Big Maple (Toronto, Canada nickname)

Entry in progress—BP401
 
Wikipedia: James Paxton (baseball)
James Alston Paxton (born November 6, 1988), nicknamed “Big Maple”, is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
 
Paxton played college baseball for the Kentucky Wildcats. He was selected by the Mariners in the fourth round of the 2010 MLB draft and made his MLB debut with them in 2013. On May 8, 2018, Paxton pitched a no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the first Canadian major league pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Canada.
 
Wikipedia: Toronto
Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located on a harbour at the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. The city is the fourth-most populous city in North America, behind Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles, with a census population of 2,794,356 as of 2021.
 
Wikipedia: Toronto Mapel Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs, officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Leafs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The club is owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, a company that owns several professional sports teams in the city, while the team’s broadcasting rights are split between BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications.
 
The club was founded as the Toronto Arenas for the inaugural 1917–18 NHL season and rebranded to the Toronto St. Patricks two years later. Conn Smythe renamed the franchise to the Maple Leafs after buying it in 1927.
   
Bluesky
Tagg the Otter🌻🍁
@taggtheotter.bsky.social
Fun fact for you Americans:
New York is called The Big Apple. In Canada, we refer to Toronto as The Big Maple, but said like “mapple”
Mostly because it was Rob Ford who coined the term and we fucking hated him. He was a shitty mayor
12:14 PM · Oct 7, 2026