The Blue Jays Long-Lost ‘This Land is Your Land’ Video is Back!

For years, I’ve been searching, hoping that this video would somehow re-emerge on the internet. A few years ago, there was a low-quality handcam version of the video, but lo and behold, a search unearthed this beauty … in better quality than ever!

Yes, it’s the fabled Blue Jays “This Land is Your Land” video. Bless Mr. Mike Priest who uploaded this just in time for Canada Day. This is the 1996 Toronto Blue Jays roster performing The Travellers classic.

I don’t think the Blue Jays have ever done anything more Canadian than this.


ADVERTISEMENT

Mike Priest Youtube

In case you missed it or aren’t sure who is who, the casting goes as follows:

Gord Ash and Alfredo Griffin as Maritimer fishermen. Pat Hentgen, Carlos Delgado and Charlie O’Brien suited up as lumberjacks. Mike Timlin was a farmer from the Prairies and Otis Nixon dressed up as a war general from 1812.

Cito Gaston is conducting the crowd and Joe Carter stars in the video as a Canadian fur trapper and had way too much fun performing in this thing.

But the star of this video is undoubtedly a young Carlos Delgado. Any time he’s on camera, he’s grinning ear-to-ear and swaying to the rhythm like a palm tree in the wind.

Happy Canada Day, Blue Jays Fans. Remember, this land was made for you and me.
 

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.