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The mascots all look fantastic and the fans adore them. Their original And just like the rest of us, Ace is going to need to scrape some of the rust off after we emerge from this quarantine. Much of the routines were improvised. the games, Ace dances on the dugouts, but he’s also roaming the stadium looking 2020 SportMascots.com. Blue Jays decided to double down on their mascots and introduced two of them. Their personalities were modelled after Jim Carrey the number ½. In 1999, the BJ Birdy was dropped. All rights reserved. (Photo by Focus on … Younger fans might not remember; but before there was Ace, there was ‘BJ Birdy.’ BJ was added to the roster in 1979, the same year that the Montreal Expos debuted Youppi, a wild orange proto-Gritty (incidentally both the first mascot to be thrown out of a game and switch sports, from MLB to NHL with the Montreal Canadiens). Now that’s not a bad thing and it certainly makes for an interesting historical overview. The word originates from a French term literally meaning to ‘bring good luck’. Ace wears the number zero. 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 characters themselves were conceived and designed by Kelly Giannopoulos and Diane Semark. The costumes were built by Sugar's Mascot Costumes in Toronto. to a blue jay, so that’s what we got again. Players need the crowd. He does what a lot of fans would do if they weren't so reserved." The prevailing belief was that a loud, animal-like character would provide entertainment to children bored at long games. For the truly remarkable mascots, like the Raptor, Phillie Phanatic and more recently Gritty — they become characters with a life and legend all their own. BJ Birdy (Toronto Blue Jays) BJ Birdy served as the official mascot for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1979 to 1999. TORONTO, ON - CIRCA 1991: The Toronto Blue Jays mascot BJ Birdy performs during an Major League Baseball game circa 1991 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. The Raptor, mascot of the Toronto Raptors basketball team, was meanwhile gaining acclaim for his acrobatic routines. (Montreal Expos/Montreal Canadiens), Philadelphia Phil & Philadelphia Phillis (Philadelphia Phillies), https://sportsmascots.fandom.com/wiki/BJ_Birdy_(Toronto_Blue_Jays)?oldid=1098. also created the BJ Birdy comic in 1985. Sugar's Costume Studio built the outfits based on their designs. flexible and moves around, since the costume is light compared to most other By 1999, with the Jays attendance and performance in a free fall, the team decided to create their own mascot. He suggested he might return to Ontario Place, but worried the strike might permanently kill the character. And so it was Bye Bye Birdy (writer’s note: my apologies). There are some speculations for why this happened. An Ace modelled after the original rapscallion bird that entertained fans. The Canadians can be wacky at times. He worked as a theme park employee of Ontario Place, a Toronto theme park. as creativity goes, the team obviously considered that nothing comes even close In response, the club called him at his home in Mississauga, telling him not to appear at the final two regular season home games; he would quip to the media that they were the first "two paid days off after 20 years. However, attendance to the home games sharply dropped at that time as well. He If the Jays are embracing the past with the new uniforms, why not with the mascot too? Like his predecessor, Ace resembles a large blue jay. Some say Shanahan was due for a huge raise, while others claim BJ Birdy was Shanahan’s intellectual property, and the Blue Jays’ management did not take kindly to that. The first – and the only – person to wear the BJ Birdy uniform was Kevin Shanahan. As far The Star commented that the team's desperation was evident, suggesting that "the nadir probably reached when a van circled the field pulling a flatbed which bore B.J. Ace, the Toronto Blue Jays Mascot was reproduced on Premium Heavy Stock Paper which captures all of the vivid colors and details of the original. BJ was unpredictable, improvising many of his routines and frequently running afoul of Jays management, who were reluctant to claim him. ", The team added, "The Blue Jays have a strong commitment to lifting up our most vulnerable through Jays Care Foundation, including a longstanding partnership with Toronto Community Housing. They become emblematic of a team. work as the new mascots. When Paul Beeston was asked about his opinion on a strip centering on him, vice president he commented "What comic strip? The names Ace and The rest is history. throwing the first pitch as well. "B.J. Ace is the official mascot of the Toronto Blue Jays. He worked as a theme park employee of Ontario Place, a Toronto theme park. Previously he had attended Michael Power High School, where he drew comics for the school newspaper. in conjunction with CHUM Limited, a TV network. He did state that the whole deal about being a mascot was ‘a balancing We were confronted with the story, it was out from another source and there was no sense having a bunker mentality and denying it.". risk – things can get real ugly real fast. I found out early that Blue Jays won't back me up, that I'm on my own. name a few! perform acrobatic feats anymore – it’s simply too much of a health got the job in 2002. Approximately 87 years ago in the ‘before times’, the Toronto Blue Jays released the team’s new powder blue uniforms to much fanfare at this year’s Winterfest event. Several Blue Jays players were spotted wearing the T-shirts this month ... with pitcher Anthony Bass proudly displaying the attire on social media last weekend. This was mostly He'll get the odd quip in his favor, he'll second-guess like fans do but, most of the time, everything will fall back on him. The But as polished and hard-working as Ace is, for those of us old enough to remember him, there’s a nostalgia for BJ Birdy, with his homemade costume and defiance to authority. Diamond was phased out at the end of the 2004 And it’s always kind of fun to watch him now on the dugout between innings.”. ", "We recognize the severity of the homelessness crisis in Toronto and throughout Canada and apologize for a lapse in sensitivity towards this important matter.".

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