Rogers Centre
Exhibition Stadium
Formerly, the Canadian National Exhibition grounds
Toronto, Ontario
Main (North) grandstand first opened: 1879
Main grandtand rebuilt: 1892, 1907, 1948
South grandstand built: 1959
Permanent south-west baseball grandstand built: 1976
First CFL game: 1959
First American League game: April 7, 1977 (Tor 9, Chi 5)
Last American League game: May 28, 1989 (Tor 7, Chi 5)
Last CFL game: 1989
Closed and demolished: 1998-99
Grandstand/Stadium seating capacity: 5,000 (1878); 10,000 (1892); 16,400 (1907); 20,663 (1948); 33,135 (1959); 54,264 (1976); Official baseball capacity: 43,737
Playing surface: Natural (1879-1971); Artificial (1972-99)
Architects: G.W. Gouinlock (1907); Marani and Morris (1948); Bill Sanford (1976)
Construction: Pigott Construction Co. Ltd. (1948)
Owner: City of Toronto
Cost: $3 million (1948); $650,000 (1959); $17.8 million (1976)
Dimensions:
Foul lines: 330 ft
Power alleys: 375 ft
Centre field: 400 ft
Height of fences: 12 ft
Hosted World Series: Never
Hosted All-Star Game: Never
Hosted CFL Grey Cup: 1959, 61, 62, 64, 65, 68, 70, 73, 76, 78, 80, 82
The principal tenants of Exhibition Stadium were the Toronto Blue Jays of the American League and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Over the years, the venue hosted legendary entertainers and military parades.
The original Grandstand at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds was built in 1879, had a seating capacity of 5,000 and hosted horse racing, stage shows, sporting events, fireworks displays, livestock judging and other fair events. The centrepiece of the annual Exhibition, it was rebuilt and expanded in 1892 to a 10,000 seat structure (above right). In 1906, the Grandstand was destroyed by fire. In 1907, architect G.W. Gouinlock's 16,400-seat Grandstand was completed (below). The annual CNE events continued at the Grandstand for four decades, until another fire destroyed the structure in 1946.
In 1959, a south grandstand was added which allowed for the professional football Argonauts to move from Varsity Stadium to the Ex. The south bleachers added 12, 472 seats to the stadium, bringing total capacity to 33,135. That autumn, Exhibition Stadium hosted its first Grey Cup game. A capacity crowd saw Bud Grant's Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeat the Hamilton Tiger Cats 21-7. The same two sides met up in Toronto in 1961 and again in 1962. Both times, the Bombers walked off the field as champions, beating Hamilton 21-14 and 28-27 in the famous 'Mud Bowl' game. In all, five Grey Cup games were played at Exhibition Stadium in the 1960's, none featuring the hometown Argos. Two more CFL championships would be won at the Ex before it was expanded for baseball. In 1970, Montreal defeated Calgary 23-10. In 1973, more than 36,000 fans saw Ottawa earn the title over Edmonton 22-18.
By 1974, the ever-present talk of bringing a Major League baseball club to Toronto suddenly became serious. Metro Toronto council approved a plan to renovate Exhibition Stadium to allow for baseball. The existing south-side bleachers would be demolished and replaced with a long L-shaped structure that would wrap around the baseball infield and extend down the football sideline (below). The North Grandstand would remain and be used as the left-field baseball bleachers. The new stadium was completed at a cost of $17.8 Million, financed by Metropolitan Toronto and a loan from the province. The Monsanto Astroturf playing surface was the largest in North America at 160,000 square feet. 20 giant light standards, each 180 feet high, surrounded the south grandstand and provided 250 foot-candles of illumination on the infield. The height of the stadium at the outside wall behind home plate was 65 feet. A far cry from modern parks, Exhibition Stadium had only 14 private club boxes.
The retrofit was completed in 1976, the same year the American League awarded an expansion franchise to Toronto. The new bleachers had a capacity of 33,061 bringing the total number of seats in the stadium to 54,264. In November of that year, the Ottawa Rough Riders won another Grey Cup when they beat Saskatchewan 23-20.
One of the most dominant teams in CFL history, the Edmonton Eskimos, won the last three Grey Cup games ever played at Exhibition Stadium. All three games drew more than capacity crowds. After beating Montreal 20-13 in 1978, the Esks trounced Hamilton 48-10 in 1980. The Toronto Argos finally played a Grey Cup game at home in 1982. On November 28, 54,741 fans braved a frigid rainstorm. The hometown team was no match for the Eskimos, who captured their fifth consecutive championship 32-16. It was the last time the Canadian football championship would be contested at Exhibition Stadium, and the awful weather in Toronot's showcase sporting event may have been the deciding factor in the city and province's choice to finally build their domed stadium.
An electronic scoreboard, built by Stewart-Warner, was added in 1978. It measured 131 feet wide and 41 feet high. One feature unique to Exhibition Stadium is that it was the only ballpark in all of major league baseball where the bleacher seats were covered and the rest were not. The old North Grandstand seats were plastic, while those in the new south stands were aluminum. Not all the seats in the south complex had backs either. 12 of the 32 sections had long aluminum benches, not individual chairs.
