I heard something that there was so much snow beforehand that they actually had to get the zamboni from Maple Leaf Gardens to help clear it off. I guess it wasn't too far from where Exhibition Stadium was.
What a first game! Quality effort by both teams, even though the weather conditions weren't ideal. The first 6 seasons were up n down, rather regular for a expansion team, but in 1983 the Blue Jays really started scaring teams in the A.L. East. They had a stretch where they tore through Detroit, Cleveland, New York, and Baltimore scoring runs, shutting folks down, stealing bases, blasting tape measure homers. Even though we knew it wouldn't last, we found out that they had more quality on the farm ready. By 1985 they won their first Division Title and had the Royals dead to rights with a 3-1 lead in games. Has a late lead in game 5, but couldn't hold it and their first taste of Pennant Fever ended in a slow, painful death as the Royals took tge Pennant and did the exact same trick to the Cardinals and won their first World Series. The Jays let Manager and G.M. Bobby Cox get away to become G.M. of the Atlanta Braves. Funny, the Blue Jays would win their first Pennant and World Champiinship in 1992, knocking off the Bobby Cox managed Braves. Then found out that the champagne taste better when you age it a year and popped some more corks and braking heart in Philly in 1993. So, from 1983 (their breakout season) to 1993 the Blue Jays had 11 consecutive winning seasons, 6 A.L. East Flags, 2 A.L. Pennants and Back to Back World Championships. Looking back at this game, the Blue Jays first ever, this was the style that would become Blue Jays baseball. They have done very well for themselves and when the Expos rolled on down the coast to D.C., the Jays became Canadas team. Way back, on a cold, early spring day, who could've imagined the success and iconic status the Blue Jays would enjoy.
After that 1993 World Series title not much success to speak of since. 1 division title, 2 playoff appearances (I’m not counting the expanded playoffs 2020 COVID year), 0 World Series appearances. Ouch!
One more fact: Both Canadian major league teams won their premiere games (1969 Expos vs. New York Mets at Shea Stadium; 1977 Bluejays vs. Chicago White Sox at Exhibition Stadium) Both franchises also lost 100 games in their debut seasons.
Wow, first time I've seen this! You can sense the excitement in the air for the new Canadian team. The Chicago White Sox uniforms also are quite interesting.
Wow thanks for uploading this! No baseball with covid shutdown so looking back. I was born I'm 1981 and one of my earliest memories is watching the Baby Jays in St. Catharines. Have an Ernie Whitt baseball from something like 93 when he visited that park.
The St. Catherines Blue Jays (later the Stompers) at Community Park! It was a good place for the players. Originally, the team stayed at the dorms at Brock University. The people of St. Catherines treated all the players well. I have read that Carlos Delgado, Willie Blair, Shannon Stewart, and Jeff Kent stated that it was an outstanding place to spend a summer a long way from home. It was a shame when places such as St. Catherines, Hamilton, Niagara Falls (NY), and Welland lost their New York Penn League franchises. Erie survived with a new ballpark and, with some exceptional support from Detroit, has thrived with their AA team.
It wasn't until later that I found out who hit the first home runs in franchise history. I got familiar with Doug Ault in 1995 when he became manager of the Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks in the now-defunct Northern League. I was still a kid at the time, and the kind of baseball in that league was exciting. Unfortunately, Ault was gone as manager by the end of the season.
Thanks for posting! That was just awesome! And in May 1977, the Blue Jays would once again beat the CWS with a dramatic 7-5 win in the 10th inning (which would be the last game ever played at CNE stadium.
Prior to the 1976 season, there was a rumored story where the San Francisco Giants were being sold and being moved to Toronto. Horace Stoneham, who owned the team since 1936, when the franchise was in Manhattan, wanted out. For a brief time, the city of Toronto was going get the Giants; the uniforms were made and a new logo was designed, but it was all for naught. New San Francisco mayor Willie Mosconi took the Giants to court and the team stayed in the Bay Area. The Giants had new owners; the group who wanted buy the team and move it to Canada lost the opportunity.
The American League was in the midst of fighting a lawsuit against Seattle over the Pilots' move to Milwaukee before the 1970 season. In order to settle the lawsuit, the AL offered Seattle an expansion franchise for the 1977 season. They needed to add a second expansion team in the East in order to balance out their divisions. Bowie Kuhn wanted Washington DC to get the second AL expansion club, but in the end the owners decided to give it to Toronto instead, as a "consolation prize" for failing to get the Giants.
@@johnpat3622 Toronto was seen as a prime market, and after the Giants fiasco, the American League jumped in and stole it away from the NL. I remember the NL being quite upset about it, believing that Toronto should belong to them because they had the Expos, and they wanted to take advantage of the natural rivalry between teams from those two cities.
This is the very first American League game played in Canada, as the Toronto Bluejays took on the Chicago White Sox in Exhibition Stadium on April 7, 1977. The Jays won 9-5, behind two homers by Doug Ault and Al Woods homered for the winners. That's Don Chevrier calling the play-by-play and former Yankees pitching great Whitey Ford providing the color.
