On this day in Blue Jays history: Carlos Delgado hit his 1,000th RBI

A Toronto Blue Jays legend reached a milestone on this date 21 years ago.

Signing as a 16-year-old with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1988, Carlos Delgado eventually made his debut in the big leagues in 1993, receiving just two plate appearances in a season in which the Blue Jays won their second consecutive World Series.

Delgado became a regular with the Jays after the two World Series victories, breaking out in 1998, when he hit 38 home runs in 620 plate appearances for a 154 wRC+. His strong play continued over the years, and after the 2003 season, Delgado had 959 RBI in 5,467 plate appearances.

On July 25, 2004, Delgado became the first Blue Jays player to reach 1,000 RBIs, at least entirely with the team, as he hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third off Baltimore Orioles’ starter Jason Johnson to reach the millennium mark. Delgado went on to hit an RBI single, extending the Jays’ lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh in a victory.

On Saturday, we looked at how Carlos Delgado became the first player in Rogers Centre history to hit a home run in the upper-deck to right field. He was just the fourth player to reach the upper deck. The second player managed to do it on July 25, 1996.

Other notable events on July 25

On July 25, 1995, Mark McGwire became just the second player in Rogers Centre history to hit a home run to the upper deck. The only other player at the time to do so was José Canseco, who did it in the 1989 American League Championship Series. Funnily enough, the two players were teammates at the time.

In more recent times, Aaron Sanchez picked up his 10th consecutive victory on this day in 2016. Starting on April 29, Sanchez didn’t lose a game from that day until August 6, mixing in seven no-decisions with the 10 victories.

At the end of the season, Sanchez finished with a 3.00 ERA and a 15-2 record, the former leading the league (he won the ERA title), and the latter leading the American League. Somehow, Sanchez only finished seventh in Cy Young Voting, not sure how. However, Sanchez pitching the way he did is a big reason the Jays were able to make the postseason in 2016.

Their opponents on July 25, 2016? The San Diego Padres. It was the first time in history that the two teams played in Toronto, and it was the last Interleague matchup to be played.