March 27, 2026, will be Opening Day for the fiftieth edition of the Toronto Blue Jays. One hundred Opening Days ago, Toronto’s previous professional baseball team raised the curtain at Maple Leaf Stadium. Located at the foot of Bathurst Street, it was a veritable baseball cathedral with porticos that reminded some of Yankee Stadium.
Maple Leaf Stadium was the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League from 1926 to 1967 inclusive. Opening Day of the 1926 season took place on April 29. More than 12,000 fans showed up for the first game at the new stadium, barely half of its capacity of 23,500. It was cold. The Toronto players posed for a team photo on the field wearing heavy sweaters.
For most of the game, Toronto’s bats were also cold. Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Leafs trailed visiting Reading by a 5-0 score. With their proverbial backs against the wall, Toronto batters combined for seven hits and five runs. They game went into extra innings and the Leafs won it in the bottom of the tenth. The final score was 6-5 for the home team.
It was a fine way to open the ledger on a new park.
Toronto’s 1926 roster included Carl Hubbell, a 23-year-old, left-handed screwball pitcher who was ultimately inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. As a member of the Maple Leafs, Hubbell was still an aspiring big leaguer. In September of 1926, he took the mound at Maple Leaf Stadium in an exhibition game against the New York Yankees. Babe Ruth had a pair of singles as the Bronx Bombers roughed up Hubbell and the Leafs, 8-2.
Carl Hubbell was not the only Hall of Famer who suited up for Toronto at Maple Leaf Stadium over the years. Sparky Anderson, skipper of the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers, managed and played for Toronto. Fellow manager Dick Williams managed Toronto as well. Slugger Ralph Kiner, who hit 369 homers in a ten-year big-league career, was a Maple Leaf in his final season as a minor leaguer.
Toronto finished the 1926 season at the top of the International League standings with a record of 109 wins and just 57 losses. As International League champions, the Leafs earned a berth in the best-of-nine game Junior World Series against the Louisville Colonels, champs of the American Association. Toronto swept Louisville in five games.
It was a fine way to close the ledger on a new park.
Caption: "The Leafs at their 1926 home opener."
Step up to the plate and discover more fascinating history of professional baseball in Toronto in Before The Blue Jays.