Damn Baseball has changed SO MUCH over the last 41 years! these guys look like 180lb assembly line workers at GM, guys today look like 225 lb Linebackers with all the Tats, Earrings, Huge Jewelry, odd thing is the little guys in the 70's hit the Ball just as Far, AND played with more Heart...LOL...
@@rmartin7558 The average fastball was indeed 5 mph slower, but the only reason was because they had to pace themselves, the average starter threw 50 -100 more innings per year than pitchers today. And yes, players like Reggie Jackson at barely 5 ft 11 and a wiry 6 ft 1 Mike Schmidt hit the ball EVERY bit as far as anyone today I assure you.
I was born in '75, so I saw first hand the players go from average Joe's to jacked behemoths. And even the guys who played back then will tell you today's players are bigger, faster, stronger. It's just evolution. Training philosophy has changed, nutrition, the human body has evolved. I realize The Babe hit some monster home runs, and Mantle, Kingman, Reggie, Schmidt, Cecil Fielder and all of those guys. But you're kidding yourself if you think the guys in the '70's are as strong and as fast as the guys today, or the guys of twenty years ago for that matter. Don't even bring up steroids because then you'll be making my point for me. Weight training and steroids make you stronger and faster. Just ask Ben Johnson and Jose Canseco.
@@rmartin7558 Jim Rice could hit moon shots with pure muscle. Rice hit two home runs over the back of centerfield at Fenway. Don Zimmer said, "I swallowed my tobacco both times."
Great video! Best comment is that the Jays have 9 pitchers - 5 starters, 2 short relievers, and 2 long relievers. I'm watching the World Series, and I think the Braves have already used 5 pitchers tonight!
From 1 to 9 ,the White Sox had a tremendous team , not one iffy player , they had quite a lineup ... WOW! Garr , Bannister , Orta, Zisk, Spencer, Gamble, Orta, Soderholm, Lemon, Downing ... they all can hit 🌟👍
A very exciting lineup. They could hit the stiffing out of the ball, but couldn't field too well. The team was Bill Veeck's "Rent a Player" strategy right before free agency began. He traded some good young players (Gossage, Dent, Forster) to get this Gashouse Gorilla lineup. After the year, Zisk signed a long term deal with the Rangers, Gamble left for the Padres, and Downing went to the Angels, Lemon, still a youngster, stayed as did, strangely enough, Garr.
@Bubba B I live in maine about a 6 hourish drive from Canada and that's close usually around April it's in the mid to high 40s June 60-80 (most of the time sometimes 90+) July about the same then August sempter usually from 34-50 November- February is just hell
It took 8 years until Bobby Cox led Toronto to the A.L.East title in 1985.He managed the West Haven Yankees to the Eastern League title(maybe a few times).I think he managed Otto Velez in 1974.
The Jays became a model franchise. But this game illustrates one of their biggest mistakes. They drafted Bill Singer in the expansion draft. Pat Gillick had a deal to send Singer to the Yankees in exchange for a smallish pitcher named Ron Guidry. Then GM Peter Bavasi put the kibosh on it because they had already put Singer's picture on the cover of the media guide. Guidry became a legend. Singer barely got out of the first inning in this game.
Richie Zisk with a mammoth clout @ 9:03. Zisk hit .290 with 30 HR 101 RBI for the White Sox in '77. Zisk was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Silvio Martinez to Chicago White Sox in exchange for Rich Gossage and Terry Forster (December 10, 1976). But the White Sox kept him only one season as he signed with the Texas Rangers as a free agent on November, 9th, 1977.
'77 was the year Bill Veeck went out and aquired a bunch of players in their "contract year" but wound up not signing any of them long term. It made them a contender that year, but that was it.
The Sox also has Oscar Gamble in 1977, he hit 31 hrs and he went to The Padres in 1978 and hit only 7 hrs 47 rbi's. In '79 Oscar went to The Yanks and batted around .360. Zisk hit 22, 21, 17 homers for Texas and found even btr success in Seattle.
... It was a tad chilly that day for a bloody Ball game but it was Franchise history. The right field bleachers were plank aluminium as far as the eye could see and butt cold. It was Blue Jay Prohibition in TO then so it was Flasks and any other contraband you could get past entrance security for a few years as well ; ) Ball park was the Argo's field and the CNE concert venue turned into a half arsed Ball Yard but it had some charm and many memories 😎
It was a Saturday September 10 . Yankees won 100 games that year and the World Series. The Jays record against them was 6-9 . Excellent for an first year team that lost over 100 games.
The next season, the Blue Jays buried Baltimore, 24-10 at Exhibition Stadium. The Jays rapped seven doubles, two triples and two homers. Baltimore manager Earl Weaver did not want to deplete the bullpen, so he brought in reserve infielder Larry Harlow and catcher Elrod Hendricks to pitch. Harlow gave up a homer, but Hendricks kept Toronto scoreless in one inning.
