Indians, Blue Jays Schedule Exhibition

The Cleveland Indians will play the Toronto Blue Jays in an exhibition game here April 4, two days before they open their American League seasons against each other.

The game would be the first played by two major league baseball teams in Buffalo. It is scheduled to be played in 45,000-seat War Memorial Stadium.

Promoters of the game, including Buffalo Bisons President Robert Rich Jr., asserted the game will help Buffalo prove to major league owners that western New York can support a major league franchise of its own.

Buffalo is among several cities vying for a major league team the next time baseball expands, perhaps by 1990. One of the questions raised about the city’s chances is whether western New York’s economy and population base are strong enough to support a big league team.

The Bisons are Cleveland’s Triple A affiliate in the American Association and the Blue Jays estimate they attract about 200,000 fans a year to Toronto from western New York.