I saw on social media that the Toronto Blue Jays, a Rogers property, had brought back BJ Birdy. I previously wrote about BJ Birdy back in 2012. BJ was the Toronto Blue Jays mascot of my youth, and I even read his comic strip in the Toronto Star.
In 1999, after 20 years, the Toronto Blue Jays told BJ Birdy creator Kevin Shanahan that his services were no longer required, and replaced him with Ace and Diamond. It was a business decision, as the team owned Ace and Diamond, and Kevin Shanahan owned BJ Birdy.
Admittedly, I felt the pangs of nostalgia when I saw the footage of BJ Birdy on social media. This is the Blue Jays's 50th season, so they're pulling out all the stops as they drive down memory lane. Only they didn't cover all the bases...
The CBC reports that Kevin Shanahan did not approve of the usage of BJ Birdy, and wasn't even notified this was happen. Rogers just did it, without consideration for the rightsholder.
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.
Here, from my personal collection, are a few of the BJ Birdy comic strips I'd read in the Star.