1977 was fun. The Red Sox crushed 233 home runs, including 33 in one ten-game stretch. June 18 was a great one. On live TV, Billy Martin pulled Reggie Jackson from the field, during the inning! Millions saw them screaming at each other on TV.
29:40 So awesome to see Bill Singer on The Jays in 1977, his final year - but no Topps card in 1978. An irritating policy that Topps had for retiring players such as Willie McCovey 1980, Lou Brock 1979, Ralph Garr 1980 & others.
I never noticed the Blue Box with the white JC at the lower left hand section of the batters eye screen in the North Grandstand. Only done on this Opening Day. There are two people in there...cameramen, perhaps?
I noticed that a website that sells old games called Old Time Sports has the entire Jays game from 1977 with old commercials like for Labatt, CIBC & BFGoodrich. If any Jays fan out the has the entire game, that'll be AWESOME!!
Does anyone out there have any footage, either audio or video, of the Orioles-Blue Jays game from later that season that was forfeited by the O's due to complaints by manager Earl Weaver because of a tarp covering the Jays' bullpen?
Side note: The batters eye screen was quite shallow, as this game shows. Later, the screen went up several more rows and the screen was replaced with black seats. Later, a black tarp covered the seats to ensure that nobody sat there.
I remember before the expansion draft thinking it'll be tough to get a decent catcher. There seemed to be so few of them around. But somehow the expansion Jays got Rick Cerone, Alan Ashby and Ernie Whitt. All 3 of them had good long careers.
@@armorybrunotjr.3204 You're off by one year...Gaylord Perry won 20+ games twice for the SF Giants (1966, 1970) and won 24 games for the Cleveland Indians in 1972.
@@armorybrunotjr.3204 Tell that to the uploader "Top Of The Third". He referenced ESPN. Unless of course, they rebroadcasted the original which I guess is possible.
@@williamdunphy352 Correct. I watched this telecast as a senior at Syracuse University on CKWS in Kingston. This was before cable, but its over-the-air signal reached good locations in Syracuse, and I was on the 8th floor of an 8-floor dorm!
Yes, it was Whitey Ford. Tony Kubek could not do the first game due to another commitment, and Whitey filled in. Tom Cheek and Early Wynn were the radio announcers on CJCL 1430 for this first historic game.
With Ron Fairly playing in the Bluejays maiden season in 1977, he was one of handful of former big leaguers to play for both the Jays and the former Montreal Expos.
@@armorybrunotjr.3204 And he debuted for the Dodgers in 1958, their first season in LA. Too bad he didn't get called up a year earlier. He could have been a Brooklyn Dodger, a Montreal Expo, and a Toronto Blue Jay.
Whitey Ford was a Blue Jays announcer? Was he a regular or just there for this game? Growing up a White Sox fan, this was probably the most fun year ever. What a team! It looked for a while we might win, but it was all fool’s gold. One good year and then it was back to losing.
It was very cold....my father is Jesse Jefferson...he was on the team from '77-'80...I wasn't born yet...but my Mom was at the game like the other wives...it was so cold my Mom lasted on 2 innings and was in the clubhouse watching the rest of it with the other wives lol
Blue Jay fans put in their licks before the 1985 team.It took the Mets 8 years before 1969(they were never higher than 9th before '69).I think the Jays began to blossom after a weekend sweep of the Yankees in N.Y.(in '83 or '84).👍
Not sure about the home jerseys (early 80s sometime) but they didn't put names on the back of their road jerseys until 1989 when they switched from powder blue to gray.
Whitey Ford ridiculously referring to Exhibition Stadium as "beautiful." The mad scramble of fans in the east side football end zone trying to get their hands on the balls from those right field homers. And Francisco Barrios quick pitch balking on almost every pitch he threw with a runner on. That wouldn't fly today.
a couple from 1989. I will try and get some more games up in the winter. This summer has been very busy for me and I haven't had a chance to get as many games on my channel as I would have liked.
no. It was at Exhibition Stadium, the Jays' first home from 1977 until May of 1989. Exhibition Stadium was located where BMO Field is now, where the Argos play.
Blue Jays actually stick around over the winter. I used to see them eating at the bird feeders at my grandmother's house during heavy snow. They are pretty resilient birds. Terrible bullies at the feeders though. Chase away all the chickadees.
The Montreal Alouettes without Johnny Rogers won the Grey Cup in 1977 against the Edmonton Eskimos at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, I was there! In 1977 the Montreal Canadians won the Standley Cupa and the Quebec Nordiques won the Avco Cup.
You are NUTS! For a time they we're quite stylish. They wore them too long in my opinion. The White Sox were known for changing their uniforms often. They kept these from 76 to 81
@@davidlafleche1142 I love all the baby blue Jersey's. The 1972-1975 White Sox home Candy Cane w/the Baby Blue Road with the Red cap w/White Old English font are both amazing looking uniforms. I also Like the late 70s early 80s Altanta Braves and Texas Rangers uni's too. Oh and the 70s Yellow and Brown Padres were great Montreal Expos had that tri-colored hat that matched both home and away which I hated, but now LOVE. Even though I hate the Cubs with every cell in my body, I dig their late 70s baby blue road uni's w/the navy pinstripes. Retro shit is awesome! Thank the Chicago White Sox for starting "Turning back the clock" day AND for being the 1st team w/names on their jerseys
I think they were the inspiration of some of the ugly third option uniforms they have today. For example, the yellow ones the Red Sox wore this week. Yikes.
