Paul Godfrey

Born in 1939 in Toronto and growing up as a Yankees fan, Paul Godfrey always thought that the big leagues should come to his home city. He travelled to Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings of 1969 as a young North York alderman to personally share his vision with commissioner Bowie Kuhn. After being told that Toronto would first need a baseball stadium, and once inducted as the Chairman of Metropolitan Toronto, Godfrey began a retrofit of Exhibition Stadium to transform it into a dual-purpose baseball and football field. This laid the foundation for Toronto to secure an expansion franchise in 1976, and the Toronto Blue Jays played their first game the following year in 1977.

Godfrey’s mission to build a world-class stadium continued in the next decade from 1984 to 1989, when he stood on the board of the Stadium Corporation of Ontario. The board’s goals were to find a location for, and design a domed stadium in Toronto. This stadium would eventually be unveiled as the SkyDome in 1989.

Godfrey’s career intersected with baseball once more in 2000, when he was brought on by Rogers Communications Inc. to manage the company’s purchase of the Toronto Blue Jays. In the process, Godfrey became the team’s president and CEO. Later in 2005, he oversaw Rogers’ purchase of the SkyDome and the iconic building’s extensive renovations. It was then that the stadium received its current name: the Rogers Centre. Under Godfrey’s leadership, the Toronto Blue Jays emerged from financial struggle to a period of relative stability. His tenure also saw a significant increase to players’ payrolls, with better pay translating into better play. 

Paul Godfrey’s induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame follows a long history of formal recognition, which includes the Order of Canada in 1999 and the Order of Ontario in 2010. He has played a pivotal role in the introduction and continuity of Major League Baseball in Toronto.