The1977 Major League Baseball expansion resulted in the establishment ofexpansion franchises inSeattle andToronto in theAmerican League ofMajor League Baseball. TheSeattle Mariners andToronto Blue Jays began play in the1977 season, becoming the 25th and 26th teams in Major League Baseball.
Seattle and Toronto were included in a list of potential expansion cities in a survey conducted by the American League in 1960.[1] The others wereAtlanta,Buffalo,Dallas–Fort Worth,Denver,Oakland, andSan Diego (all of which received MLB franchises eventually through expansion or relocation except Buffalo, which has aAAA team in the Blue Jays system.)[1]
In the1969 Major League Baseball expansion (which had been originally planned to take place in 1971, but the date was moved up two years whenSenatorStuart Symington ofMissouri demanded that a new team be placed in Kansas City at the earliest possible convenience after theKansas City Athleticsrelocated to Oakland),Kansas City,Montreal,San Diego, and Seattle were each granted franchises; theKansas City Royals andSeattle Pilots were added to theAmerican League, while theMontreal Expos (now theWashington Nationals) andSan Diego Padres joined theNational League. The Seattle Pilots only playedone season, during which they faced financial difficulties stemming from a complete lack of television coverage, a poorly performing team, a stadium with problems, and the highest ticket andconcession prices in the league.[2] Owners of other American League teams wantedDewey Soriano andWilliam R. Daley to sell the team to a Seattle owner who would improve the team and address issues atSick's Stadium, particularly uncovered seats with bad views.[2] After several attempts to sell the team to a Seattle owner failed, on April 1, 1970, judge Sidney Volinn declared the team officially bankrupt; it was sold toMilwaukee car dealer (and futureMLB commissioner)Bud Selig,[3] who moved the team to there and renamed it theMilwaukee Brewers, who began play a week later on April 7.[4][5] Selig had negotiated a deal for the purchase with Soriano duringGame 1 of the 1969 World Series.[5]
As a result of the relocation of the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee, in 1970 the city of Seattle,King County and the state ofWashington sued the American League forbreach of contract.[6] The $32.5 million lawsuit[7] proceeded until 1976, when at trial the American League offered the city a franchise in exchange for the city, county, and state to drop the suit.[6] On November 2, 1972, King County had broken ground on theKingdome,[8] which would come to be used by theSeattle Mariners forbaseball and by theSeahawks forfootball.
On January 15, 1976, the expansion franchise was approved, becoming the 13th franchise in the American League. It was owned by Lester Smith andDanny Kaye,[7] who paid an expansion fee ofUS$6.5 million.[9] Owing to the history surrounding the franchise,sportswriter Emmett Watson of theSeattle Post-Intelligencer joked that the team should be named theSeattle Litigants.[7]
Toronto had a long history of interest in baseball. Its first professional baseball team was established in 1885, and in 1886Sunlight Park was built to host its games. In 1897,Hanlan's Point Stadium was built at theToronto Islands for theToronto Maple Leafs of theInternational League, and on September 5, 1914 it was the site of baseball legendBabe Ruth's first professional home run and only minor league home run.[10] In 1926,Maple Leaf Stadium was built for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The team was successful, sometimes drawing more fans than established Major League Baseball teams.[11] The team was owned byJack Kent Cooke, who in the mid-1950s sought municipal financing of a major league baseball park on the grounds of theCanadian National Exhibition.[11] He was also involved in the failed attempt to establish theContinental League as a third league in Major League Baseball in the early 1960s.[11] Maple Leaf Stadium was demolished in 1968 after the Toronto Maple Leafs were sold to Walter Dilbeck and moved toLouisville, Kentucky. (The team has since relocated twice, and is now theWorcester Red Sox.)