Baseball in the snow, the first Blue Jays game, the Southside Hitmen, old uniforms- this game has EVERYTHING
I remember coming home from school to watch the rest of this game on Channel 44, couldn't believe it was snowing lol
I heard something that there was so much snow beforehand that they actually had to get the zamboni from Maple Leaf Gardens to help clear it off. I guess it wasn't too far from where Exhibition Stadium was.
Any video footage of this game on Ch 44 in Chicago with Harry Caray?
It was also snowing in Chicago so it comes as no surprise.
What a first game! Quality effort by both teams, even though the weather conditions weren't ideal. The first 6 seasons were up n down, rather regular for a expansion team, but in 1983 the Blue Jays really started scaring teams in the A.L. East. They had a stretch where they tore through Detroit, Cleveland, New York, and Baltimore scoring runs, shutting folks down, stealing bases, blasting tape measure homers. Even though we knew it wouldn't last, we found out that they had more quality on the farm ready. By 1985 they won their first Division Title and had the Royals dead to rights with a 3-1 lead in games. Has a late lead in game 5, but couldn't hold it and their first taste of Pennant Fever ended in a slow, painful death as the Royals took tge Pennant and did the exact same trick to the Cardinals and won their first World Series. The Jays let Manager and G.M. Bobby Cox get away to become G.M. of the Atlanta Braves. Funny, the Blue Jays would win their first Pennant and World Champiinship in 1992, knocking off the Bobby Cox managed Braves. Then found out that the champagne taste better when you age it a year and popped some more corks and braking heart in Philly in 1993. So, from 1983 (their breakout season) to 1993 the Blue Jays had 11 consecutive winning seasons, 6 A.L. East Flags, 2 A.L. Pennants and Back to Back World Championships.
Looking back at this game, the Blue Jays first ever, this was the style that would become Blue Jays baseball. They have done very well for themselves and when the Expos rolled on down the coast to D.C., the Jays became Canadas team.
Way back, on a cold, early spring day, who could've imagined the success and iconic status the Blue Jays would enjoy.
After that 1993 World Series title not much success to speak of since. 1 division title, 2 playoff appearances (I’m not counting the expanded playoffs 2020 COVID year), 0 World Series appearances. Ouch!
RIP Don Chevrier. A Canadian sports broadcasting legend!
One more fact: Both Canadian major league teams won their premiere games (1969 Expos vs. New York Mets at Shea Stadium; 1977 Bluejays vs. Chicago White Sox at Exhibition Stadium)
Both franchises also lost 100 games in their debut seasons.
Good facts to know! Thank You
Well you ruined it for me. Was gonna watch the whole game. Thanks!
Very Cool - Thanks so much for the effort to put this together!
I gotta say, Whitey Ford does a darn good job on commentary.
Complete with an authentic Bronx accent. “Whitey FOAHHHHD!”
They also had Tony Krubek as part of their broadcast team too
Love those Sox uniforms
That's Hall of Fame umpire Nestor Chylak behind the plate. I always liked the American League red/maroon blazers.
The Blue Jays uniforms were cool.
The pride and joy of Scranton, Pa
Wow, first time I've seen this! You can sense the excitement in the air for the new Canadian team. The Chicago White Sox uniforms also are quite interesting.
R.I.P. Damaso Garcia😇He played for my hometown's West Haven Yankees in 1977.I believe Bobby Cox was the manager&they won the Eastern League title.👍🙂
I lived in West Haven for plenty of years. Used to walk to Quigley Stadium to see the West Haven Yankees.
Damaso had an excellent year in 1982.
Ken Brett starting for the White Sox! I remember him as a good hitting pitcher with the Pirates.
Bill Singer started this game for Bluejays
Wish they had the very first Mariner game against California at the old Seattle Kingdome, April 6, 1977.
Here it is: th-cam.com/video/AMwa0XtTcqI/w-d-xo.html
Wow thanks for uploading this! No baseball with covid shutdown so looking back. I was born I'm 1981 and one of my earliest memories is watching the Baby Jays in St. Catharines. Have an Ernie Whitt baseball from something like 93 when he visited that park.
The St. Catherines Blue Jays (later the Stompers) at Community Park! It was a good place for the players. Originally, the team stayed at the dorms at Brock University. The people of St. Catherines treated all the players well. I have read that Carlos Delgado, Willie Blair, Shannon Stewart, and Jeff Kent stated that it was an outstanding place to spend a summer a long way from home.
