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Understanding what goes into writing a Blue Jays history bestseller with Keegan Matheson

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On June 3, 2025, MLB.com’s Toronto Blue Jays beat reporter Keegan Matheson published his second book, The Franchise: Toronto Blue Jays: A Curated History of the Jays.

To understand the idea and process behind this book, I sat down with Keegan himself for a chat about the book, the Blue Jays, and the process that comes with writing something that has captured the hearts of Blue Jays fans from coast to coast.

Blue Jays Nation (BJN): What inspired you to write The Franchise?

Keegan Matheson (KM): Originally, publishers approached me about writing a book in the past, but knowing that I haven’t been around the Blue Jays long enough – I started my job as a Toronto Blue Jays beat reporter in 2017 – I knew I wasn’t ready. I’m a big believer in going slow, and I wanted to feel like I had feet underneath me. I waited, and I’m glad I did because this book wouldn’t have been good if I started it earlier. I was attracted to the idea of writing something curated because I could have control over which stories I could tell. That meant leaving some people out, like Pat Gillick and Tony Fernandez, not because they weren’t important, but because I chose to tell other stories instead. The book turned out to be a bigger undertaking than I expected, and looking back, waiting to start this project was the right decision because I needed to be in a better place mentally.

BJN: What was your idea behind the order of each chapter?

KM: I signed the book deal not long after Shohei Ohtani’s signing news broke, and for the first two or three months, I had to carefully think about how to capture the Blue Jays. I had to come back to the core idea of why people give a damn about the Blue Jays and why they care. I chose each era based on what people cared about and what mattered to them. That idea got me halfway there through the book, and I decided which stories I needed to retell–iconic moments like Joe Carter’s home run in the World Series and José Bautista’s home run–were a must. But I also needed to make sure everything wasn’t a retelling of existing Blue Jays’ stories. I wanted to add more to the existing Blue Jays discourse because there are good stories that need to be told out there.

BJN: What was the writing process like compared to your first book?

KM: The process for writing this book was completely different from the first book I wrote (Top-50 Toronto Blue Jays Prospects, 2019: Presented by Baseball Toronto). The prospect book I wrote was an extension of the prospect coverage I was doing, but writing this second book was a lot. It was airplanes, hotels, bars and 10 different stadiums while balancing my job as a beat reporter. I would write from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and cover games in the evenings, but that wasn’t a sustainable schedule because it quickly turned into 16-hour work days. So, instead, I opted to space out my writing and would pull out my laptop and write if a story came to me. It was very sporadic, and when my manuscript was due back in August of last year, I had to power through the book much like a university essay-style rush. It was my first time doing anything like that, and five more times trying to get it right. I was stressed writing this book, and this year, my beat colleagues are finally admitting to me how stressed I was back then.

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BJN: What was it like for a seasoned reporter like yourself to follow the Ohtani free agency saga? 

KM: I almost chose not to tell this story in my book, but I decided to put it in because it was a cool story. I don’t think I will cover an interesting story like that. Talking to people about the Ohtani saga a year later was easier because people were more open to talking about what it was like. It’s fascinating to relive that because I got the chance to appreciate the magnitude of it and how it all happened. Talking to people who were there honestly made me appreciate the efforts the Blue Jays put in because it was clear that they weren’t just a runner-up to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They weren’t used in the process, unlike what most people believe. Telling that story made me realize that the Blue Jays were actually pretty close to signing Ohtani.

BJN: What was one of your most memorable interviews for this book?

KM: I’ve done 50 to 60 interviews, and my favourites have been Carlos Delgado and Buck Martinez. Growing up, I was a Delgado kid, and when I was speaking to him, I learned that he is a thoughtful, intelligent and caring person. He is an interesting person to speak with because of how he still engages with baseball is incredible. I can still admit that it’s cool to speak to Delgado — it brings me back to when the Blue Jays were my whole life.

Buck and I went out for a really long hour-and-a-half or two-hour-long lunch for our interview. He was incredibly helpful because he covered every single era of the Blue Jays, and he really helped me to understand a lot of older players. The chapter on Buck was also my favourite thing to write. Buck means so much to me and many Blue Jays fans, and he turned out to be the most important person the Blue Jays would have had back when they traded for a backup, backup catcher.

BJN: Which part of the Blue Jays’ story were you most excited to tell?

KM: I was looking forward to the chapters that would be new to people; I was most excited to add new stories. COVID chapters were something I was really intent on including because they weren’t written in a permanent way like this. I hope I never do another Zoom call in my life now, but back then, I had many Zoom calls and tests during that era. I’ll definitely never cover something like COVID again because these are once-in-a-lifetime types of experiences. Aside from the COVID chapter, I was excited to write about Famous in A Small Town and Canada-related chapters to tell stories about how players adjust to Canada.

BJN: Is there anything you wanted to include in the book but didn’t have enough space for?

