The Maple Leafs and the Jays have been blue-blooded brothers for almost 50 years, in good times and bad.
This impending World Series is a chance for the town’s two most-recognized franchises to renew connections from the ice to the diamond:
The Leafs could very well owe their name and logo to the city’s first widely recognized ball team.
The Maple Leafs are first referenced in 1896 after the Toronto Canucks left the International League (having been considered for the fledgling National League) for a new minor pro outfit, playing in a new stadium on Toronto Island at Hanlan’s Point.
That’s where in 1914 a young Babe Ruth hit his first pro homer for the visiting Providence Grays.
Some sports historians insist the hockey team’s founder, Conn Smythe, scooped both the name and the blue-on