It was a shame when places such as St. Catherines, Hamilton, Niagara Falls (NY), and Welland lost their New York Penn League franchises. Erie survived with a new ballpark and, with some exceptional support from Detroit, has thrived with their AA team.
Great quality on these videos. This was a great game to watch. Doug Ault's (rip) biggest game. So subscribed
Notable Bluejays firsts:
Pitch thrown: Bill Singer (strike)
Steal: Gary Woods
Homer: Doug Ault
Pinch-homer: Al Woods
It wasn't until later that I found out who hit the first home runs in franchise history. I got familiar with Doug Ault in 1995 when he became manager of the Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks in the now-defunct Northern League. I was still a kid at the time, and the kind of baseball in that league was exciting. Unfortunately, Ault was gone as manager by the end of the season.
Big SOX fan. Went to a couple of games up at that stadium when my brother was at University of Toronto. Different experience...
That is how you wear stirrups! That is what Major League Baseball players should look like!
Jeeze! And people think the stadium in Oakland sucks. Exhibition Stadium was the pits.
Thanks for posting! That was just awesome! And in May 1977, the Blue Jays would once again beat the CWS with a dramatic 7-5 win in the 10th inning (which would be the last game ever played at CNE stadium.
God I love baseball
Prior to the 1976 season, there was a rumored story where the San Francisco Giants were being sold and being moved to Toronto.
Horace Stoneham, who owned the team since 1936, when the franchise was in Manhattan, wanted out. For a brief time, the city of Toronto
was going get the Giants; the uniforms were made and a new logo
was designed, but it was all for naught. New San Francisco mayor
Willie Mosconi took the Giants to court and the team stayed in the
Bay Area. The Giants had new owners; the group who wanted buy
the team and move it to Canada lost the opportunity.
George Moscone, not Willi Mosconi. Willi Mosconi was a famous pool player
The American League was in the midst of fighting a lawsuit against Seattle over the Pilots' move to Milwaukee before the 1970 season. In order to settle the lawsuit, the AL offered Seattle an expansion franchise for the 1977 season. They needed to add a second expansion team in the East in order to balance out their divisions. Bowie Kuhn wanted Washington DC to get the second AL expansion club, but in the end the owners decided to give it to Toronto instead, as a "consolation prize" for failing to get the Giants.
@@johnpat3622 Toronto was seen as a prime market, and after the Giants fiasco, the American League jumped in and stole it away from the NL. I remember the NL being quite upset about it, believing that Toronto should belong to them because they had the Expos, and they wanted to take advantage of the natural rivalry between teams from those two cities.
This is the very first American League game played in Canada, as the Toronto Bluejays took on the Chicago White Sox in Exhibition Stadium on April 7, 1977. The Jays won 9-5, behind two homers by Doug Ault and Al Woods homered for the winners. That's Don Chevrier calling the play-by-play and former Yankees pitching great Whitey Ford providing the color.
That is baseball. Great game it is.
Damn Baseball has changed SO MUCH over the last 41 years! these guys look like 180lb assembly line workers at GM, guys today look like 225 lb Linebackers with all the Tats, Earrings, Huge Jewelry, odd thing is the little guys in the 70's hit the Ball just as Far, AND played with more Heart...LOL...
They really didn't hit the ball as far, or run as fast, or throw as hard...
The ball is wound up tighter today too
@@rmartin7558 The average fastball was indeed 5 mph slower, but the only reason was because they had to pace themselves, the average starter threw 50 -100 more innings per year than pitchers today. And yes, players like Reggie Jackson at barely 5 ft 11 and a wiry 6 ft 1 Mike Schmidt hit the ball EVERY bit as far as anyone today I assure you.
I was born in '75, so I saw first hand the players go from average Joe's to jacked behemoths. And even the guys who played back then will tell you today's players are bigger, faster, stronger. It's just evolution. Training philosophy has changed, nutrition, the human body has evolved. I realize The Babe hit some monster home runs, and Mantle, Kingman, Reggie, Schmidt, Cecil Fielder and all of those guys. But you're kidding yourself if you think the guys in the '70's are as strong and as fast as the guys today, or the guys of twenty years ago for that matter. Don't even bring up steroids because then you'll be making my point for me. Weight training and steroids make you stronger and faster. Just ask Ben Johnson and Jose Canseco.
@@rmartin7558 Jim Rice could hit moon shots with pure muscle. Rice hit two home runs over the back of centerfield at Fenway. Don Zimmer said, "I swallowed my tobacco both times."
Garr, Zisk, Gamble, Orta, Soderholm, Spencer, Bannister. Such a productive WSox team!
South Side Hit Men
Great video! Best comment is that the Jays have 9 pitchers - 5 starters, 2 short relievers, and 2 long relievers. I'm watching the World Series, and I think the Braves have already used 5 pitchers tonight!
Condolences to the family of Jerry Johnson who died today. He was the winner of this game.
