It's Friday, which means it's time to take another trip down memory lane with Acid Flashback Friday. This week, we take a look at one of the most celebrated publications in Canadian history, the Jr. Jays Magazine.

I can't recall exactly where my copy of this magazine came from, but I'm pretty sure some OPP officers handed them out at our public school. The Jr. Jays Magazine first came out in spring of 1993 at the peak of Blue Jays fandom, so every kid wanted to get their hands on one of these.

The Jr. Jays Magazine followed the adventures of Dr. Jay and his questionable relationships with young characters like Flash, Lambert, Cathy, Ashmede, Ashley, Ronnie, Ben, and Crunchie the dog. From what I recall, the comic strip was basically a glorified anti-drug, anti-alcohol, anti-smoking therefore anti-fun PSA, which told kids about the values of staying in school and working hard to achieve their dreams.

Over the years, Jr. Jays magazine evolved into what would be known as simply "The Magazine." While no longer focused solely on the Blue Jays, the Jays comic strip continued to run in The Magazine but was eventually phased out after 2000. Actual members of the Toronto Blue Jays occasionally made cameos in the comic strip, with an animated Roberto Alomar as seen below.


Images courtesy of Torontoist 

Unfortunately, copies of the Jr. Jays magazine are hard to find these days. Apparently there are plans in the works to put the entire series on the Internet eventually, but for the time being there is just one copy of the first issue available on eBay .

If someone wants to take one for the team, I'm sure we'd all be more than happy to pitch in and circulate the copy so that everyone gets a chance to relive the memories. In the meantime, check out this video from the very short-lived Jr. Jays TV Magazine on YTV.

 

This article is also featured on The Blue Jay Hunter