The Blue Jays' Back-to-Back World Series

Our sports culture guide notes the Blue Jays' back-to-back titles as the only World Series wins ever by a non-U.S. team. This page is the fuller story, including the single most famous swing in Canadian baseball history.

1992: the first title

The Blue Jays reached their first World Series in 1992 and beat the Atlanta Braves four games to two — a tightly contested series that included four one-run games. It made Toronto the first team based outside the United States ever to win a World Series championship, a distinction no other team has matched since.

1993: Joe Carter's home run

The following year, Toronto returned to the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. In Game 6 at SkyDome on October 23, 1993, with the Blue Jays trailing by a run in the ninth inning, Joe Carter hit a three-run, walk-off home run off Phillies closer Mitch Williams to win the game and the series. Radio broadcaster Tom Cheek's call — "Touch 'em all, Joe! You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!" — remains one of the most replayed calls in Canadian sports broadcasting. It was only the second World Series ever to end on a walk-off home run, and the first ever won by a team that had been trailing.

A record that still stands

More than three decades later, the 1992 and 1993 Blue Jays remain the only team from outside the United States to ever win MLB's championship — a genuinely singular accomplishment in a league otherwise entirely dominated by American franchises.

Sources

• Wikipedia — Joe Carter's 1993 World Series Home Run
• MLB.com — Revisiting Joe Carter's Iconic World Series Home Run
• National Baseball Hall of Fame — Starting Nine: Touch 'Em All, Joe!

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