From 1 to 9 ,the White Sox had a tremendous team , not one iffy player , they had quite a lineup ... WOW! Garr , Bannister , Orta, Zisk, Spencer, Gamble, Orta, Soderholm, Lemon, Downing ... they all can hit 🌟👍
A very exciting lineup. They could hit the stiffing out of the ball, but couldn't field too well. The team was Bill Veeck's "Rent a Player" strategy right before free agency began. He traded some good young players (Gossage, Dent, Forster) to get this Gashouse Gorilla lineup. After the year, Zisk signed a long term deal with the Rangers, Gamble left for the Padres, and Downing went to the Angels, Lemon, still a youngster, stayed as did, strangely enough, Garr.
I can imagine many Americans seeing this and assuming that their entire home season would be played in the snow, haha.
@Bubba B I live in maine about a 6 hourish drive from Canada and that's close usually around April it's in the mid to high 40s June 60-80 (most of the time sometimes 90+) July about the same then August sempter usually from 34-50 November- February is just hell
45 years ago at the jays game
1977 Chisox had a great season!!!!Gave Royals a run for their money☺️
Anthony Corraro South Side Hitmen still have the jersey
First place until august 1977 gave a great run and ended up better than last place the year before is great.
Did not think Bob Lemon should of gotten fired so quick in 1978.
@@anthonycorraro5874 The Yankees were glad he was then available, he then took over a sinking ship to a World Series Champion 🏆
It took 8 years until Bobby Cox led Toronto to the A.L.East title in 1985.He managed the West Haven Yankees to the Eastern League title(maybe a few times).I think he managed Otto Velez in 1974.
I ♥️The Argonauts!!!!👍🙂
same (:
The Jays became a model franchise. But this game illustrates one of their biggest mistakes. They drafted Bill Singer in the expansion draft. Pat Gillick had a deal to send Singer to the Yankees in exchange for a smallish pitcher named Ron Guidry. Then GM Peter Bavasi put the kibosh on it because they had already put Singer's picture on the cover of the media guide. Guidry became a legend. Singer barely got out of the first inning in this game.
Singer was past his prime but an accomplished pitcher in his own right, makes sense to bring in a vet to a new team. Just didn't work out...
Thanks again..
Those Sox throwbacks are awesome
They weren't throwbacks . from 1976-1981 that was the uniform worn for every game
Richie Zisk with a mammoth clout @ 9:03. Zisk hit .290 with 30 HR 101 RBI for the White Sox in '77. Zisk was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Silvio Martinez to Chicago White Sox in exchange
for Rich Gossage and Terry Forster (December 10, 1976). But the White Sox kept him only one season as he signed with the Texas Rangers as a free agent on November, 9th, 1977.
'77 was the year Bill Veeck went out and aquired a bunch of players in their "contract year" but wound up not signing any of them long term. It made them a contender that year, but that was it.
Zisk was/is my brother Richard's favorite baseball player 👍
The Sox also has Oscar Gamble in 1977, he hit 31 hrs and he went to The Padres in 1978 and hit only 7 hrs 47 rbi's. In '79 Oscar went to The Yanks and batted around .360.
Zisk hit 22, 21, 17 homers for Texas and found even btr success in Seattle.
... It was a tad chilly that day for a bloody Ball game but it was Franchise history. The right field bleachers were plank aluminium as far as the eye could see and butt cold. It was Blue Jay Prohibition in TO then so it was Flasks and any other contraband you could get past entrance security for a few years as well ; ) Ball park was the Argo's field and the CNE concert venue turned into a half arsed Ball Yard but it had some charm and many memories 😎
In '77,Toronto shocked Yankees in N.Y.19-3!I think it was on a Saturday.
It was a Saturday September 10 . Yankees won 100 games that year and the World Series. The Jays record against them was 6-9 . Excellent for an first year team that lost over 100 games.
Catfish Hunter was the losing pitcher
The next season, the Blue Jays buried Baltimore, 24-10 at Exhibition Stadium. The Jays rapped seven doubles, two triples and two homers.
Baltimore manager Earl Weaver did not want to deplete the bullpen,
so he brought in reserve infielder Larry Harlow and catcher Elrod Hendricks to pitch. Harlow gave up a homer, but Hendricks kept
Toronto scoreless in one inning.
1977 was fun. The Red Sox crushed 233 home runs, including 33 in one ten-game stretch. June 18 was a great one. On live TV, Billy Martin pulled Reggie Jackson from the field, during the inning! Millions saw them screaming at each other on TV.
I remember watching that game on WPIX in NYC.
Feet first slides, umps in maroon jackets, long-sleaved collered shirts as part of a uniform, Brian Downing catching---now this is baseball!
29:40 So awesome to see Bill Singer on The Jays in 1977, his final year - but no Topps card in 1978. An irritating policy that Topps had for retiring players such as Willie McCovey 1980, Lou Brock 1979, Ralph Garr 1980 & others.
I never noticed the Blue Box with the white JC at the lower left hand section of the batters eye screen in the North Grandstand. Only done on this Opening Day. There are two people in there...cameramen, perhaps?
I noticed that a website that sells old games called Old Time Sports has the entire Jays game from 1977 with old commercials like for Labatt, CIBC & BFGoodrich. If any Jays fan out the has the entire game, that'll be AWESOME!!
