The Lost Ballparks of Toronto

When people think about baseball history in Toronto, most immediately think about the Blue Jays.

SkyDome.

Joe Carter.

The bat flip.

Major League Baseball.

But Toronto’s professional baseball history runs far deeper than most people realize.

Long before the Blue Jays arrived in 1977, Toronto already carried one of the richest professional baseball histories anywhere in North America. Entire generations grew up around baseball parks that no longer exist today. Some sat near the waterfront. Some sat on the Islands. Some existed where condos, restaurants and office towers now stand.

And that’s part of what makes this story fascinating.

Because underneath modern Toronto sits forgotten baseball history that helped shape the identity of the city itself.

Sunlight Park — Where Professional Baseball In Toronto Truly Began (1886–1896)

Most people have never heard of Sunlight Park.

But without it, Toronto baseball history may have evolved very differently.

Built in 1886 near the mouth of the Don River around Queen Street East and Broadview Avenue, Sunlight Park became Toronto’s first true professional baseball stadium and home to early Toronto professional baseball clubs competing in the International League.

And it’s difficult to even imagine today.

Traffic.

Condos.

Industrial roads.

The Don Valley Parkway.

Underneath all of that once sat the birthplace of professional baseball in Toronto.

The stadium existed during a completely different version of the city itself, before modern downtown Toronto fully expanded eastward. Factories surrounded the area. Rail lines cut through the landscape. The Don River looked completely different than it does now.

And yet baseball was already growing there.

That matters.

Professional baseball in Toronto stretches back into the 1800s.

Eventually, Sunlight Park disappeared because of industrial growth and railway expansion throughout the area. Today, almost nothing physically remains except “Sunlight Park Road,” a street name quietly preserving part of the memory most people drive past without ever noticing.

That’s the strange thing about old ballparks.

The field disappears.

But the history stays underneath it.

Hanlan’s Point — Baseball On The Toronto Islands (1897–1900, 1908–1925)

After Sunlight Park, Toronto baseball moved somewhere that honestly feels almost surreal to imagine today.

The Toronto Islands.

In 1897, Hanlan’s Point Stadium opened on the Islands after being built by the Toronto Ferry Company. Fans crossed the harbour by ferry to watch baseball games while the Toronto skyline sat across the water in the distance.

Just imagine that for a second.

Professional baseball on the Islands.

Crowds arriving by ferry.

Summer baseball beside the lake.

It almost feels impossible compared to modern professional sports environments.

But Hanlan’s Point became one of the most important baseball locations in Canadian history. The Toronto Maple Leafs played there for years and the ballpark eventually became forever connected to one of the most iconic moments in baseball history itself when Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run there in 1914 while playing for Providence.

Think about that.

One of the most recognizable athletes in sports history connected forever to a baseball field on the Toronto Islands.

The history there runs deep.

The original stadium operated from 1897 through 1900 before ownership decided to move baseball onto the mainland with the construction of Diamond Park. But after several years away, the team returned to a newer version of Hanlan’s Point in 1908, now called Maple Leaf Park.

Then disaster struck.

In August of 1909, the stadium burned down.

And that fire became one of the defining moments in early Toronto baseball history.

Diamond Park — Baseball Moves To The Mainland (1901–1907, Late 1909)

From 1901 through 1907, Diamond Park operated near Liberty Street and Fraser Avenue in what is now Liberty Village.

And this might be the most fascinating forgotten baseball location in Toronto.

Imagine professional baseball being played in modern-day Liberty Village before the condos, restaurants, breweries and tech offices existed.

That’s how deep baseball roots run in Toronto.

Diamond Park became Toronto’s first major mainland professional baseball park of the 20th century and home to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the Eastern League years. More than 5,000 fans attended opening games there and the Leafs even captured an Eastern League pennant under future Hall of Fame executive Ed Barrow.

And yet today, almost nobody walking through Liberty Village realizes baseball history once lived there.

