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Toronto Blue Jays mascots
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Toronto Blue Jays mascots
Over the years, the Toronto Blue Jays have created three full-time mascots, all of which portray the bird for which the team was named.
BJ Birdy was the team mascot from 1979 to 1999. For the 2000 season, BJ was replaced by Ace and Diamond, two new characters. Diamond was dropped at the end of the 2003 season, leaving Ace the sole mascot. In recent years, Ace has been joined on an occasional basis by Junior. This happens on "Junior Jays Sundays", formerly "Junior Jays Saturdays".
Kevin Shanahan was an employee of Ontario Place, a theme park attraction run by the provincial government of Ontario, located on Toronto's lakeshore across from municipally-run Exhibition Place, site of Exhibition Stadium, the team's home field at the time. As a University of Toronto student, Shanahan designed and performed in a moose costume at the park, to replace the more "motley-looking thing" they already had. The second moose costume was uncomfortable, so he designed a more comfortable bird costume. A friend suggested to him the Blue Jays might want a mascot. Not a baseball fan, he had never seen a live game. He commented "it didn't take me long to see why a mascot was needed. The game needs a distraction. Otherwise your mind wanders." Shanahan was a part-time science student, before he later dropped out. Previously he had attended Michael Power High school, where he drew comics for the school newspaper.
The team was working on a deal with CHUM Limited to develop a mascot character, after the Montreal Expos had added the character of Youppi! earlier in the year.
Mascots are fuzzy animals hired to keep people happy—young people especially—who aren't fascinated by all the statistics we pour at them, or who just get distracted by the time they reach the sixth or seventh innings.
In 1985, the BJ Birdy character was described as "lovable, irascible, curious, impudent, mischievous, and often the victim of his own impulsiveness." Much of the routines were improvised. "B.J. is a reaction character. He's a fan. He wants to know what's going on. He'll duck behind a dugout and then pop up again. He does what a lot of fans would do if they weren't so reserved." The costume had "perfect vision", and was said to be quite agile.
During the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, 22-year-old Shanahan told the Star that he would lose $7000 if the whole season was cancelled. He suggested he might return to Ontario Place, but worried the strike might permanently kill the character. During the strike, he rebuilt his Basil Beaver and Mickey Moose costume heads for Ontario Place, and received a contract to build six more animals in the autumn. By the end of the strike, he estimated a loss of $3600.
The Globe and Mail reported a rumour that Shanahan would not be offered a new contract for 1986.
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Toronto Blue Jays mascots
Over the years, the Toronto Blue Jays have created three full-time mascots, all of which portray the bird for which the team was named.
BJ Birdy was the team mascot from 1979 to 1999. For the 2000 season, BJ was replaced by Ace and Diamond, two new characters. Diamond was dropped at the end of the 2003 season, leaving Ace the sole mascot. In recent years, Ace has been joined on an occasional basis by Junior. This happens on "Junior Jays Sundays", formerly "Junior Jays Saturdays".
Kevin Shanahan was an employee of Ontario Place, a theme park attraction run by the provincial government of Ontario, located on Toronto's lakeshore across from municipally-run Exhibition Place, site of Exhibition Stadium, the team's home field at the time. As a University of Toronto student, Shanahan designed and performed in a moose costume at the park, to replace the more "motley-looking thing" they already had. The second moose costume was uncomfortable, so he designed a more comfortable bird costume. A friend suggested to him the Blue Jays might want a mascot. Not a baseball fan, he had never seen a live game. He commented "it didn't take me long to see why a mascot was needed. The game needs a distraction. Otherwise your mind wanders." Shanahan was a part-time science student, before he later dropped out. Previously he had attended Michael Power High school, where he drew comics for the school newspaper.
The team was working on a deal with CHUM Limited to develop a mascot character, after the Montreal Expos had added the character of Youppi! earlier in the year.
Mascots are fuzzy animals hired to keep people happy—young people especially—who aren't fascinated by all the statistics we pour at them, or who just get distracted by the time they reach the sixth or seventh innings.
In 1985, the BJ Birdy character was described as "lovable, irascible, curious, impudent, mischievous, and often the victim of his own impulsiveness." Much of the routines were improvised. "B.J. is a reaction character. He's a fan. He wants to know what's going on. He'll duck behind a dugout and then pop up again. He does what a lot of fans would do if they weren't so reserved." The costume had "perfect vision", and was said to be quite agile.
During the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, 22-year-old Shanahan told the Star that he would lose $7000 if the whole season was cancelled. He suggested he might return to Ontario Place, but worried the strike might permanently kill the character. During the strike, he rebuilt his Basil Beaver and Mickey Moose costume heads for Ontario Place, and received a contract to build six more animals in the autumn. By the end of the strike, he estimated a loss of $3600.
The Globe and Mail reported a rumour that Shanahan would not be offered a new contract for 1986.
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