Kevin Shanahan stared at his screen perplexed — watching the mischievous, big-eyed blue jay mascot he created and performed for two decades hamming it up in the ballpark once again.
“When I saw it, it was this kind of multi-verse … there’s been a glitch in the matrix,” he said. “I’m kind of going ‘What am I doing there?'”
The Toronto Blue Jays brought back Shanahan’s beloved mascot creation BJ Birdy to mark the club’s 50th season. They just failed to tell Shanahan, who says he still has its copyright. It wasn’t until CBC Toronto reached out to Shanahan that he learned of BJ’s return.
“It would have been nice if they would have contacted me and asked or at least informed me,” said Shanahan, at his Mississauga home.
“Maybe they thought they had the rights. Or maybe they thought I lost the rights. Or maybe they’re just celebrating BJ. Hopefully they’re not marketing him.”
Shanahan was just 20 when he created and designed the mascot. At the time, he was in charge of making animal mascots at Ontario Place, across from the Jays’ old home at Exhibition Stadium.
It inspired him to make an odd-looking blue jay costume he called BJ Birdy. After unsuccessfully pitching it to the Jays, he ended up on the cover of the Toronto Sun, making his pitch again.
Jays management took notice and weeks later, he made his Blue Jays debut on September 11, 1979. His run lasted 20 years, through back-to-back World Series wins and the move to the SkyDome.
The Toronto Sun cover that kickstarted Shanahan’s career as the Jays’ mascot BJ Birdy. He ended up in the paper with his pitch to be the team’s mascot. (Laura Pedersen/CBC)
BJ became famed for his adventurous antics, like riding bikes into walls, clowning atop the dugouts and even getting ejected from a game by the umpire. He was one of the few mascots who spoke, shattering a cardinal rule.
But BJ and Shanahan got unceremoniously dumped by the Jays in 1999. At the time, Terry Zuk, the Jays’ then-marketing vice-president, told CBC News it was a business decision.
“We are the only team in professional sports that didn’t own our mascot,” he said.
Zuk added: “I really believe mascots are mutes.”
BJ Birdy was known for his adventurous antics, including clowning atop the dugouts, riding bikes into fences and playing an accordion. He even got ejected from a game by the umpire. (CBC)’I offered to sell them the rights’
That decision stung Shanahan, but he wanted BJ’s legacy to live on.
“When we went our way … I offered to sell them the rights,” he says. “I can’t even remember the amount. It wasn’t anything ridiculous. It was something reasonable. And their response was, they’re not interested. So they never acquired the rights.”
When reached this week, Zuk, now a real estate broker in Sudbury, confirmed that Shanahan did try to sell, but the team turned him down. Instead the team brought in Ace, the Jays’ current mascot, and Diamond, who was sidelined but is now being revived, alongside BJ.
“I know at the time, I took a lot of heat over it,” Zuk said.
WATCH | BJ Birdy gets ousted by the Jays:
Kevin Shanahan, the man behind the longtime Blue Jays mascot, describes how the team ousted him in favour of two new birds.
Nathaniel Lipkus is an intellectual property lawyer and patent and trademark agent with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, who also happens to be a longtime Jays fan.
He understands how BJ’s rights could have been overlooked given how long its been, but admits “it’s not good form.”
“If he offered to sell the rights and they said, ‘We don’t want to buy them’, implicitly it seems as though they acknowledged that there were rights of some kind,” he said, reminding copyright lasts the life of its author, plus 70 years.
Or as Shanahan puts it: “I haven’t been dead 70 years.”
Shanahan keeps his BJ Birdy momentos tucked away in well-labelled boxes in his basement, along with the sewing machine on which he made the very first BJ Birdy costume. (Laura Pedersen/CBC)Jays now trying to reach Shanahan
When CBC News reached out to the Blue Jays for comment, they were eager to pass along their contact to give to Shanahan.
“Our intention has always been to honour the legacy of BJ Birdy, and we remain eager to connect directly with Kevin,” said Andrea Goldstein, Blue Jays spokesperson.
“We had hoped — and still hope — to work together, so the club can properly recognize and include him in these milestone moments.”
Goldstein did not respond when asked if the club owns the rights to BJ Birdy or why it didn’t contact Shanahan before reviving the bird.
BJ Birdy was present for some of the Jays’ most memorable moments, including their back-to-back World Series wins. Here, the mascot keeps a watchful eye as Terry Fox winds up to throw the opening pitch at a game in 1980. (Jann Van Horne/Canadian Press)
BJ and retired mascots Domer the Turtle and Diamond have been appearing at select games this season, including at a game this week where BJ was seen being forced fed Loonie Dogs on the broadcast. The team sent out a marketing email Thursday evening, after CBC News reached out, inviting the public to meet BJ Birdy and his fellow “vintage mascots” this weekend.
Shanahan largely moved on after his dismissal in 1999, becoming a school teacher for more than 20 years. So he’s not quite sure how to respond to BJ’s return.
“I don’t have 10, 20, 30,000 dollars to pay a retainer fee for a specialty lawyer to go doing whatever they do,” he said.
He admits he couldn’t don the costume now, but he’s been overwhelmed reading the comments on videos of the new BJ Birdy and realizing how much his mascot meant to fans.
“It’s nice to be remembered.”