1978 was just the second year of the Toronto Blue Jays franchise and like all expansion teams of that era, were in yet another dreadful season of losing baseball. The team started out ice cold and in the latter days of June were just 23-47, on their way to finish the bottom of the division at 59-102. In a terrible year with a club still mostly built out of the scraps and castoffs from other teams, the Jays did set a still standing record by scoring 24 runs in a home game in Toronto. For one night, despite playing against one of the better teams in the division at the time, the offense came together and made history.
On June 26th, 1978, the new Toronto faithful filed into Exhibition Stadium, the newest ‘Mistake on the Lake’ that was quickly become notorious for its erratic weather, terrible turf, and seating designed for a CFL game and barely modified. A little over sixteen thousand fans turned up for the start of a four game homestead against the Baltimore Orioles. They faced young Mike Flanagan, who in the first half was challenging Jim Palmer for the title of staff ace through old school stats, coming into the game with an 11-5 record. The Jays responded with Tom Underwood, a back of the rotation arm that was best known for eating innings and keeping them in games during his two years in Toronto. Few gave Toronto much of a chance, coming up against the team that had finished second in the AL East the year before.
In the top of the first, Underwood allowed two hits and a walk to load the bases, and a Lee May single brought home a run before Underwood could wriggle out without any further damage. In the bottom of the inning, the Jays went quietly and it seemed like the predictions were right. And then, the bottom of the second happened. Otto Valez started with a double and Doug Ault hit a single deep in the hole at second that Valez couldn’t advance on but Ault was able to reach safely. Dave McKay doubled it to left to score Valez and advance Ault to third. Luis Gomez and Brian Millner singled and Willie Upshaw walked to drive Flanagan after having just recorded three outs in the game. Bob Bailor hit a sharp grounder that replacement pitcher Joe Kerrigan corralled and flipped to second for the out, scoring another run. Roy Howell cleared the bases with a triple, and came home on a ground out by Rico Carty. Valez hit another double setting the table for pinch hitter John Mayberry who blasted a two run shot. By the end of the inning, the Jays had plated 9 runs.
In the third, Underwood walked Rich Dauer who advanced on a groundout, a wild pitch and a passed ball to score Baltimore’s second run. In the bottom of the inning, the Jays took Kerrigan to the wood shed, scoring three after Kerrigan loaded the bases without recording an out, setting up a two run double by Howell and a two run single for Valez, which ended Kerrigan’s day in favour of the struggling Tippy Martinez. Baltimore took advantage of Underwood losing the strike zone in the fourth, loading the bases on a catcher interference call and two walks before giving up a double and a ground out to bring in three runs. Baltimore was down 13-5 but it was early enough, if you squint and turn your head sideways as a Baltimore fan, all hope wasn’t lost.
In the bottom of the 4th, the Jays started the inning with a single, a triple and a sac fly, but Martinez was able to get two outs, trying to get out of the inning. However, with a single and two walks, he loaded the bases for Mayberry and McKay to cash another four runs with a double and a single, making it 19-5. Underwood gave up a solo home run to May to start the fifth but that was the only run. Larry Harlow came on in relief and was absolutely wild. After getting the first two outs, he walked 4 batters and uncorked a wild pitch in between allowing a two run scoring single to Carty and a three run bomb to right absolutely crushed by Mayberry, making the score 24-6.
Surprisingly, that was the end of the Jays scoring, and despite a 3 run eighth and yet another homerun from May in the ninth, the Jays closed out their highest scoring home game 24-10. In the rout, the Jays used just two pitchers – Underwood and Tom Murphy, who went four innings in relief. John Mayberry was the key for the Jays, homering twice and driving in seven runs. Howell drove in four runs and Carty and McKay had three each. The Jays actually won the next three games, completing their first series sweep of the season, taking all four from Baltimore at home, distracting fans for a moment from the upcoming All-Star game and the Ex.
While 1978 was a write-off for the team, it was seeing some future stars like Ernie Whitt, Willie Upshaw and Jim Clancy start to get starts on the team. They’d soon by joined by players like Alfredo Griffin and Dave Stieb as the team started the long slog from expansion team hell to respectability and then to sudden contenders by 1984. But to this day, this ramshackle team put it all together for a record number of runs scored at home by the Jays which much better Toronto teams haven’t beaten.