This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
TORONTO -- When I sat down to write my book, there was one big, awkward question to answer before anything could begin.
How do you fit the Blue Jays, who are on the eve of their 50th season, into one clean and tidy book? It took me a few months to learn that you simply can’t. This is why I keep coming back to one key word in the subtitle of “The Franchise: Toronto Blue Jays.” It’s a “curated” history of the Blue Jays, which is a fancy way of saying I got to be picky.
This project started in December 2023. Some may call it the second-biggest deal that was negotiated in the early days of that month, stretching through the Winter Meetings in Nashville as the Shohei Ohtani drama took over the sports world. The 18 months since have taught me patience. The stories you read each night here on MLB.com happen quickly, a coordinated flurry of writers, producers, editors and designers all coming together to make something look pretty on the page. Books, I’ve learned, move a little slower.
That’s why this week has been such a joy, finally releasing this book to the world on June 3. A couple of days later, on June 5, we held the official launch party for the book at Sportsnet Grill inside Toronto Marriott City Centre, which is a spot worth telling you about before we get to the book itself.
This is the only hotel inside an MLB stadium, which comes with its perks. The hotel itself has its own VIP Skyboxes, which you can rent to host an event or as a group, located on either side of the scoreboard with an incredible view of the field. Then comes Sportsnet Grill, located in the lobby of the hotel, which has floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook Rogers Centre from high in left field. It’s great for the game, but an even better way to start your night by having a drink and watching the Blue Jays take batting practice. Where better to launch the book?
This all brings us back to the big question of the book and how to cram nearly a half-century of history in. Speaking with Blue Jays fans who came to buy books or have theirs signed on Thursday, I met fans who attended the opener in 1977 and fans who only went to their first Blue Jays game days ago. There are so many different eras now, so much history spread out across the years, and each fan holds different parts of this organization in their heart.
The book is, like so much of what we try to do here at MLB.com each night, about why this team matters to you. Here are a few of the standout sections that helped me better appreciate what that really means:
All the way back: Exhibition Stadium days
I’ve always loved how Paul Beeston describes The Mistake by the Lake, Exhibition Stadium.
“It was not the worst stadium in baseball, it was the worst stadium in sports!” Beeston said.
In the early chapters of the book, so many former players and executives echo the same sentiment about Exhibition Stadium, but there’s always a “but.” Even though it was imperfect in every single way, there’s a certain charm to that place and its memory, like the old college apartment you lived in with your best friends.
The new stuff: Ohtani, COVID years and more
Speaking of Shohei … you’ll find the full story of Ohtani’s dance with the Blue Jays in “The Franchise,” right down to the details of his visit and a behind-the-scenes look at how it all went down over that wild week in December 2023. Some have already described it as their least favorite chapter in the book, which … I expected.
I also wanted to take Blue Jays fans inside what it was like to cover the COVID seasons in 2020 and ‘21 with memories and stories of those experiences. Plus, I take a look at “The Canada Problem” along with players’ experiences being young and famous in Toronto when the Blue Jays are rolling.
Meet the storytellers
I saved the final chapters for five special people: Tom Cheek, Jerry Howarth, Alison Gordon, Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez. I hope you’ll take some time to read about Gordon and her work as the first woman covering the beat of an MLB club in league history.
Later, to close the book, perhaps my favorite chapter in the book on Martinez. What a man, what a storyteller.