After Hanlan’s Point burned down in 1909, the team temporarily returned to Diamond Park late in the season before eventually rebuilding on the Islands again.

And unlike Hanlan’s Point or Maple Leaf Stadium, Diamond Park still does not carry the same historical recognition today. There have been pushes to officially commemorate the site, but most of the baseball history there remains largely forgotten.

That says something too.

Because part of this story is really about what cities choose to preserve and what cities slowly forget.

The Rebuilt Hanlan’s Point Era (1910–1925)

After the 1909 fire, Hanlan’s Point returned again in an even larger and more impressive form.

This version of the stadium became one of the premier baseball environments in Canada during the early 1900s and hosted some of the biggest names in baseball history throughout the era.

And there’s something poetic about baseball surviving there after the fire.

The rebuilt stadium carried Toronto baseball into a completely different generation and further cemented the Islands as one of the most unique baseball environments anywhere in North America.

Even today, historical plaques at Hanlan’s Point still commemorate the site and Babe Ruth’s famous home run.

That matters.

Because at least part of the history survived physically.

Maple Leaf Stadium — Toronto’s Cathedral Of Baseball (1926–1967)

When the Toronto Maple Leafs left Hanlan’s Point after the 1925 season and moved into the newly built Maple Leaf Stadium at Bathurst and Lake Shore in 1926, Toronto baseball entered its golden age.

And Maple Leaf Stadium felt massive.

Not just physically.

Historically.

The Triple-A Maple Leafs played there from 1926 through 1967 while affiliated at different times with organizations like the Boston Red Sox. Legends including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson and countless future Major League stars played there over the decades.

Toronto was already a serious baseball city long before Major League Baseball arrived in Canada.

The stadium was eventually demolished in 1968 and much of the surrounding waterfront area has since been redeveloped into residential space and public parkland. But unlike some of Toronto’s forgotten baseball sites, Maple Leaf Stadium still carries a Heritage Toronto plaque commemorating what once stood there.

Older baseball people still remember.

They always will.

Exhibition Stadium — Imperfect But Iconic

Exhibition Stadium is different from the other parks because many people reading this probably still remember it.

But physically, it’s gone too.

And Exhibition Stadium was never perfect.

Cold winds.

Terrible sightlines.

Concrete everywhere.

And somehow… it still became part of Toronto baseball identity.

For an entire generation, this was Major League Baseball in Canada. The Blue Jays played there from 1977 until moving into SkyDome and despite all the flaws, Exhibition Stadium became connected to some of the biggest moments in Canadian baseball history.

For many Canadians, Exhibition Stadium became their first live Major League Baseball experience.

That’s the strange thing about baseball places.

Perfection is not always what makes them memorable.

Sometimes atmosphere matters more.

Sometimes memories matter more.

And Exhibition Stadium still mattered.

The Forgotten Community Fields

Some of Toronto’s most important baseball spaces were never famous professional stadiums at all.

They were local diamonds.

Neighborhood parks.

Community baseball fields where generations of players learned the game long before anybody knew what they would eventually become.

Places like:

• Scarboro Beach Park

• Riverdale baseball grounds

• Mimico Athletic Field

• Kew Gardens ball grounds

• Oakwood Stadium

Many of those places either changed dramatically or disappeared completely as Toronto evolved around them.

And that’s part of baseball history people sometimes overlook.

The game is not only built inside professional stadiums.

It’s built through community spaces, summer nights and generations carrying baseball forward year after year.

That matters too.

Toronto Baseball Started Long Before The Blue Jays

One important thing people often miss is this:

The Toronto Blue Jays are not the beginning of professional baseball in Toronto.

Toronto already carried one of the deepest professional baseball histories anywhere in North America long before Major League Baseball arrived in 1977.

That history matters.

Because underneath modern Toronto:

• condos

• office towers

• roads

• parking lots

• redeveloped neighborhoods

sits forgotten baseball history that helped shape the identity of the city itself generation after generation.

The stadiums may be gone, but the baseball history underneath Toronto never fully disappeared.