In the early 1970s,Toronto City Council aldermanPaul Godfrey proposed a plan for a publicly financed domed stadium in the city, but it was opposed by taxpayers and amateur sports groups.[11] Undeterred, he proposed renovation ofExhibition Stadium to support baseball. The stadium was renovated in anticipation of the city being awarded a Major League Baseball team, costingCA$15 million.[12] Half of the funds were provided by the municipal government, and the other half from an interest-free loan from the provincialGovernment of Ontario.[11] Its seating capacity was increased to 40,000.[13]
There had been strong interest from several groups and individuals to own a Major League Baseball team in the city. The most prominent wasLabatt Brewing Company, who wanted to use ownership of a sports team as a means to establish a visible presence in the Toronto market.[14]
On January 9, 1976, the National Exhibition Company, owners of theSan Francisco Giants, established anagreement in principle to sell the franchise to a consortium owned by Labatt Brewing Company, Vulcan Assets, and theCanadian Imperial Bank of Commerce forCA$13,250,000 (equivalent to $68,194,534 in 2023.[13] The Giants had failed to repay aUS$500,000 loan from Major League Baseball, and had experienced declining revenues since the relocation of theKansas City Athletics toOakland in 1968.[13] Of the sale price,US$5,250,000 was to be placed inescrow to "meet certain possible obligations with respect to the transaction", especially the lease ofCandlestick Park, which would expire in 1994.[13]
The new owners of the Giants, led byDon McDougall, would move the team to Toronto pending approval from the other elevenNational League teams, which would be sought on January 14 at theWinter Meetings ofGeneral managers inPhoenix. The team would be known as the Toronto Giants[13] and would begin play during the1976 Major League Baseball season. The deal was scuttled by aSuperior Court of California, which issued an injunction blocking the sale on February 11, 1976; the injunction was requested by the city ofSan Francisco on January 10.[15] The National Exhibition Company eventually accepted a purchase proposal fromBob Lurie in a deal brokered byGeorge Moscone, theMayor of San Francisco; Lurie elected to keep the team in San Francisco.[15] This was the third scuttled attempt by Labatt to bring an MLB team to Toronto, after failures to acquire theBaltimore Orioles and theCleveland Indians.[16] Soon after, Godfrey received a phone call fromKansas City Royals ownerEwing Kauffman informing him that he supported a Toronto franchise for the American League.[17]
During an owners meeting held on March 20, 1976, the American League franchises voted 11-1 to expand the league with a Toronto franchise, to which National League owners resolved to consider a Toronto franchise to begin play in the1977 season.[17]Bowie Kuhn, at the time theCommissioner of Baseball, planned for the National League to expand with new franchises in Toronto andWashington, D.C., and for the American League to add a new franchise inNew Orleans in addition to the already-awarded Seattle franchise.[17][18] On March 29, National League owners met and voted in favour of the expansion plans, but they were rejected because the vote was not unanimous, with dissenting votes from the owners of theCincinnati Reds andPhiladelphia Phillies.[18] A subsequent vote on April 26 ended this plan with a 7–5 result in favour of the proposal, again failing to achieve unanimity.[18]
Two groups bid for the rights to franchise ownership in the city,[12] which presented bids during an American League owner's meeting on March 26, 1976.[19] Ultimately, an ownership group named Metro Baseball Ltd. consisting of Labatt Brewing Company, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, andImperial Trust won the bid for a franchise fee ofCA$7 million.[9][20][21][14] The other bid was made by Atlantic Packaging.[20] The winning bid was represented by legal counselHerb Solway andGord Kirke. Kirke prepared the original documents which led to the foundation of the team in 1976.[22]
After the city was awarded the franchise,U.S. PresidentGerald Ford attempted to pressure Major League Baseball to instead award the franchise to Washington, D.C., which he claimed should have a team before Toronto. Both the American League and National League dismissed his request.[23]
In 1974, the Toronto City Council approved a furtherCA$2.8 million for renovations to Exhibition Stadium, retrofitting the stadium for baseball and would be ready in time for the1977 season.[14]Paul Beeston was hired as the team's first employee on May 10, 1976, andPeter Bavasi was hired as the team's first president and general manager on June 18, 1976.[14][18]
In order to stock theroster of each team, a draft was held on November 5, 1976 in which each of the extant teams would make available to the expansion franchises some of the players on their major league and minor league rosters. Each team was allowed to protect fifteen players on the major league roster, and an additional three players after each of the first and second round of the draft.[24] The Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays each selected 30 players in the draft.[24]