Wherecanigetit
I can't believe what I watching.
Does anyone out there have any footage, either audio or video, of the Orioles-Blue Jays game from later that season that was forfeited by the O's due to complaints by manager Earl Weaver because of a tarp covering the Jays' bullpen?
You know you cannot sell videos without permission of MLB, right?
You cannot sell the video. You do not own the right. I suggest you do research before making posts!
paul young I think he was joking bro. Who would by a video of a game for $500 lol.
I was hoping for a Jays-Yankees pennant race but it didn't happen.
first game of da South Side Hitmen
Oscar Gamble and Richie Zisk would go on to have the best years of their careers, then leave for a big payday.
Side note: The batters eye screen was quite shallow, as this game shows. Later, the screen went up several more rows and the screen was replaced with black seats. Later, a black tarp covered the seats to ensure that nobody sat there.
I remember before the expansion draft thinking it'll be tough to get a decent catcher. There seemed to be so few of them around. But somehow the expansion Jays got Rick Cerone, Alan Ashby and Ernie Whitt. All 3 of them had good long careers.
Doug Ault HRs at 20:51 and 49:56.
Sadly, Bill Singer injured his shoulder in this game and his career was over by mid-June
Bill Singer is the first hurler to win 20 games in the National (1969, Los Angeles Dodgers) and American (1973, California) Leagues.
@@armorybrunotjr.3204 You're off by one year...Gaylord Perry won 20+ games twice for the SF Giants (1966, 1970) and won 24 games for the Cleveland Indians in 1972.
In 1969 Singer besides winning 20 games ,he also had 16 complete games and 248 strikeouts 👌🏻
That Sox lineup could really hit ( from tip to bottom.)
I totally agree K Mac , good looking team from 1 thru 9 👍
It was a tip top lineup 😉👍
How cold was it that day looked 32 degree at least
i don’t think it’s that hot in summer in ronto
The official temperature was, indeed, 32 degrees F (0 degrees C).
Good to see two future Yankees on this tape. Jim Spencer & Rick Cerone.
I doubt this an ESPN broadcast. It appears to be a broadcast from one of the Canadian television networks.
CTV covered this game. ESPN was not around yet in 1977.
@@armorybrunotjr.3204 Tell that to the uploader "Top Of The Third". He referenced ESPN. Unless of course, they rebroadcasted the original which I guess is possible.
@@armorybrunotjr.3204 No, it was the CBC Television Network who carried the game.
Commentators:
Don Chevrier
Whitey Ford
No no ESPN CLassic Canada was the channel that rebroadcast this game that was on CBC in 1977, when they used to do baseball
@@williamdunphy352 Correct. I watched this telecast as a senior at Syracuse University on CKWS in Kingston. This was before cable, but its over-the-air signal reached good locations in Syracuse, and I was on the 8th floor of an 8-floor dorm!
Ralph Garr was a boss. Later he became an excellent baseball scout.
Ralph also had a short fuse , he was known as the road runner 👍
Blue Jays reliever Pete Vuckovich won the American League Cy Young Award with the Brewers in 1982.
Sounds like Whitey Ford announcing the game. Is that true? Does anyone know?
Yes, it was Whitey Ford. Tony Kubek could not do the first game due to another commitment, and Whitey filled in.
Tom Cheek and Early Wynn were the radio announcers on CJCL 1430 for this first historic game.
Otto Velez played for the West Haven,CT.Yankees in AA.I believe he won the Eastern League title in 1974.
Ron Fairly ruled!!!!
With Ron Fairly playing in the Bluejays maiden season in 1977, he was one of handful of former big leaguers to play for both the Jays and the
former Montreal Expos.
@@armorybrunotjr.3204 And he debuted for the Dodgers in 1958, their first season in LA. Too bad he didn't get called up a year earlier. He could have been a Brooklyn Dodger, a Montreal Expo, and a Toronto Blue Jay.
Whitey Ford was a Blue Jays announcer? Was he a regular or just there for this game? Growing up a White Sox fan, this was probably the most fun year ever. What a team! It looked for a while we might win, but it was all fool’s gold. One good year and then it was back to losing.
I could never identify Pete Vuckovich without a set of aviator glasses on
Why in the world would they skip the go-ahead RBI hit in the fourth inning?
Time constraints.
2:15 getting his laps in
How did anybody play on this?
It was very cold....my father is Jesse Jefferson...he was on the team from '77-'80...I wasn't born yet...but my Mom was at the game like the other wives...it was so cold my Mom lasted on 2 innings and was in the clubhouse watching the rest of it with the other wives lol
Blue Jay fans put in their licks before the 1985 team.It took the Mets 8 years before 1969(they were never higher than 9th before '69).I think the Jays began to blossom after a weekend sweep of the Yankees in N.Y.(in '83 or '84).👍
Is this hockey announcer Bob Cole announcing?
No. It's Don Chevrier. He was best known for his CFL broadcasting career.
