Toronto Maple Leaf: The Best (and Worst) of Harold Ballard

Ballard Refuses to Display Player Names on Jerseys

By the mid-1970s, the Toronto Maple Leafs had never displayed player’s names on jerseys, but a decree from NHL President John Ziegler called for just this.

Ballard, who never liked taking instructions from anyone, including the league head office, considered the first American NHL commissioner as some kind of foreign interloper and was not about to be ordered around by him.

Needless to say, Ballard balked at the directive and refused to comply. When threatened with a fine from the league, Ballard responded by having the players’ names stitched on their backs in the same colour as their jersey backgrounds, leaving the names unreadable.

On February 27th, 1978, the Toronto Maple Leafs rolled into the Chicago Stadium for a road game against the Black Hawks with their newly tailored road jerseys.

The Leafs jerseys in those days featured white elements on a blue background and the blue lettering that Ballard had stitched onto the blue background rendered the players names completely invisible. Ziegler be damned.

The next night the Leafs were off to Long Island for a game against the New York islanders sporting the same jerseys. For these two road games at least, it appeared that Ballard had gotten away with flouting the Ziegler decree. The Leafs had a lengthy break in New York City before their next game against the Rangers on March 5th at Madison Square Gardens.

When the Leafs took the ice for the Rangers game, their surnames were conspicuously displayed for the first time ever on their jersey backs.

During the break between games, the league office had convinced Ballard that the fines threatened previously were very real and very substantial. Valuing dollars over principles, Ballard relented, and Toronto Maple Leafs players have had their names plastered across their shoulder blades ever since.