The next few years were not much better and the club lost over three hundred games in its first three seasons. By the second half of the 1981 season, the young talent was starting to show but wins were still scarce. In 1982, the Jays tied for 6th place in the Eastern Division marking the first time in franchise history that they did not finish last. The next season was one of the most exciting in Blue Jays history as the team had its first winning season with 89 wins and 73 losses. The club enjoyed time in first place for part of the summer but faded towards the end of the year.
In 1984, more than two million fans made their way to Exhibition Stadium and the Jays finished second to the Detroit Tigers. One year later, the Jays won their first division title winning 99 games for first place. It was the glory years for baseball at the CNE. The Blue Jays consistently had some of the best attendance in the majors and the team compiled winning seasons in each of its last seven years before moving to SkyDome.
On Canada Day, 1987, the Blue Jays and Yankees hosted the largest baseball crowd in the history of Exhibition Stadium. Later that season, Toronto set a record by hitting ten home runs in a single game.
On May 28, 1989, the last ever baseball game was played at the stadium. It ended in dramatic fashion, as George Bell, one of the greatest players in Blue Jays history, smashed a game-winning home run in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the Jays a 7-5 win over the Chicago White Sox, the same team that help open the stadium for baseball back in 1977.
Courtesy of North Grandstand
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Notes, Facts and Features
April 7, 1977
Major League Baseball arrives in Toronto. The Blue Jays christen Exhibition Stadium with a 9-5 win over the Chicago White Sox.
June 26, 1978
The Jays hammer Baltimore 24-10 at the Stadium in the highest scoring game in club history. Slugger John Mayberry led the way with two home runs and seven RBI.
August 25, 1979
Jays lose 24-2 to California, setting a club record for the most runs allowed in a game.
September 28, 1982
Jim Clancy pitches a near-perfect game, giving up a lone bloop single to Minnesota's Randy Bush in the ninth inning. Jays win 3-0 in 1:33, the shortest game ever at the CNE.
May 24, 1983
Joey McLaughlin strikes out Detroit slugger Kirk Gibson to end a 7-6 win by the Blue Jays giving the team sole possession of first place for the first time ever.
October 5, 1985
Blue Jays defeat the Yankees 5-1 behind Doyle Alexander's complete game, winning the American League East for the first time.
July 1, 1987
A 5 run 12th inning gives the Yankees a 6-1 win over the Blue Jays in front of 47,828 fans--the highest attendance ever at Exhibition Stadium.
September 14, 1987
Jays set a Major League record by hitting ten home runs in an 18-3 rout of Baltimore. Ernie Whitt belted 3, Rance Mulliniks and George Bell had 2 each and Lloyd Moseby, Fred McGriff and Rob Ducey had one.
April 11, 1988
Jays trounce Yankees 17-9 in their home opener. The game went 4:15, the longest 9 inning game in the history of Exhibition Stadium.
September 30, 1988
Dave Stieb is one strike away from a no-hitter when Baltimore's Jim Traber singles. It is the second straight start Stieb loses a no-hitter in the ninth inning.
May 28, 1989
George Bell hits a game-winning home run in the tenth inning in the last game at the Stadium. Blue Jays defeat the White Sox 7-5 closing out 13 years at Exhibition Stadium.
The Blue Jays played their last game at Exhibition Stadium on May 28, 1989. They moved into their new home, SkyDome on June 5, 1989
April 30, 1984: First MLB game to be called due to wind.
August 4, 1983: While warming up before the 5th inning of the Yankees 3–1 win over the Blue Jays game at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium, New York OF Dave Winfield accidentally kills a seagull with a thrown ball. After the game, Winfield is brought to the Ontario Provincial Police station on charges of cruelty to animals and is forced to post a $500 bond before being released. The charges will be dropped the following day.
The Blue Jays have played one forfeit game, a 9-0 decision vs Baltimore on September 15, 1977. In that game Jim Clancy had held the Orioles to two-hits over five innings before Earl Weaver pulled his club off the field. His reason was that the tarps on the Blue Jays bullpen created a hazard for his players.
There never was a no-hitter pitched at Exhibition Stadium.
One game was suspended at Exhibition Stadium: August 28, 1980 in a 7-5, 15-inning loss to Minnesota... The game was suspended after 14 innings due to a 5 pm Canadian National Exhibition curfew.
Toronto's long-time International League club were the Maple Leafs. In 1926, Maple Leaf owner Lou Solman abandoned the club's old park on Hanlan's Island and built a new $750,000 structure on the mainland, at the foot of Bathhurst St. on land owned by the Toronto Harbor Commission. Maple Leaf Stadium, seating 20,000, was billed as the most modern facility in the minors.
Opening day was rained out, and the next day's weather wasn't much better - 33 degrees and drizzling - but over 14,000 fans showed up. The Leafs got off to a bad start, falling behind Reading 5-0, but rallied with five runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and won it in the tenth on Del Capes' perfect squeeze bunt.
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1948 Construction photo of CNE's final version of the North Grandstand. Note the innovative cantilever-supported roof. It remained standing for 51 years.
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