The Top 50 Blue Jays of All Time - Introduction

[Leo Morgenstern]

John Scott, Héctor Torres, Doug Ault, Otto Vélez, Gary Woods, Steve Bowling, Pedro García, Dave McKay, and Rick Cerone. That was Toronto’s lineup on April 7, 1977. Bill Singer took the mound at Exhibition Stadium to throw the first pitch in team history. By the end of nine innings, the Blue Jays’ motley crew had beaten the White Sox 9-5.

Forty-nine years, 27 winning seasons, 11 playoff berths, seven division titles, three AL pennants, and two World Series championships later, we’ve seen 556 players step to the plate with a bluebird on their uniform. We’ve seen 529 throw a pitch. Those players have combined for 113 All-Star selections, 33 Silver Sluggers, 31 Gold Gloves, five Cy Youngs, two Rookies of the Year, and two MVPs. They include eight league-leaders in ERA, give home run kings, and one batting champ. 

In total, nearly 1,000 players have suited up for the Blue Jays. I’m sure you remember a lot of them, and I’m sure there are many more you don’t.

Over the next two weeks, Jays Centre will shine a spotlight on some of the most iconic names in franchise history. To celebrate the 50th season of Blue Jays baseball, we’re counting down the top 50 Blue Jays of all time. Starting tomorrow, we’ll write about five players each day, starting with numbers 50 to 46 and finishing with our top five the day before Opening Day. 

To put this ranking together, I asked our writers to each submit their own top 50 list. The task was simple, and the criteria purposefully vague. As I told the writers, “Performance, longevity, personality, awards, championships… however you weigh all the factors is up to you.”

That means the top 50 list you’re going to see on our site isn’t any one person’s ranking. It’s a composite of opinions from a group of writers with a wide variety of perspectives. With that in mind, I urge our readers, just as I urged our writers, not to worry too much about any one player’s exact placement. Our final list, for instance, has Joe Carter well ahead of Paul Molitor, but I wouldn’t be mad at all if it were the other way around. The way I see it, the real point of this exercise is to celebrate 50 great ballplayers, not to fight about which of them was a little bit greater than another. 

Having said that, I should acknowledge some names you won’t see on our top 50. For one, I asked our staff not to include Roberto Alomar in their individual rankings. The Blue Jays cut ties with Alomar in 2014, the same year he was added to Major League Baseball’s permanently-ineligible list. If the Blue Jays have no interest in celebrating their former second baseman, Jays Centre doesn’t need to either. 

The other notable name you won’t be seeing is Roger Clemens. I didn’t make a hard and fast rule about Clemens like I did Alomar, but some writers chose to leave him off their lists. Those who included him ranked him low enough that he didn’t end up making the cut when I averaged everything together. 

Clemens would be hard enough to rank from the numbers alone. He was only with the Jays for two playoff-less seasons. Yet, you could make a case that his two seasons in Toronto were the two greatest single-season performances in team history. For those who care the most about peak greatness and individual accomplishments, there’s a case for Clemens to make the top 10. On the flip side, those who think a list like this should emphasize team success and longevity wouldn’t buy that case at all.

More to the point, however, a ranking like this isn’t just about the numbers. Clemens has given us no shortage of reasons not to want to celebrate his on-field accomplishments. So, in the end, we won’t. 

With all that stuff I wish I didn’t have to write out of the way, I’d like to leave you with a teaser of what’s to come. You’ll have to check back tomorrow (and each of the next nine days after that) to find out who made our top 50, but this eccentric list of honourable mentions who didn’t make the cut might help you figure out who did. 

• Frank Catalanotto
• Ernie Clement
• Alfredo Griffin
• Kelvim Escobar
• J.A. Happ
• Brandon Morrow
• Kevin Pillar
• Robbie Ray
• Ricky Romero
• Ed Sprague Jr.
• Dave Stewart
• Otto Velez

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[jaysblue]

If Reed Johnson is in the Top 50 - I believe Catalanotto should be with him, since from 2003-2006, they both formed one of the best LF platoons in baseball. 

Ray won the Cy Young in 2021, but yeah wasn't here for that long. Morrow when healthy was one of the most dominant starters in baseball - shame he couldn't stay healthy. Pillar made some highlight reel catches in CF for a couple years, but he was nothing special. Escobar had an up/down career when with Toronto, but was an exciting pitcher to watch when "on" and he was here for 6 years. Romero's story is quite cool - drafted ahead of Tulo, flamed out as a prospect but came out of nowhere in 2009 and was a solid arm for 2-3 seasons.