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.
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,[1] to replace the more "motley-looking thing" they already had.
In 1985, the BJ Birdy character was described as "lovable, irascible, curious, impudent, mischievous, and often the victim of his own impulsiveness.
[4][5] 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.
When receiving complaints from the fans or media on his behavior at a game, the team front office would apparently reply "B.J.
"[1][Note 4] On April 1, 1985, the first BJ Birdy comic ran in the Toronto Star, created by Shanahan.
In another strip, BJ Birdy's mother is about to hit mascot-hating broadcaster Tony Kubek on the head.
"[8] The comic ran in the sports section of the Toronto Star (during baseball season only) for about three and a half years; later strips were presented under the title BJ Birdy's Bush League.
[10] BJ Birdy gained wider notoriety on May 22, 1993, when he was ejected from a Blue Jays game against the Minnesota Twins for trying to influence an umpire's call on a caught line drive.
[12] Over the character's final seasons, Shanahan suggested that Jays management turned down multiple appearance requests for BJ Birdy.
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.
Birdy, a massive plastic rodent, two dancing bears and a man firing T-shirts into the stands with a bazooka.
Shanahan was called into a meeting with the senior vice-president of marketing for the Toronto Blue Jays, Terry Zuk; the two apparently had not met before.
[15] The team suggested, if it were too hard to hold onto the costume, the Jays Care Foundation would gladly accept a donation; he flatly refused.
Seeking legal advice, he informed the club the new mascots could not debut before his contract expired on December 31, well after the season's end.
"[17] News of a naming contest led to suggestions like Swing and A Miss, More and Annoying, and Bird and Brain.
[18] For their part, the Globe issued an editorial calling the situation "a baseball civics lesson", suggesting that no one asked the public, "and when you don't ask citizens of a democracy if they want an icon to be changed you must expect them to rise up in revolution... or at least cry out: Give us back our bird.
"We looked for the most interesting personality traits and then actually gave the mascots a past, a sort of legend that went with their story."
[22] An early article suggested they would wear varied clothes; "tuxedos for formal events and surgical garb for hospital visits.
[21] Brennan Anderson played Ace for five years, bringing his competitive gymnastics and media background.
Ace became sole mascot of the Blue Jays in 2004, after the team removed Diamond before the season opened.
[27] Ace's official website jokingly mentioned that his father invented bird stickers commonly found on windows and his mother was a goose feather supplier.
