Exhibition Stadium

From SoSH

Exhibition Stadium

Location:	Toronto, Ontario
Opened:	1959
Owner:	City of Toronto
Surface:	AstroTurf
Architect:
Current Capacity:	43,737 (baseball)
Build Cost:	CAN$17,600,000 (baseball reconfiguration)
Tenants:	Toronto Blue Jays (AL) (1977-1989) Toronto Argonauts (CFL) (1959-1988)

1 Stadium History
2 Trivia
3 Field Dimensions
4 Wall Height
5 External Links

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Stadium History

Exhibition Stadium was the fourth stadium built on the Exhibition Place grounds in Toronto. It was constructed in 1959 for Canadian football and reconfigured for baseball when Toronto was awarded the Blue Jays. Like most multipurpose stadiums, Exhibition Stadium proved problematic as the host of baseball games, magnified in Toronto because Canadian football fields are longer than American football fields by 30 yards. When configured for baseball, some seats were as far as 820 feet from home plate. The seating arrangement was also poor, with some of the seats not even facing the field (the right-center and right-field seats faced each other).

Exhibition Stadium sat fairly close to Lake Ontario, which made the stadium cold even in the springtime. The first game played at the park was the first and only game played on a field covered entirely by snow. A 1984 game against the Rangers was called on account of wind, the only game postponed for such a reason. Exhibition Stadium was also the park where Dave Winfield killed a seagull with a ball, which he intended to throw to the ballboy. In response to allegations that Winfield hit the bird on purpose, Yankees manager Billy Martin cracked, "They wouldn't say that if they'd seen the throws he'd been making all year. It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man."

The Blue Jays and Argonauts eventually abandoned Exhibition Stadium in favor of domed facilities closer to Toronto's downtown. Aside from a few concerts and other minor events, Exhibition Stadium sat empty until it was demolished in 1999. The site is now a parking lot.

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Trivia

Nothing much noteworthy for baseball happened at Exhibition Stadium, but the park is part of a record: the 1982 Grey Cup Game played there was viewed by Canada's largest-ever television audience of 7,862,000.

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