Heh, I guess I should have thought of that...
- He fought with most of his family and was often vindictive towards them. Once when he discovered that the son of his estranged daughter was to play in a kids hockey tournament in the Gardens, Ballard had the entire tournament cancelled.
- In April 2003, a woman publicly identified only as R.M. filed suit against Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., claiming that Ballard had sexually abused her over a period of eight years. The abuse was said to have started in 1963 when she was 10 years old, and to have continued until she was 18. Her uncle had been a painter at the Gardens, and R.M. said she didn't come forward sooner because Ballard had threatened to fire him if she had. She sought damages of $2 million. The suit was settled in March 2006 for an undisclosed amount.
- In August 1979, to make room for private boxes, he had Foster Hewitt's broadcast gondola dumped into an incinerator.
- Angered (or maybe jealous) by Conn Smythe's success with the club and his inability to bring a Stanley Cup to Toronto, Ballard sold all of the Cup banners that had hung from the rafters of Maple Leafs Gardens for years. When the Leafs moved to the Air Canada Centre in 1999, the NHL presented the team with new banners to replace those Ballard had sold.
- When the Leafs traded Lanny McDonald, a close friend of Sittler, to the moribund Colorado Rockies on December 29, 1979; a member of the Leafs anonymously told the Toronto Star that Leafs management would "do anything to get at Sittler" and was bent on undermining the captain's influence on the team.
- Shortly after taking control of the Leafs, Ballard stood trial on 28 counts of fraud involving $82,000, 21 counts of theft involving $123,000, and tax evasion. He was accused by the Crown attorney of using funds from Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. to pay for renovations to his home and cottage, to rent limousines for his daughter's wedding in 1967, and to buy motorcycles for his sons (passing off the expense as hockey equipment for the Marlboros), as well as placing money belonging to the corporation into a private bank account that he controlled along with Stafford Smythe. Harold Ballard was convicted and spent a year in Milhaven Penitentiary.
-Not only did Ballard offer Keon an insulting contract, but he also blocked Keon from joining another NHL team. With nowhere else to go, Keon went to the rogue WHA ... but his feud with Ballard persisted.
- Ballard booked The Beatles on each of their three North American tours from 1964-1966. On the second tour, in 1965, Ballard sold tickets for two shows, even though the agreement had been for only one. On the hot summer day of the concert, Ballard ordered the building's heat turned up, and the water fountains around the arena mysteriously stopped functioning. He also delayed both of the concerts for over an hour. The only available refreshments from the terrible heat were large soft drinks from the concession stands.
- He carried on a string of feuds and vendettas with the local media. In one interview, he told CBC journalist Barbara Frum that it was "a joke" to have women on the radio, adding "you know where they're at their best, don't ya... I let them up once in a while."
- A prime example of Ballard's irrational decision making came in 1979. With the Leafs struggling to earn a playoff spot Ballard, and against the will of his team, fired popular coach Roger Neilson. Two days later, Ballard reversed course and asked Neilson back, but he demanded the coach wear a paper bag over his head on the bench to hide his identity.
...not to mention all the meddling he did with the hockey operations of the club, often while drunk.
- trading Lanny Mcdonald for no reason other than to "stick it to" Darryl Sittler
- Having Russ Courtnall traded for John Kordic
- Insisting that the Leafs draft Luke Richardson in the 1987 entry draft, instead of that "fruity western kid" the scouting department had their hearts set on (Joe Sakic)