Flashback Friday: the Shoppers Drug Mart Blue Jays Calendar

As a young child, aside from Christmas, my birthday, and whenever a new Ninja Turtles movie came out, there were few days that were as exciting as the day you received the newest Blue Jays calendar.

For this week’s Flashback Friday, we take a look back at the fabled Shoppers Drug Mart Blue Jays calendars.

To be honest, I don’t really have much to go on here aside from my memory and the few snippets of information I found on the internet. As far as I could see, the calendars were released each year from 1987 to 1999.


ADVERTISEMENT

The only two copies I have in my possession currently are the 1991 and the 1992 editions. At one point in time, I also had the 1993 and 1994 versions, but they didn’t survive a cleaning purge put forth by my parents.

Below is the cover of the 1991 Shoppers Drug Mart Calendar, and it has a very odd greek mythology theme to it, but is pretty memorable nonetheless. Inside, the calendar itself is your pretty standard run of the mill Blue Jays calendar.

It wasn’t until 1992 when Kert Advertising Limited started doing an artistic approach to the calendars with watercolours. These Blue Jays calendars stand out most in my mind not only because of the beautiful paintings, but because they were the World Series Champion teams as well.

Probably the funnest part of reflecting back on these calendars is looking at the Skydome seating chart to see what the Blue Jays ticket prices were back in the early nineties. As you can see, it only cost you $17.50 to get the best seats in the house.

The funny thing is the price for an upper deck ticket has stayed relatively the same, and if anything it’s actually gone down in price up in the 500’s.

However, if you wanted a seat in the nosebleeds angled away from the Jumbotron, then it only cost you $4 dollars to take in a Blue Jays game. Couple that with a $4 McDonald’s combo meal and you had yourself an afternoon at the ballpark for less than 10 bucks!

Also, it’s hard to make out in the image, but that white area in the second deck was the SkyClub. Can you believe it took up over half of the second deck? The SkyClub itself is another topic for another Flashback Friday in itself.

If you have anything you want to see from Blue Jays yesteryear in an upcoming Flashback Friday, email bluejayhunter@gmail.com

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS to his kids for the next 20 years.

8 thoughts on “Flashback Friday: the Shoppers Drug Mart Blue Jays Calendar

  • May 20, 2011 at 3:43 pm
    Permalink

    How did I never get one of these as a kid?

    WHAT WERE MY PARENTS THINKING!!!!

    Thanks a lot mom and dad…

  • May 20, 2011 at 4:39 pm
    Permalink

    500 Level, you never had one of these? Oh man, I feel bad that you got left out on this one. These were just beautiful calendars.

  • May 20, 2011 at 4:48 pm
    Permalink

    I think I had about 5 years of these Calendars, I think 1987-1991, or something like that. I might still have them somewhere.

  • May 20, 2011 at 4:54 pm
    Permalink

    Peter, I think they first started making them in 1987 (the 10 season anniversary edition). Which one was your favourite?

  • May 20, 2011 at 5:29 pm
    Permalink

    I have the calendar every year fro 1991-1999. It interesting to note that the highest price ticket only went up 7.50 during that time from $17.50 to $25.00.

    Oh the good only days in 1992 where for $200 you could buy tickets to 11 games with good seats and still have a few bucks leftover.

    If you've got the 1991 calender flip it over and look at the Shoppers Drug Market sponsored Fairplay team of littel leaguers. Wonder where all those kids are now?

  • May 20, 2011 at 5:50 pm
    Permalink

    DaveH, even after all these years, a ticket to a Blue Jays game is still one of the best deals Toronto. At least some things haven't changed!

    I noticed that team on the back, the coaches in that team picture had some pretty epic moustaches, too.

  • May 23, 2011 at 2:41 pm
    Permalink

    Cleaned out my attic yesterday and found a couple of images from my 1989 Jays calendar, a shot of Exhibition Stadium and one of Ernie Whitt.

    Looking back at old family photos I have seen Jays Shoppers calendars from as far back as 1982 on the wall yet they were a single poster with all months on one sheet and a team photo at the top.

    Like yourself I waited anxiously for the day these calendars were released, miss 'em.

Comments are closed.