Toronto Blue Jays Level of Excellence: What is it and who is in the elusive club?

A lot of teams around sports tend to honor their teams legends by retiring their numbers, which makes the digits ineligible to be worn by any futures players. 

In the Blue Jays case, they have decided to retire just one number (previously two) and that being Hall of Fame pitcher Roy Halladay.  Starting in 1996 the Blue Jays have decided create the Level of Excellence and have the players' names and numbers displayed on the facing of the upper deck at the Rogers Center, but still the numbers worn by future players.

While we go through a bit of a quiet period over the Christmas Holidays, I have decided to take a look back through the history of the Blue Jays organization and who have received the honors.

George Bell and Dave Stieb (April 9, 1996)

During the home opener for the 1996 season, management introduced the Level of Excellence with the two most valuable Blue Jays of the 1980s in George Bell and Dave Stieb.  The two were easy selections to be the first to go to the 500 Level as Bell was a three-time Silver Slugger with the club and most impressively was the first, and just one of two, AL-MVPs the club has ever produced when he won the award in 1987.  When Bell was named to the Level of Excellence he was the franchise leader in home runs with 202, however he has since dropped to sixth place.

There are now a couple of generations that never got to watch Stieb pitch, but he was truly something special.  He is arguably the best pitcher to ever wear the Blue Jays uniform and the debate between him and Roy Halladay is an enjoyable one.  If you haven’t had a chance to watch “Secret Base” YouTube production on Captain Ahab: The Story of Dave Stieb, I strongly suggest you give it a view as it gives a great breakdown of Stieb’s career and how he was robbed of a few Cy Young Awards in the 1980s. 

Stieb was the ace of the pitching staff for almost a full decade as he made seven All-Star appearances from 1980 until 1990.  He had a six year stretch where he posted a combined 3.07 ERA, throwing a total of 77 complete games ,19 shutouts and had four consecutive seasons of at least 265 innings pitched.  In 1986, Stieb battled through some injuries that saw an outlier in his numbers where he went 7-12 with a 4.74 ERA but rebounded to finish off the decade.  From 1987 to 1990, Stieb posted a 64-31 record with a 3.33 ERA.  The only thing that Stieb did not have during his career was wins, as he helped the team through the building years of the franchise from expansion.  In total, Stieb posted 175 wins over 15 seasons which leads the franchise.  Stieb is still the leader in almost every franchise pitching record, including WAR, innings pitched and strikeouts and is the only pitcher in team history with a no-hitter.

Joe Carter and Cito Gaston (July 30, 1999)

When you are the last player to touch the baseball in both World Series victories there is a good chance you will forever be remembered as a legend.  Joe Carter caught the final out during the 1992 World Series against the Atlanta Braves and then hit the biggest home run in franchise history to win the1993 World Series in the bottom of the ninth in Game 6 against the Philadelphia Phillies.  At the time of his retirement, Carter had just passed Bell by one to take the franchise lead in home runs with 203.  Carter spent seven seasons in Toronto, was named an All-Star five times and added a pair of Silver Slugger Awards. The only season he did not record 100-RBI was the 1994 season that was shortened due to the player strike. 

Accompanying Carter to the Level of Excellence in July 1999 was his manager during his tenure in Toronto, Cito Gaston.  It would be hard to find many managers that had as much major league success that Gaston had in the early part of his career.  Gaston took over for Jimy Williams 36 games into the 1989 season with the team 12 games under .500.  Under Gaston, the club played .611 ball for the remainder of the season and won the AL East pennant.  In Year 2, the Blue Jays took a bit of a step back, but were able to win the AL East pennant in three consecutive seasons from 1991 to 1993.  In total during Gaston’s first five seasons he won four AL East Pennants, two American League Championships and two World Series championships.  The second part of his managerial career was not nearly as strong as the start, but the beginning had cemented him as the top manager in team history.

Tony Fernández (September 23, 2001)

Tony Fernández is the only player that was still playing when he was added to the Level of Excellence. In the finals days before Fernández would go into retirement, the Blue Jays honored him prior to the game on September 23, 2001.  Fernández would come in as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning and collect his final hit at the Skydome with a single before being lifted for a pinch runner.  Fernández played parts of 12 seasons over four different stints with the Blue Jays.  The Dominican-born infielder would win four consecutive Gold Gloves during the 1980s, while being named to four All-Star Games and had a career Blue Jays batting average of .297.  Fernández is still the franchise leader in Defensive WAR, games played, hits and triples.

Carlos Delgado (July 21, 2013)

Carlos Delgado spent 16 seasons in the Blue Jays organization after signing with the franchise as a 16-year old at the end of the 1988 season. The Puerto Rican-born hitter dominated the minor leagues as his final four seasons saw him have a batting average of .316 with 96 home runs and 334 RBI in just 449 games before he became an everyday player in 1996.

Between the time of 1996 until 2004, Delgado averaged 36 home runs and 114 RBI with a slash line of .286/.397/.565 over a 162 game schedule. He played at least 161 games on three occasions, while collecting at least 91 RBI in every season, including leading the league in RBI and OPS in 2003 when he finished second in AL MVP voting. Delgado would win three Silver Slugger awards which is extremely impressive considering he was battling the likes of Frank Thomas, Mark McGwire, Tino Martinez and Jason Giambi during his prime.

Delgado currently leads the franchise in several hitting categories including home runs (336), doubles (343), RBI (1,058) and OPS (.949). He hit 48 more home runs more than second place José Bautista, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is currently the closest active Blue Jay to catching Delgado but trails him by 232. Delgado is a player that should have received a lot more consideration for the Hall of Fame as he finished with a career OPS of .929, with 473 home runs and 1,512 RBI.

Roy Halladay (March 29, 2018)

There is Dave Stieb and Roy Halladay and then there is the rest of the pitchers in franchise history. Halladay was a first-round pick with a lot of hype climbing through the ranks and made his debut as a 21-year old in 1998. In his second career game, hw held a no-hitter until two outs in the ninth inning, unfortunately he surrendered a solo home run to Bobby Higginson, which was ironically caught in the Blue Jays bullpen by Stieb.

Halladay would have his struggles a couple years later, which would cause him to drop all the way down to High-A Dunedin where he had to reinvent his pitching mechanics in 2001. He would overcome the adversity and become an All-Star in 2002 and then a Cy Young Award winner in 2003. During his 12 year career with the Blue Jays, Halladay would be a finalist on two other occasions for the top pitching award. He was arguably the most durable pitcher for almost a decade as he tossed at least 220 innings four times over an eight year stint, led the league in complete games five times and innings pitched three times. Halladay is currently second in franchise wins to Stieb.

We are now going on five years since anyone has joined the Level of Excellence and it is time to see a couple other names of the next generation to be acknowledged. I think it is time to see both José Bautista and Edwin Encarnación get acknowledged.