Hanlan Point Stadium was built in 1908, replacing the former ballpark of Toronto...
Diamond Park. This new wooden ballpark was the biggest Minor League Ballpark
in the world at 17,000 seats and would be home to all professional Toronto baseball
from 1908-1926 until it was torn down in 1927. Hanlan Point was part of an
amusement Park as you can see in this photograph. The amusement park caught fire
in 1910 destroying all of the rides and severely damaging the stadium. The
stadium was quickly rebuilt and changed just a bit as you will see in the next
group of photographs. The Toronto Maple Leafs played for the International League
(the same I.L. that is still one being utilized today for Triple-A baseball)
throughout their entire history until they left for good in 1967 (only to become
a Major League franchise 10 years later). The first Maple Leafs franchise to
receive an official "affiliation" was the 1932 Toronto team meaning that
every Maple Leafs team that played here at Hanlan Point Stadium was a co-op team.
When this stadium first opened in 1908 the other cities in the league included
Newark NJ, Rochester NY, Montreal Que, Providence RI (which moved a few miles
down the road to Pawtucket), Baltimore, Jersey City and of course the Buffalo
Bisons. Buffalo, Rochester and Providence/Pawtucket are still serving the International
League today, well over 100 years later. Two of the 100 best Minor League
teams in history called this ballpark home and we're going to look into both
of those teams as well as the rest of this stadium's history. |