, co-leading the AL w/ 45 saves, an ERA of 2.13 in 71.2 innings, and earning his first & only All-Star appearance.
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Ward traveled to Toronto the weekend of July 17 to attend the Blue Jays World Series reunion and Joe Carter statue unveiling w/ his 1992-93 teammates. On Friday, Ward arrived in Toronto and enjoyed dinner with his Blue Jays teammates - Todd Stottlemyre even posted a group photo that included Ward. Afterwards, Ward went to bed at his hotel… and never woke up.
The following Sunday, a day after the statue festivities at the SkyDome, the Blue Jays sadly announced Ward’s passing.
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After his playing days, he devoted much of his time to various Blue Jays org events, including Blue Jays baseball clinics for kids across Canada.

Duane was elected to the @canadianbaseballhofmuseum in 2020.

You were a warrior and a champion, Duane. Thanks & rest easy!

#DuaneWard #BlueJays #BlueJays50 #mapleleaguebaseball by @mapleleaguebaseball

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3 months ago

On the heels of the Blue Jays’ beautiful celebration of their 1992-93 back-to-back World Series championships, and the unveiling of the fantastic Joe Carter ‘touch ‘em all’ statue, here’s a look at a memento from those World Series victories… a commemorative pop cup from McDonalds..
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This cup dates from either late 1993 or early 1994, and I believe was given away with drink purchases at McDonalds locations at that time. Credit to McDonalds for the tastefully modest use of their own branding on this Blue Jays item.
@bluejays @mcdonaldscanada
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#BlueJays #WorldSeries #MapleLeagueBaseball taken in Skydome by @mapleleaguebaseball

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At a time when fewer fans are experiencing baseball through radio broadcasts, let’s look back at the great Blue Jays radio voice Jerry Howarth. He wrote an entertaining memoir called ‘Hello Friends! Stories From My Life and Blue Jays Baseball’, published in 2019 after his retirement from the radio booth. The book is named after his friendly “Hello friends!” greeting, which he used to start every game broadcast.
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For this Blue Jays 50th anniversary season, let’s remember and appreciate Jerry Howarth’s contributions to the franchise. He’s the longest-tenured Blue Jays broadcaster to date, having done radio calls for more than 36 years; starting with handfuls of games in 1980 and 1981, before becoming a full-time broadcaster from 1982 through the 2017 season.
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From 1982 til the end of the 2004 season, Howarth was paired with Tom Cheek, and they formed the iconic ‘Tom and Jerry’ broadcast team that gave voice to the #BlueJays during the most celebrated period of the team’s history, from their 1980’s ascent to their back-to-back World Series glory years of 1992 and ’93.
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Jerry’s distinctively-pitched voice and friendly cadence stood out at a time when radio was still a mass medium for consuming baseball. Cheek and Howarth actually didn’t speak together during their game broadcasts, but would trade innings between them; Tom would handle the odd-numbered innings while Jerry would call the even-numbered innings.
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Slide 5: an image from ‘Hello Friends’ of Jerry at work in 1987. The audio is of Jerry’s radio call of Dave Stieb pitching the bottom of the 7th inning in Cleveland on September 10, 1989. (Toronto won that game 5-4)
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Slide 17: video of Howarth’s iconic radio call of José Bautista’s cathartic bat flip home run in Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS against the Texas Rangers. After Jerry’s emphatic call of, “Yes, sir! THERE! SHE! GOES!”, he wisely stayed quiet to let the mayhem of the Toronto crowd and the shaking of the SkyDome do the talking.
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It’s a mystery why the @BlueJays haven’t yet inducted Jerry Howarth into their Level of Excellence, but here’s hoping that this gets rectified soon.
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#BlueJays50 #JerryHowarth #MapleLeagueBaseball @sportsnet @sportsnet590 taken in Skydome by @mapleleaguebaseball

