The Medicine Hat Blue Jays were the boys of summer, and in 1982, champions of the Pioneer League.
Rookie League ball made its first appearance in 1977 with the Medicine Hat As, an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, playing at Athletic Park built to model the infamous Oakland Coliseum’s dimensions.
The next season the team changed affiliations, ditching the green and yellow for blue and white as the Toronto Blue Jays’ rookie team called Medicine Hat home. The Medicine Hat Blue Jays, also known as the Baby Jays, debuted in 1978 with a few future Major Leaguers in Paul Hodgson, Brian Milner, Lloyd Moseby and Geno Petralli.
The Baby Jays missed the playoffs the first four seasons in Medicine Hat, recording the first winning season in team history in 1981 (37-33). They built off that in high fashion the next season, capturing the franchise’s lone Pioneer championship in front of 1,500 Medicine Hat faithful by beating the Idaho Falls A’s in the championship series in a decisive 6-1, Game 4 win on Sept. 6, 1982
The News is looking back at notable events from Medicine Hat’s history leading up to the celebration of our 140th publishing year later this fall.
The 1982 Blue Jays were record setters in the city and in the Toronto organization, capturing the first championship in the franchise, raising the title a decade before the Major League Blue Jays won the first of consecutive World Series.
Outfielder Greg Griffin had three hits, including a solo home run to put the Blue Jays ahead 1-0 early.
“That was the most perfect game we’ve played all season. We knew we’d win it. We’re tough at home. There was no way anyone was going to beat us at home,” Griffin said.
Starting pitcher Keith Gilliam threw a complete game, allowing one run on six hits with seven strikeouts. The lefty hurler made a bold prediction before his Game 4 start, telling designated hitter Mark Gerard they would be heading home Sunday.
“We were talking before the game that if we could get ahead early and get them down, we would win it,” Gilliam told the News.
“Everybody wanted it so badly, that I knew if we had good defence, we could do it.”
Rookie coach Mike McAlpin celebrated his first professional title win with the Baby Jays.
“There’s an expression in baseball that goes like this, ‘if you run in and out of the locker room you run in and out of baseball,'” McAlpin said.
“The hours this team put in, they never hurry to do anything but play baseball. There’s a lot of talent on this team, but they were willing to work. Some of these guys are going to make it to the big leagues because they’re willing to work.”
The 1982 Blue Jays featured that Major League talent, first baseman/catcher Pat Borders debuted in pro baseball with the Baby Jays and was part of both Toronto World Series victories. On the mound, Dave Walsh made it to the Major with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1990.
Two left-handed pitchers, David Wells and Jimmy Key, were drafted by Toronto in June of 1982 and debuted in Medicine Hat that summer, playing key parts in that championship as well as the two World Series banners hanging in Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
After the summer of 1982, the Medicine Hat Blue Jays appeared in the playoffs just twice more, losing in the league finals in 1995 to the Helena Brewers. They lost in the first round in 2000, falling to the Great Falls Dodgers.
The Baby Jays featured other Major Leaguers throughout their 25 seasons in Medicine Hat, with Carlos Delgado, Chris Carpenter, Mike Timlin, Randy Knorr, Fred Manrique, John Cerutti, Gustavo Chacin, Geronimo Berroa, Jay Gibbons (1998 Pioneer League triple crown winner) and local product Greg Morrison (1997 PL triple crown winner).
After the 2002 season, Toronto ended their affiliation with the team and the Pioneer League left Medicine Hat.
