PHOTOS: Brampton’s ‘Blue Jays Baby’ gets to be Game Day Owner

Getting to be owner of the team for a weekend is a “full circle” moment for Gary Takhar – a Brampton baseball fan also known as “The Blue Jays Baby.”

Born on the morning that the Toronto Blue Jays won their first of two back-to-back World Series Championships on Oct. 24, 1992, Takhar has been a lifelong fan. He was born at 3 a.m. at Etobicoke General, where his mom also worked as a nurse.

He says the nurses and hospital staff were wearing Blue Jays jerseys, and that his big family – originally from the U.K. – embraced baseball and the Blue Jays after his birth.

“The other nurses actually pushed for my mother to name me Jay,” Takhar told INsauga.com with a chuckle.

And even though his parents decided to go with the non-baseball-related name of Gary, Takhar’s love for the Blue Jays has only grown over the decades.

Takhar was affectionately nicknamed the “Blue Jays Baby,” and he’s been to dozens of games in person and watched countless more on TV. And baseball-related births seem to run in the family, as Takhar and his wife welcomed their first child last year just a few days before the Blue Jays’ World Series run.

“We made it home 20 minutes before the game started and we watched that first game together,” he told INsauga.com, calling their baseball-connected births a “full circle moment.”

She even became the family’s World Series good luck charm, as the team would score a run every time his daughter woke up during the games.

“We even had friends calling asking, ‘Is she awake? We need a run,” he said, adding that his wife has become a “second-hand baseball fan” over the years.

The family’s passion for the team helped land him the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the team’s latest Game Day Owner.

Takhar entered the Rogers Game Day Owner contest after seeing a spot during a Toronto game and has been awarded an “all-access ownership experience” at the Rogers Centre, including behind-the-scenes access to the clubhouse, field, and dugout.

He even gets to pitch “some ideas for the franchise” to the executives, and says he has been “brainstorming” with fellow fans about his recommendations for the Blue Jays organization.

His Game Day Owner experience is on Saturday when the Jays take on the New York Yankees, and he’s already had some VIP access to the field, clubhouse and dugout.

The Rogers Game Day Owner contest is accepting applications for six exclusive experiences this season, and runs until September 12. For more information, click here.

All photos were provided by Rogers.