KM: If I were to expand it to another section, it would have been about roster building, transactions and people executing them like Pat Gillick, Gord Ash and Alex Anthopoulos. Examining how World Series teams were built and what different Blue Jays teams did to go for it would have been interesting to expand more on that. Today, there are 700 people in every front office and have 10-word job titles but back in Pat Gillick’s day, it was Pat Gillick and only a handful of people making decisions. Ultimately, I decided to leave it out because it includes some hard history. I’m also a big believer in telling the stories of how the team is being covered, so it would have been great to devote more pages to those who have covered the Blue Jays aside from Tom Cheek, Jerry Horwath, Allison Gordon, Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez.

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BJN: What are the Blue Jays’ blind spots?

KM: History. I think that the organization needs to market and advertise its own history in a better way. People immediately point to having just one statue at Rogers Centre but it’s more than that. When I go on the road, I see organizations that display their rich histories and involve more alumni in general. This is their way of demonstrating how important their history is. Boston particularly does a good job of showcasing its history. That, in my opinion, is a marketing strategy because understanding the history is key to telling a story. It gives people a reason to hang onto a team even in the bad years. Right now, there are Blue Jays fans who are 15 or 20 years old and don’t know who Dave Stieb, Tony Fernandez, Roy Halladay and other older players are. This brings us to the question, “Are we doing a good enough job of telling our team’s history?” The more people can learn about where the team came from, the more people will be willing to invest in the team.

BJN: Where do the Blue Jays go from here?

KM: Probably the playoffs at this point. This season has been interesting. In spring training, I had John Schneider and coaches say to me quietly that they really like this team because there’s something happening here. They had a sense of conviction that there was something this time, even if they say it every year. This roster is in the right spot with a good mesh of players. I think the coaching staff is doing a good job. Schneider, Pete Walker and hitting staff are doing a great job. While most of the great work should be credited to the players themselves, some of that is on the coaching staff for the team performing well. The Blue Jays have a pretty fun trade deadline coming up and they might have a playoff run coming up. This team feels so much different than any other team in the past three years.

BJN: What life lesson can the Blue Jays learn from the Blue Jays franchise throughout their history?

KM: They can learn that a single moment can completely change their lives and how the last few years are viewed. José Bautista’s bat flip moment and many other moments were like that. If the Blue Jays hit a home run at the right time, their lives will change forever and people won’t stop talking about it. Last year was no longer a crappy season if something good happens after. The 1992 and 1993 World Series set the 1980’s as a preparation stage. It doesn’t need to be Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doing the heroics necessarily; it can be anyone of the bottom of the roster like Davis Schneider, Myles Straw and Tyler Heineman performing and telling the story. I appreciate that there is still time for this team to change their moment. It helped me appreciate the bigger picture if it does come together all at the right moment.

BJN: Would you be interested in working on another book in the near future? 

KM: Now I would. If you had asked me that in the middle of last season, I would have said hell no. For two reasons: one, I’ve found it very rewarding. This book completely changed my relationship with baseball and it saved me. I was letting baseball become only work. I was worn out and getting bitter a little too early in my life – that was a mistake I made. This book helped me a lot mentally with this job. I think it helped me tell better stories and helped me appreciate how amazing it is to be around this game. It shook my head up, but it’s been very meaningful to me.

The second reason is the reception of it. Writing this book was a completely new world of impostor syndrome for me. It took me a while to get over it as a reporter because the idea of publishing and publishing deadlines were new to me. Signings and things like that were new to me too, and I had anxiety about how things could go wrong. To see things go relatively well and to talk to people about the book has been one of the most interesting things in my life. I didn’t even think it was possible for my book to make it into a ranking and have such a positive reception — it has helped me to accept that this was worthwhile. I’m definitely interested in doing something again, but I don’t think I can write a book like this again. I’d be interested in writing a player biography, something that’s focused on an individual maybe in the next few years. Not writing a book this year has been great because I realized: “Oh shit, there’s no book! I just have to cover games.”

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BJN: Which player biography would you want to write?

KM: I would love to write about one of the big names like Carlos Delgado or José Bautista. I’d love to go deep on one subject.

BJN: What do you hope Blue Jays fans will take away from this book?

KM: I hope they come away with an appreciation of why the Blue Jays matter to different people for different reasons. People who were watching the team in the 80’s can share the experience with those who watched in 2015 and 2016. I also hope people come away understanding why the Blue Jays mean so much to people and why the Blue Jays are unique. We don’t give a level of appreciation of sports teams but people’s summers and lives revolve around the Blue Jays. It’s helped so many people to remember their lives, and it helped me appreciate that more when I was writing this book.

You can find Keegan’s book, The Franchise: Toronto Blue Jays: A Curated History of the Jays, online at Amazon, Indigo retailers, and local bookstores nationwide.

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