What to know
- The 15-foot statue depicts Joe Carter leaping after his walk-off home run secured the 1993 World Series championship.
- Located outside Gate 5, it honours the Blue Jays’ 1992 and 1993 championship teams and includes both rosters on its base.
- Fans called the tribute “beautiful” and “well-deserved,” while others said the long-awaited recognition should have happened sooner.
Toronto Blue Jays fans have waited decades to see the team’s history properly represented outside Rogers Centre, and the franchise’s first player statue is already receiving plenty of love.
The Blue Jays unveiled a 15-foot statue of Joe Carter on Saturday as part of the team’s 50th-anniversary celebrations. Located outside Gate 5, it depicts the right-fielder leaping in celebration as he rounded the bases following his walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series.
The three-run homer against the Philadelphia Phillies secured an 8-6 victory and the Blue Jays’ second consecutive World Series championship.
Nearly 30 alumni from the 1992 and 1993 championship teams attended the unveiling, including former manager Cito Gaston, Pat Borders, Paul Molitor, Dave Stieb, Devon White and John Olerud.
“We were all part of something truly special, and I’m forever grateful to share this moment with our fans and my incredible teammates from 1992 and 1993,” Carter said in a statement published by MLB.
“When I reflect on the impact our back-to-back championships had on fans—not just in Toronto, but across Canada—it brings tears to my eyes.”
The statue weighs 6,200 pounds and sits on a granite base bearing the names of players and staff from both championship teams. It is the first statue depicting a Blue Jays player outside Rogers Centre.
Online reactions
Online, many Blue Jays fans agreed the unforgettable moment was deserving of a permanent place outside the stadium.
“That’s awesome. Congrats Joe Carter!” one Reddit user wrote when the statue was announced earlier this year.
“Awesome and well-deserved,” another commented, while one fan simply said, “This is beautiful.”
Others felt the recognition was overdue.
“Took them long enough,” one person wrote.
Another fan said the statue should be understood as a tribute to more than Carter’s individual career.
“I assume the thinking is that the statue is memorializing the moment and the 1993 team as a whole, not necessarily Joe’s whole tenure with the Jays,” the user wrote in a Reddit discussion.
That distinction is reflected in its official name, the “Back-to-Back World Series Statue,” and the inclusion of both championship rosters on its base.
The new landmark replaces a statue of former Blue Jays owner Edward S. Rogers, which previously stood between Gates 5 and 6 and has since been moved to a Rogers corporate office.