AlbanianMan
The game was on CTV
and Don Chevrier called the game.
@@joecool6348 with Whitey Ford doing the color (colour) commentary.
Don Chevrier did the Jays on CTV too. @@topofthethird8938
Former Blue Jay manager Bobby Cox may of been the West Haven manager.
Where are the Iorg Brothers,eh?
Garth Iorg wasn't around yet. Neither was Dane.
I've noticed the Toronto uniforms didn't have names on the back. Anyone know when they were added?
Not sure about the home jerseys (early 80s sometime) but they didn't put names on the back of their road jerseys until 1989 when they switched from powder blue to gray.
They added the names on home/road jerseys in 1980, removed names on road jerseys for 1981 and re-added names on road jerseys in 1989.
How do the white Sox pitchers get away with wearing white sleeves??
Whitey Ford ridiculously referring to Exhibition Stadium as "beautiful." The mad scramble of fans in the east side football end zone trying to get their hands on the balls from those right field homers. And Francisco Barrios quick pitch balking on almost every pitch he threw with a runner on. That wouldn't fly today.
Do you have any Orioles/Jays games? Would love to see that!
a couple from 1989. I will try and get some more games up in the winter. This summer has been very busy for me and I haven't had a chance to get as many games on my channel as I would have liked.
Didnt know the Jay's had Pete Vuckovich...would've been a great 1-2 punch with Dave Steib
Salukis
where is this footage from?
It looks so freezing cold. Why did they ever play this game?
Mayhem Jr. had to start the season sometime I guess?
Johnson said just catch it cerone
In Toronto: First Game for the Blue Jays.
In Chicago: First game for the South Side Hitmen.
In 1995 Doug Ault managed the Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks.
That organist must be high on shrooms!:)
Hector Torres for the Hall of Fame
was this played at an unfinished sky dome ?
no. It was at Exhibition Stadium, the Jays' first home from 1977 until May of 1989. Exhibition Stadium was located where BMO Field is now, where the Argos play.
thank you for clearing that up for me, i just assumed that the blue jays always played at the sky dome.
Cold canadian sports weather
Zisk’s blast to 400 ft dead centerfield in that weather is like hitting one 500 ft in July or Aug
This is the Toronto Blue Jays original home field, Exhibition Stadium
(1977-mid 1989).
Removing a dead body? 😅 0:10
nice
They didn't wear shorts that day.
FYI they were only worn for 2 games in 1976 such a big deal was made about those and they were hardly worn
Field was more suitable for a hockey game..
Molson,Labatts,Moosehead🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻
Blue Jays? What birds are going to stay out in that weather? Should've been named the Polar Bears.
Blue Jays actually stick around over the winter. I used to see them eating at the bird feeders at my grandmother's house during heavy snow. They are pretty resilient birds. Terrible bullies at the feeders though. Chase away all the chickadees.
Neat.
I think Johnny Rogers won the Grey Cup in Exhibition Stadium for the Argonauts in 1977.
The Montreal Alouettes without Johnny Rogers won the Grey Cup in 1977 against the Edmonton Eskimos at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, I was there! In 1977 the Montreal Canadians won the Standley Cupa and the Quebec Nordiques won the Avco Cup.
Doug Ault "Mr.Blue Jay".
Baseball in Toronto? How ridiculous, it will never last. 😉
Umpires
HP Nestor Chylak (Crew Chief)
1B Joe Brinkman
2B Rich Garcia
3B Steve Palermo
William Dunphy Steve Palermo. Was he the ump who helped someone during a robbery and was shot and became paralyzed? Name sounds so familiar
@@josephcolella3107 Yes it was. He died on May 14th, 2017.
today a flake fell they would of cancelled
? Sorry
What a mess.
Those White Sox uniforms were ugly as hell.
They were great!
You are NUTS! For a time they we're quite stylish. They wore them too long in my opinion. The White Sox were known for changing their uniforms often. They kept these from 76 to 81
I liked them. Best uniforms:
1976 Patriots
1974 Astros
1970s Athletics
1970s Twins
1975 Red Sox
1972 Rangers
@@davidlafleche1142 I love all the baby blue Jersey's. The 1972-1975 White Sox home Candy Cane w/the Baby Blue Road with the Red cap w/White Old English font are both amazing looking uniforms.
I also Like the late 70s early 80s Altanta Braves and Texas Rangers uni's too. Oh and the 70s Yellow and Brown Padres were great Montreal Expos had that tri-colored hat that matched both home and away which I hated, but now LOVE. Even though I hate the Cubs with every cell in my body, I dig their late 70s baby blue road uni's w/the navy pinstripes. Retro shit is awesome! Thank the Chicago White Sox for starting "Turning back the clock" day AND for being the 1st team w/names on their jerseys
@@vaughnmild4467 1971-75 White Sox
Just horrendous.. sox uniform.
I think they were the inspiration of some of the ugly third option uniforms they have today. For example, the yellow ones the Red Sox wore this week. Yikes.