THIS COURSE WILL RETURN!

Baseball was being played in Toronto more than a century before the Blue Jays were born. In this online course, we'll explore the game's evolution in our city — from the days when it was a working class sport played by "undesirables" to Joe Carter jumping for joy in front of 50,000 screaming fans. Along the way, we'll meet everyone from con artists and kidnappers to eccentric millionaires and feminist icons — the people who've made Toronto baseball what it is… and helped transform our city in the process.

Explore the history of the city with the author of The Toronto Book of the Dead and The Toronto Book of Love, host of the Canadiana documentary series, and recipient of the Governor General's History Award for Popular Media — the Pierre Berton Award.

FORMAT: The course will include weekly lectures on Zoom with a chance to interact and ask questions, as well as a list of recommended readings & links. Each class will last approximately 1 to 1.5 hours. Every lecture will also be available to stream online later for anyone who has to miss a class.

DATES: TBD.

TIME: TBD.

COST: $75 + tax.

REGISTRATION: If you're interested in the course and would like me to let you know when registration opens, just email me at adam@torontodreamsproject.com and I'll be sure to follow up!


COURSE OUTLINE:

THE UNDESIRABLES
Week One

People have been playing baseball in Toronto for more than 150 years. But the sport wasn't welcomed here with open arms. We'll begin the course by talking about the days when baseball was dismissed as a working-class game played by "undesirables" and meet some of the notorious figures who played a role in its early history in our city.

THE ISLAND
Week Two

By the end of the 1800s, baseball was big business. In Week Two, we'll witness the founding years of the minor league team that would define Toronto baseball for the better part of a century: The Maple Leafs. We'll visit their home on the island, where Hall of Famers made history, tycoons and bootleggers made fortunes, and talk about the players who fought for their rights on the diamond.

THE FLEET STREET FLATS
Week Three

The Roaring Twenties saw a grand baseball palace built on the waterfront. Maple Leaf Stadium would play host to some of the greatest minor league teams of all-time in the decades to come, as war and depression shook the world to its foundations. In Week Three, we'll cover the days when war workers and beauty queens used baseball to build morale and the worrying era when it seemed as if professional baseball might be leaving Toronto for good.

THE BIGS
Week Four

More than a century after the city's first baseball game, the Major Leagues finally came to Toronto. We'll finish the course by following the Blue Jays' rise from a struggling expansion team to World Series Champions — a story that features kidnapping, heartbreak, pioneering heroes, and a prophetic dream that changed baseball history.


If you have any other questions, feel free to email me at adam@torontodreamsproject.com and I'll be very happy to answer them.