On April 7, the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first game in Major League Baseball.
In honour of that, Sportsnet launched a tool allowing you to choose your top 40 Blue Jays of all time.
But we also made a list of our own with the help of 22 MLB and Blue Jays insiders. Now, we’ve started revealing that list. Numbers 40 through 31 were announced Friday night on Blue Jays Central, and the next 10 followed Saturday afternoon. You can find them below.
The top 20 will be unveiled Sunday with a one-hour special, 40 in 40: Greatest Blue Jays, immediately following the team’s game versus the Minnesota Twins on Sportsnet.
Without further ado, here are numbers 30 to 21 of our top 40:
Years of service: 1988–94, 1999
Blue Jays stat line: 205 R, 590 H, 54 HR, 6 SB, .678 OPS
Awards and achievements: World Series MVP (1992), two-time World Series champion
Years of service: 1992–1993
Blue Jays stat line: 61 G, 28-18, 4.87 ERA, 235 SO
Awards and achievements: Two-time World Series champion
Years of service: 1987–1992, 1999–2000
Blue Jays stat line: 306 G, 84-55, 4.06 ERA, 784 SO
Awards and achievements: All-star (2000), World Series champion (1992)
Years of service: 1993–1999
Blue Jays stat line: 402 R, 718 H, 119 HR, 76 SB, .849 OPS
Awards and achievements: All-star, Gold Glove winner, Silver Slugger (1999)
Years of service: 1992
Blue Jays stat line: 92 R, 169 H, 26 HR, 2 SB, .867 OPS
Awards and achievements: Silver Slugger (1992), World Series champion (1992)
Years of service: 1977–1988
Blue Jays stat line: 352 G, 128-140, 4.10 ERA, 1,237 SO
Awards and achievements: All-star (1982)
Years of service: 1984–1992
Blue Jays stat line: 421 R, 800 H, 114 HR, .738 OPS
Awards and achievements: Two-time all-star (1989 and 1990), Gold Glove winner (1990), Silver Slugger (1990), World Series champion (1992)
Years of service: 1991–1998
Blue Jays stat line: 195 G, 76-62, 4.07 ERA, 1,030 SO
Awards and achievements: All-star (1992), two-time World Series champion
Years of service: 1999–2010
Blue Jays stat line: 789 R, 1,529 H, 223 HR, 90 SB, .804 OPS
Awards and achievements: Two-time all-star (2003 and 2010), three-time Gold Glove winner (2004, 2005 and 2006), Silver Slugger (2003)
Years of service: 1986–1995
Blue Jays stat line: 452 G, 121 SV, 3.18 ERA, 671 SO
Awards and achievements: All-star (1993), two-time World Series champion
This list was created around the April 7 anniversary, and it combines the rankings of 22 MLB and Blue Jays insiders, including: Kevin Barker; Jeff Blair; Stephen Brunt; Jamie Campbell; Tommy Craig; Shi Davidi; Jerry Howarth; William Humber; Jonah Keri; Arash Madani; Hazel Mae; Buck Martinez; Larry Millson; Ben Nicholson-Smith; Dave Perkins; Dan Shulman; Joe Siddall; Pat Tabler; Tom Valcke; Mike Wilner; and Arden Zwelling.
Is our panel’s amalgamated list on the right track? Let us know in the comments or check out the ranking tool to create and share a list of your own.
[relatedlinks]