The Blue Jays Are Named After The Blue Bombers
And it involves booze, gangsters, and an infamous kidnapping
April 7, 1977. Exhibition Stadium. As a zamboni clears the snow and Anne Murray sings "O Canada," Toronto’s brand new Major League Baseball team prepares to take the field for the very first time. In blue letters across the chests of their white uniforms, the players wear the team's name: BLUE JAYS. It’s a pretty straightforward moniker. But the story of how the Blue Jays became the Blue Jays is a much more epic tale than you might think — it’s a story tied to booze, gangsters, and one of the most infamous kidnappings in Canadian history.
In the most direct sense, the Toronto Blue Jays had gotten their name thanks to a “Name The Team” contest. Over the course of five weeks, more than 30,000 entries flooded in, suggesting more than 4,000 different possibilities. Toronto’s baseball team could have been called The Towers or The Trilliums. The Hogtowners or The Orangemen. The Godfreys or The Crombies. The Fighting Turtles or The Sea Fleas. The Unicorns, The Peacocks or The Hippos. The Sad Sacks. The Titanics.
But one theme united many of the suggestions: the word “blue.” There were The Blues, The Blue Sox, The Blue Shoes, The Blue Hats, The Blue Bonnets, The Blue Bats, The Blue Balls (yikes), The Blue Bloods, The Blue Beavers, The Blue Birds…
The reason for all those “blue” names was obvious at the time. You might already know what it was. But the naming contest was just part of the story. You can keep digging from there… allllllll the way back to the Great Depression and the tale of the Labatt brothers.
John and Hugh Labatt were the grandsons of John Kinder Labatt — the man who opened a brewery in London, Ontario in 1847. It would go on to become one of the most successful businesses in Canada: by the time the Labatt brothers were born, the company was a massive operation. John and Hugh would eventually take it over. But their time together at the helm was nearly cut short in tragic fashion: in 1934, John came face to face with death during a harrowing ordeal that made headlines around the country.
It began on a dusty gravel road outside London. John was attacked: dragged out of his car by three men, forced to write a ransom note to his brother, and then driven up to a cottage in Muskoka where his kidnappers blindfolded him and chained him to a bed. The ransom note instructed Hugh to check in at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, where he would be contacted by a man named Three-Fingered Abe — the leader of the kidnappers. Hugh would have to pay $150,000 to save his brother’s life.
Hugh did as he was told and headed to the Royal York. But word of the kidnapping got out. As reporters descended on the hotel, the story hit the front pages. The kidnappers panicked; they were in over their heads. So instead of contacting Hugh, they aborted their scheme. They drove John back down from Muskoka, brought him to the corner of Vaughan Road and St. Clair Avenue, and just let him go.
John Labatt was free. It was over. And having survived the terrible experience and come safely out the other side, John and Hugh would run the company together for many years to come.
It was more than a decade and a half later, in the early 1950s, that the two brothers introduced two new landmark beers. They called the first beer their “Anniversary Ale"; it was released to celebrate 50 years of partnership between the two brothers — a liquid testament to their love and resolve in the face of their harrowing ordeal. In time, that beer would become known as Labatt 50. It's still one of the most popular beers in the country today.
The following year, the Labatt Brewing Company introduced a second new beer. It was a lager inspired by Hugh’s recent trip to the city Czech city of Pilsen: “Labatt Pilsener.” At first, this new lager was only available in Ontario. But five years later, when it was finally introduced to the province of Manitoba, it found a loyal new group of fans.
That's where the Blue Bombers come in. Winnipeg’s CFL team was created as an amalgamation of local rugby and football teams — with roots going back all the way to the 1870s. But the team didn’t have a great name: the Winnipeg Winnipegs Rugby Football Club would eventually be known simply as “The Winnipegs.”
But in 1935, that finally changed. One fateful day, a sportswriter at The Winnipeg Tribune by the name of Vince Leah decided to borrow a phrase from the legendary American sportswriter Grantland Rice. Rice had given a famous nickname to one of the greatest boxers in the history of the world: he called Joe Louis, “The Brown Bomber” — which became the most popular of Louis’ many racialized nicknames. And so Leah, in tribute, called the Winnipeg football team, with their snazzy blue uniforms, “The Blue Bombers of Western football.” And the name stuck.
When Labatt Pilsener arrived Winnipeg with its flashy blue label, the beer won a place in the hearts of Blue Bomber fans. They adopted it as part of their fandom and they gave it a simple new nickname: Blue.
