The black alternate jerseys Toronto players wore from 2004 to 2011 occupy a strange place in the team’s history. They were worn by some of the franchise’s all-time greats — Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, Carlos Delgado, Edwin Encarnacion — yet those jerseys, and the logo that adorned them, are despised by everyone from fans to the club’s former general manager.

Bautista became a superstar in the era of that shirt, enjoying his greatest campaigns in 2010 and ’11, when he was MLB’s homer king and finished in the top four of MVP voting in two straight years. Despite those personal highs, he says the black jerseys don’t carry much sentimental value. “Nah, not really,” he admits. “Other than: that was the uniform when I got here. I remember that more than anything. I thought it was a little odd, though, that it was the ‘Blue Jays’ and then the uniform was black, but it was what it was.

“I did like the logo,” he adds. “The colours would throw you off a little bit. It would be like the Cincinnati Reds wearing blue.”

This is the story behind that controversial logo and jersey — the history and legacy of the black sheep of Toronto Blue Jays symbols.