The history of the Toronto Blue Jays has come to life in a special way with the inauguration of the new Level of Excellence at the Rogers Centre. This space, strategically located on the 100 Level of the stadium, pays tribute to the most iconic figures who have defined the franchise’s legacy over its five decades of existence.<\/p>\n\n
Among the 12 founding members who make up this select group, four Latin American figures stand out whose mark is indelible in Major League Baseball: Dominicans George Bell, Jos\u00e9 Bautista, and Tony \u201cCabeza\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez, along with the stellar Puerto Rican Carlos Delgado. The Level of Excellence also honors the careers of legends such as Dave Stieb, Joe Carter, Cito Gaston, Paul Beeston, Pat Gillick, Roy Halladay, and Tom Cheek, recently adding Buck Martinez during the official ceremony.<\/p>\n\n
It is good to have reminders to look back at history and what has happened here with the brand that has been built over the decades.<\/p>Jos\u00e9 Bautista, former Blue Jays player.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n
For Bautista, who defended the Toronto jersey from 2008 to 2017, this space is vital for new generations to connect with the team’s identity. In the same vein, Carlos Delgado, an iconic figure between 1993 and 2004, highlighted the importance of recognizing the organization’s 50-year history.<\/p>\n\n
It’s fantastic. It is very important to remember the history of our franchise. They talk about us as a new franchise, but it’s already been 50 years.<\/p>Carlos Delgado, Blue Jays legend.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n
An interactive and permanent museum<\/h2>\n\n
The Hall of Excellence not only functions as a place of recognition, but as a living museum. The exhibition houses objects of great historical value, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n
- Carlos Delgado’s original notebook with pitcher analysis.<\/li>
- The historic microphone of legendary broadcaster Tom Cheek.<\/li>
- Display case dedicated to Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winners.<\/li>
- Exclusive memorabilia from players and executives who forged the club’s identity.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n
Mark Shapiro, president and CEO of the organization, emphasized that this venue offers a permanent home for the achievements that have solidified Toronto in the elite of baseball. The institution has confirmed that fans will not only be able to enjoy the exhibition permanently, but will also have the opportunity to participate in the selection of future legends who will be inducted into the Hall of Excellence.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Toronto Blue Jays inaugurate the Level of Excellence: A tribute to their legends The history of the Toronto Blue Jays has come to life in a special way with the inauguration of the new Level of Excellence at the Rogers Centre. This space, strategically located on the 100 Level of the stadium, pays tribute to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12809],"tags":[88,8454,2723,2100],"class_list":{"0":"post-152631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-excellence","10":"tag-tiles","11":"tag-toronto"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}