Soon, that name stuck, too — in no small part thanks to golden age of Blue Bombers football, which saw the team win back-to-back Grey Cups in 1958 and '59. Labatt officially adopted the nickname in the early 1960s and even became the official sponsor of the CFL. The name "Labatt Blue" was here to stay.
And yet, despite the strong association with Canadian football, Labatt was struggling to promote itself as a Canadian brand. A study conducted a decade later found that most Canadians assumed Labatt was actually a foreign business — owned by Schlitz or the Pall Mall cigarette company. Labatt was determined to change that perception, and encouraged by their success with the Blue Bombers, they decided they should go even bigger: they should associate themselves with another major Canadian sports team playing in an even more popular league. And thus, they helped lead the charge to bring Major League Baseball to Canada.
The Labatt Brewing Company owned 45% of Toronto’s new baseball team. And since Labatt Blue was now their flagship brew — about to become the most popular of all Canadian beers — all those "blue" themed entries in the naming contest were clearly meant to curry their favour.
It worked. It came as no surprise when a panel that included a bunch of Labatt executives seized the opportunity for brand synergy: the new baseball team would be named after the beer that was named after the Blue Bombers.
The Toronto Blue Jays were born.
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QUICK LINKS
The best of everything else that’s new in Toronto’s past…
DIS/MANTLE NEWS — I’m looking forward to checking out the Dis/Mantle exhibit at Spadina House — “a reimagining of Spadina Museum utilizing an Afrofuturistic narrative where Mrs. Pipkin [a servant who worked in the house after fleeing slavery] is the homeowner and the house is a haven for those who travelled safely to southern Ontario via the Underground Railroad.” Co-curator and lead artist Gordon Shadrach gave Metro Morning a tour. Listen.
MORE DIS/MANTLE NEWS — The Toronto Star’s Steve Russell also shared
(Click on it to read the full thread.)
YET ANOTHER MODERNIST GEM UNDER THREAT NEWS — Raymond Moriyama is one of Canada’s most beloved architects, responsible for major landmarks in our city like the Toronto Reference Library and the Ontario Science Centre. Now his spectacular Japanese-Canadian Cultural Centre, built in 1964, looks like it will be largely demolished. Read more.
SATANIC VERSES NEWS — Jamie Bradburn shares a timely piece from his Torontoist archives about Salman Rushdie’s surprise Toronto appearance as he emerged from hiding 30 years ago. Read more.
GARDEN STROLL NEWS — …and he takes you on a tour among the old mansion-lined streets of Upper Jarvis and the Garden District in The Toronto Star. Read more.
DISAPPEARING MARKET NEWS — …and put together a then & now animation of the changing St. Lawrence neighbourhood:
ABANDONED NEWS — Kimia Afshar Mehrabi looks into the old Dominion Bank building at the corner of Dupont & Christie, which is covered in graffiti and seemingly abandoned after Starbucks moved out nearly a year ago. Read more.
SAD POLITICIAN NEWS — Former cabinet minister Bill Graham passed away last week. He grew up in Toronto and taught at the University of Toronto. Read more.
MY UPCOMING EVENTS
A GRISLY TOUR OF ST. JAMES
August 24 — 7pm — Meet at the gazebo in St. James Park — Friends of St. James Park
Join me on a morbid exploration of the St. James neighbourhood, uncovering grisly and gruesome tales from the city’s formative years. From the elegant stained glass windows of the city’s grandest cathedral to stories of brutal riots, duels and plagues, you’ll travel back in time to the early 1800s to learn about decades of violence that rocked the city to its core. A walk through the historic neighbourhood that was once at the heart of bloody battles over the future of Canadian democracy.
Free!
MORE TORONTO HISTORY EVENTS
SUMMER HISTORY SERIES: ETOBICOKE’S HISTORIC LAKESHORE
August 18 — 7:30pm — Online — Etobicoke Historical Society
“Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch share many things, including the streetcars of Lakeshore Boulevard West and the beautiful shores of Lake Ontario, but they have very different histories. Mimico is an older town, once the home of palatial estates. New Toronto had its start as a gritty industrial suburb. And Long Branch began as a gated, upper class cottage community and resort in Victorian times. Join EHS Historian Richard Jordan as he travels back in time on this virtual historic tour of Etobicoke’s three lakeshore communities.”
Free!
