{"id":31619,"date":"2024-05-01T17:45:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T17:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballhalloffame.ca\/?page_id=31619"},"modified":"2025-12-30T16:56:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T16:56:50","slug":"paul-godfrey","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/baseballhalloffame.ca\/fr\/paul-godfrey\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Godfrey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>

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Godfrey\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/span>
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Godfrey\u2019s career intersected with baseball once more in 2000, when he was brought on by Rogers Communications Inc. to manage the company\u2019s purchase of the Toronto Blue Jays. In the process, Godfrey became the team\u2019s president and CEO. Later in 2005, he oversaw Rogers\u2019 purchase of the SkyDome and the iconic building\u2019s extensive renovations. It was then that the stadium received its current name: the Rogers Centre. Under Godfrey\u2019s leadership, the Toronto Blue Jays emerged from financial struggle to a period of relative stability. His tenure also saw a significant increase to players\u2019 payrolls, with better pay translating into better play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Paul Godfrey\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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See the Artifacts<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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This autographed poster depicts Paul Godfrey in the regalia of the Chairman of Metropolitan Toronto in 1973, a post which he held for 11 years.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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This shovel was used by Paul Godfrey for the ceremonial ground breaking of the SkyDome property on October 3, 1986.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

The plate on the shovel reads:<\/span><\/p>

“theDome <\/span><\/p>

Official Ground Breaking<\/span><\/p>

Oct. 3, 1986″<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A photograph of Paul Godfrey standing with the Blue Jays’ two back-to-back World Series trophies from 1992 and 1993.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReturn to Inductees<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s Winter Meetings of 1969 as a young North York alderman to personally share his vision with commissioner Bowie Kuhn. After being told that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":84,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31619","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nPaul Godfrey - Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/baseballhalloffame.ca\/fr\/paul-godfrey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_CA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paul Godfrey - Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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. 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