Memorabilia and moments: the history of Toronto sports fandom
Fans, a word stemming from its original term fanatics meaning a person who is extremely enthusiastic about and devoted to some interest or activity according to Webster. In Toronto, being a sports fan, in particular, is special as any other sports fan would imagine. In fact, Toronto is home to three teams from the ‘Big Four’ sports leagues (NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB). It begins with the establishment of the Toronto Arenas in 1917 as the city’s first official hockey team in the NHL, this team would transform into the Toronto St. Patricks in 1919 and finally emerged into the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1927. Fast forward 50 years and Toronto’s first Major League Baseball team arrives in 1977 as the Toronto Blue Jays and later becoming Canada’s only MLB team with the departure of the Montreal Expos in 2004. Finally, the 1995 arrival of the Toronto Raptors in the NBA came with a lot of uncertainty that the team would last long playing in what was then known as The Skydome.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Talking about the Leafs is one thing but seeing the passion and vibrant history of the fanbase. In other words, you must see it to BeLeaf it. Here are a few photographs of Maple Leafs memorabilia and moments compiled by photographer Nick Barden, Leafs superfan Kurtis Stevenson, and our very own Anthony Testaguzza.
Ever since the inception of the Arenas in 1917, the city has had a connection to its sports teams that goes far beyond a team/fan relationship. The city has bonded with their teams since the Arena’s entered the league. These teams have turned into a part of the community and people have turned into fans of these teams since birth. Many older generations of fans gravitated towards the Leafs and their team because a large majority of kids in Toronto grew up playing hockey on the street and learned how to skate on frozen ponds in the winter.
A great example of this path is from Canadian musician and author Dave Bidini. “When you’re a kid you gravitate to the things that are the most fun…I was lucky enough to have a lot of friends and we played sports, we played a lot of road hockey and a lot of baseball.”
So, what made Bidini in his case start watching sports and following them closely?
“Seeing adults and seeing them really happy most often centered around stuff that happened with the Leafs, they were happy when they won, and I think as a kid at a very early age you are drawn to that.”
People in the GTA and beyond are drawn to these teams to the point of fandom and celebrity status. Dave pointed this out when referencing his book Keon and Me which centered around former Leafs captain and Hockey Hall of Famer Dave Keon.
“He was a big heroic figure growing up,” said Bidini, “a lot of my friends are named Dave because of him. I wrote in that book about how my teacher in class asked me what my favourite colour was and I said Blue and I’m sure the reason I said that was because of the Leafs.”
It’s unbelievable to me how a single player on a hockey team had such an impact on people that it shaped a generation to not only fall in love with him and see him as almost a god-like figure but also inspired a generation of new parents to name their newborn children after him.
The tradition of the Toronto Maple Leafs still carries on to this day. Within the past five years, the Leafs have been consistently making the playoffs with their new core players centering around Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. But what makes this new iteration of the Leafs so great is that both the younger generation and older generation absolutely love to watch them and cheer for them.
The obvious joke centered around the Leafs is that they haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967 or a playoff series since 2004. But what makes this fanbase so special is that no matter what happens, people still have hope, and they BeLeaf.
Toronto Blue Jays
Since the Blue Jays are the only team in Canada to win the World Series, they are not only loved by the city of Toronto but the entire country. Once again, Anthony Testaguzza provided us with some of his family-owned Blue Jays memorabilia.
The Toronto Blue Jays are a beloved team in the city of Toronto and have a long history of their own.
The Blue Jays were introduced to the MLB back in 1977 and were the second Canadian team to be given an MLB franchise.
If you ask any Blue Jays fan who watched their games from 1977-1989 the first thing they will say is, “those games were so cold.”
The reason why is that for those 12 years, the Blue Jays played at what was once known as Exhibition Stadium, now called BMO Feild.
But those cold games 40 years ago were a spectacle to behold since the game could not be canceled because if it was, the team would lose their time slot. So, games would still go on in the freezing April cold and sometimes it would snow.
But in June of 1989, the famous Skydome now called the Rogers Centre would finally host the Blue Jays. The retractable roof stadium is now a staple in the city skyline.
The Blue Jays had so many memorable teams back in the 80s and 90s. The most notable being the 1992 and 1993 World Series winning teams.
But even before that, Toronto had some great squads like the 1985 team that won the A.L East pennant and the 1987 team that almost made the playoffs but ended the season losing seven straight games to miss.
Bidini still cringes at that team saying, “that team was a *bleeping* machine.”
After winning in 1993, the Blue Jays never qualified for the playoffs until 2015 when the team went to the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals where they lost in six games. Then the next season they made it back to the ALCS only to lose to the Cleveland Indians in five games.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors represent the next generation of Toronto sports fans and are rapidly developing their fanbase, especially after an insane NBA Championship victory in 2019. Luckily, we were able to capture some Raptors relics from the past.
The Toronto Raptors have grown tremendously since their inception into the NBA in 1995.
The Raptors were granted an expansion franchise and played their first few seasons at the Skydome before moving to the Air Canada Centre.
The Raptors for a long time have not been appreciated by American NBA media due to them being the only Canadian market.
But the team finally got onto the map when their superstar Vince Carter won the NBA dunk contest in 2000. Carter pulled off some of the greatest dunks ever seen on the world stage while wearing a purple Raptors jersey.
Vince’s Raptors had a few solid playoff runs, the most notable one was in 2001 where the team won the franchise’s first-ever playoff round but came up just short in game seven against the Philidelphia 76ers where Carter missed a last-second shot that would have won the game and the series for the team.
The team would not have a playoff run until the 2006 – 2007 season with names like Chirs Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, and T.J Ford leading the floor, unfortunately they lost in the first round to the then New Jersey Nets and would later lose in the first round in the following year against the Orlando Magic.
Although the team was quite after back-to-back first round exits, a new era would open in 2014 with stars like Kyle Lowry, Demar DeRozan, and Jonas Valančiûnas.
After multiple playoff failures, the team finally won their first-ever title in 2019 which was the city of Toronto’s first championship since the Blue Jays won in 1993.
Toronto has been a city that has learned to grow with its sports teams in many ways, through many generations at hand. These teams have sparked a new wave of generational talent in players, fashion designs, and slang spoken around the city and] giving a new perspective on how people around the world not only view Torontonians but Canadians as a whole when it comes to sports and our love and passion for our teams, and the lengths we will go to cheer, no matter win or lose.
To the left of this is a video, a project, and a mini documentary, put together by the Sports Life in the 6ix team to help encompass what sports mean to Toronto has developed and changed through the game and passion of sports throughout their years and the passion that these Torontonians bring each year.