WALKING TOUR — 1813: TERROR IN THE TOWN OF YORK
August 18 — 7pm — Meet at Toronto’s First Post Office — Town of York Historical Society
“Explore the Town of York on foot with one of our expert historians! In this walking tour, join us as we explore the Battle of York while we walk the original 10 blocks of the early city. Tours start and end at Toronto’s First Post Office. Tours run rain or shine, and may cover rough ground, so please dress accordingly. All ages are welcome. Dogs and bicycles are welcome as we walk, though portions of some tours may include indoor areas where they are restricted.”
$16.93 for non-members; $11.62 for members.
RAILWAY TECHNOLOGY IN THE CANADIAN FIRST WORLD WAR EFFORT
August 18 — 7pm — Online — Toronto Railway Museum
“Explore the complexities of transportation and logistics in the forward areas of the Western Front during the First World War. Join us and presenter Andrew Iarocci on Thursday, August 18 at 7:00 PM (EST) for a free online lecture. Learn about how railway technologies and expertise were gradually integrated into the British (and Canadian) transportation system, in an effort to streamline and rationalize the movement of ammunition, supplies, and personnel.”
Free with registration!
NEIGHBOURHOOD TOUR: HUNGRY FOR COMFORT
August 20 & 21 — Various times — Mackenzie House
“Mackenzie House’s Hungry for Comfort Neighbourhood Tour explores the influence of the Black community on food culture in Toronto from the 1830s- 1860s. From grocers, to caterers, to purveyors of fine dining, each of the individuals included represents a different aspect of foodways. The walking tour begins at the Northeast corner of King & Church Streets and ends at Mackenzie House with a tasting of Trinidadian snacks by Pelau Catering.”
Free with registration!
FIRST STORY TOURS OF HIGH PARK
August 20 & 27 — 12pm & 2:30pm — Meet at Colborne Lodge Museum in High Park
“Guided tours facilitated by First Story Toronto Storytellers will identify patterns of Indigenous Land management in High Park.”
Free!
ONE STORY IS NOT THE ONLY STORY
August 24 — 2pm — Montgomery’s Inn — Memory Box Collective & Toronto History Museums
“Memory Box Collective seeks to animate the missing narratives of Black and disabled people who lived and worked around Montgomery's Inn in the late 1800’s. We imagine making visible stories of people who have been omitted from past conversations, whose experiences are not represented due to misrecognition of their lived experiences and contributions to history. The experiences and agency of Black people and the absence of disability in historical records does not reflect factual experiences of many Ontarians in the 19th century.
“Charmaine Lurch and Anne Zbitnew will be present at the Farmer’s Market on August 24, 2022, with noted archivist and researcher Hilary Dawson to talk about the history and how artwork can interpret and disrupt.”
Free!
WALKING TOUR — ON THE EDGE OF THE CITY: TORONTO IN 1833
August 27 — 10:30am — Meet at Toronto’s First Post Office — Town of York Historical Society
“Imagine a Toronto where the tallest building is only three stories high, where Lake Ontario reaches Front Street, where the wagon wheels grind through the muddy roads, the air smells of smoke and animal, and the surrounding lands is farms, fields, and forests. This was what the neighbourhood looked like in the early 1800s. In this walking tour, explore the surviving built environment of the original 10 blocks of Toronto and discover how the Town of York, which started as a colonial outpost with a couple hundred residents, became the City of Toronto in 1834, with a population of just under 10,000.”
$16.93 for non-members; $11.62 for members.
TORONTO’S EARLY HISTORY TREASURES
September 15 — 7:30pm — Online — Etobicoke Historical Society
“As a Toronto Star Reporter from 2000 to 2013, John Goddard developed an interest in Toronto’s early history. Not owning a car, he used public transit to visit each of Toronto’s 10 History Museums and was fascinated by their heritage artifacts and the interesting stories behind them. Realizing there was no guide book to these treasures of Toronto’s heritage led John to write his book Inside the Museums: Toronto’s Heritage Sites and Their Most Prized Objects (2014, Dundurn Press). It explains why Eliza Gibson risked her life to save a clock, reveals the appalling instructions that Robert Baldwin left in his will, and examines how the career of postmaster James Scott Howard shattered on the most baseless of innuendos at one of the most highly charged moments in the city’s history.”
Free for members; an annual membership is $25.
FREDERICK BANTING: THE MAN YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
September 28 — 7:30pm — Online — North Toronto Historical Society
“‘Insulin was but a means to an end.’ wrote Frederick Banting. Grant Maltman, curator of Banting House in London, Ontario, will highlight insulin's centenary, and also show that there was far more than this Nobel Prize-winning discovery in Banting's life and career: his service in both World Wars, his use of art as an escape and his role as a catalyst for Canada's military and medical research.”
Free with registration, I believe