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4 months ago

Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox (1941-2026) passed away several days ago, and while his reputation is largely built on his legendary 21-season tenure as manager of the Atlanta Braves, Cox also made a massive impact on the Blue Jays as their manager from 1982 to 1985.
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Cox shepherded a fledgling expansion team into a perennial contender, taking the Blue Jays to their first season above .500 (1983), and their first AL East division title and first playoff appearance (1985). Cox’s 1985 Blue Jays still hold the franchise record for most wins in a regular season, winning 99 games before taking the Kansas City Royals to Game 7 on the ALCS, ultimately losing the series in heart-breaking fashion. (No free drinks in Toronto, ever, for George Brett and Jim Sundberg)
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Bobby Cox and his coaching staff - including another staffer with a Braves connection; Cito Gaston - guided and molded many young homegrown star players who would fuel the Blue Jays’ golden era from the mid-1980’s to the early 90’s, when the Blue Jays were a model franchise that eventually won back-to-back World Series titles… players like Dave Stieb, Tony Fernandez, George Bell, Lloyd Moseby, Jesse Barfield, Jimmy Key, and more.
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Slides 1-3 are from the Blue Jays 1982 Photo Yearbook.
Slide 4 video is a CTV interview with Bobby Cox in the champagne-soaked Blue Jays clubhouse in Exhibition Stadium, when the Blue Jays beat the Yankees on October 5, 1985, to clinch the franchise’s first-ever AL East division title and cement their first-ever playoff appearance.
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Rest In Peace, Bobby. Thanks for your great work in Toronto, and of course in Atlanta.
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#BobbyCox #TorontoBlueJays #BlueJays #BlueJaysRetro #BlueJays50 @BlueJays @Braves taken in Exhibition Stadium by @mapleleaguebaseball

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5 months ago

The Greater Pearson Cup, what if the reigning World Series champions: The Blue Jays, went cross country to face their fellow countrymen, the rolling ‘94 Montreal Expos in a head to head clash. Would the Blue Jays run it back, or would the Expos finally get their first title without the strike? taken in Toronto, Canada by @mapleleaguebaseball

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Here’s a long-delayed ‘part 2’ post about the 1988 Shoppers Drug Mart Blue Jays calendar. (See the part 1 post from July 25, 2025) These calendars used to be given away (or sold, I don’t remember) at Shoppers Drug Mart stores every springtime in Toronto. This 1988 calendar features 1987 AL MVP George Bell on the cover.
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The January 1989 page features the architect’s rendering of the not-yet-built SkyDome, which would open later in June 1989. Note the lack of tall buildings at the Gardiner Expressway and surrounding the SkyDome and CN Tower!
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#TorontoBlueJays #BlueJays #BlueJaysRetro #RetroBlueJays @BlueJays #SkyDome @shoppersdrugmart taken in Exhibition Stadium by @mapleleaguebaseball

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A collection of classic Blue Jays paper pocket schedules, spanning 1982 to 1993 (with the exception of a 1984 schedule, which I don’t have yet).
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The 1989 schedule has a neat design featuring the last remaining original Blue Jay, catcher Ernie Whitt. On the back cover he’s shown standing in Exhibition Stadium in the snow - a visual nod to the Blue Jays’ famously snowy inaugural home opener in 1977, though Whitt was not yet on the team for that game. And on the front cover he’s standing in the new SkyDome, which opened in 1989.
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#BlueJays @bluejays #MapleLeagueBaseball #MLB #bluejays50 #BaseballMemorabilia by @mapleleaguebaseball

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Dear New Era and Fanatics: why were these white panel Blue Jays caps (with the 2025 World Series patch) in such short supply last October? They were - and are - sold out everywhere.
👉 Can you make more of them? I’m sure it would be a hot seller for you, considering the rabid passion of the Blue Jays fanbase.

Readers, do you agree? Feel free to leave a comment here.
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It’s a shame that so many fans who wanted to wear this design of Blue Jays cap weren’t able to purchase it.
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Photo credit: Gregory Shamus, Getty Images.
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@neweracap @neweracanada @fanatics @fanaticscollectibles @fanaticsauthentic @bluejays @mlb #newera #neweracap #baseballcap by @mapleleaguebaseball

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(PART 2 of 2) As we ramp down from the disappointment of the conclusion of the 2025 World Series, and gain appreciation for the team’s magical run, let’s look at this awesome souvenir of the World Series champion 1993 Blue Jays - an uncut sheet of baseball cards released by Canadian bread maker Dempster’s @dempstersbakery .
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This Dempster’s 1993 set consisted of 25 total cards, all contained on this uncut sheet. Pictured here are the cards for Blue Jays Alfredo Griffin (photos 3, 4) , Duane Ward (photos 5, 6), and the great Cito Gaston (photos 7, 8).
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Alfredo Griffin originally played for the Blue Jays way back in 1979 (co-winning the AL Rookie of the Year award that season) until 1984, and was a key member of Blue Jays teams that emerged from expansion doormats to young contenders. For longtime Blue Jays fans, it was heart-warming to see him return to the Blue Jays in time for the 1992 and 1993 World Series championships.

He also reunited with his former shortstop protege Tony Fernandez on this 1993 team, beautifully closing a circle in Blue Jays history.
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This uncut sheet of Dempster’s baseball cards was kindly gifted to me by @hsumccullough.
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#TorontoBlueJays #BlueJays #BlueJaysRetro #RetroBlueJays @BlueJays #SkyDome taken in Skydome by @mapleleaguebaseball

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