How Much Does the Blue Jays Mascot Make?

The Toronto Blue Jays got their first mascot only a few years after the franchise played its first MLB season. 

The Jays’ first few seasons were difficult. A mascot has little to do when the team is a rank outsider to win the division in baseball odds. Toronto finished bottom of the division in each of its first five seasons. 

Their mascot was well-established by the time the Jays made their first playoff appearance in 1985. Fourteen years later, the organization made the surprising decision to change mascots. 

How Much Does the Blue Jays Mascot Make?

The Blue Jays mascot is paid $65,000 per year. 

This is one of the lowest salaries in MLB, at $135,000 less than the salary of the Boston Red Sox mascot.

What Is the Name of the Blue Jays Mascot?

The Blue Jays mascot is Ace. On Saturdays, Ace is joined by his younger brother, Junior, at games at Rogers Centre. 

From 2000 until 2004, Ace was accompanied by “Diamond.” Last seen at the end of the 2004 campaign, Angelina Milanovic, Larissa Bathgate, and Amanda Barker all had stints as Diamond.

Interestingly, the people who performed as Diamond were paid $100 per game, but Ace’s performers have always been salaried.

What Happened to the BJ Birdy?

BJ Birdy was dropped as Blue Jays mascot after the 1999 season. First introduced in 1979, Kevin Shanahan exclusively played BJ Birdy for two decades.

There are different theories for why BJ Birdy’s time as Jays mascot ended. Some have suggested BJ Birdy was Shanahan’s intellectual property, but it’s also been rumoured Shanahan was in line for a significant pay raise.

Shanahan was a committed and, at times, controversial performer. He missed only one game in 1991 despite losing several toes and was ejected from games in 1989 and 1993. 

Provocative and often a nuisance for opposing teams, BJ Birdy was a fixture in Toronto when Blue Jays odds to win the World Series were at their shortest during the first half of the 1990s.