Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease replaces painting in manager’s office

TORONTO – The “Eve of Toronto” has a followup. And it’s providing plenty of colour on the wall in Blue Jays manager John Schneider’s office. 

Star pitcher Dylan Cease’s latest artistic output — safe to call it “Tom Selleck” given the block letters of the actor’s name are sprawled across the canvas — is hanging in the same spot his previous painting occupied.

“I recently watched “Mr. Baseball” and “Quigley Down Under,”” Cease said Saturday. “Then I watched some YouTube (videos) of him and I was like, ‘This guy is like the biggest hunk of the ’80s and ’90s.’

“So I’m going to tribute him basically. So it’s just like fun, just being goofy.”

His latest piece took about three hours to create, Cease said. 

“I was like, ‘Why Tom Selleck?'” Schneider said Friday from his office at Rogers Centre. “And he said something about his moustache, and people were saying it looks like Tom Selleck’s.

“So I guess that was on his mind, along with everything else.”

Cease, the ace of Toronto’s pitching staff, began painting in 2022. His “Eve of Toronto” work landed him in the Art Gallery of Ontario last month. 

The gallery displayed his work in its central atrium.

A limited-edition retail collection was also launched that included prints, postcards, shirts and totes, with proceeds going to charity. 

When the original painting was removed from Schneider’s office for the display, a replacement print was posted on the wall.

It featured a few pictures along with lines of text — ‘The painting was a gift, Todd’ — from the movie “Wedding Crashers.”

The new artwork, which included a card saying “On Loan from Cease Gallery,” includes dozens of bright flowers surrounding the multicoloured letters. 

“He just replaced it, it was great,” Schneider said. “I didn’t ask for it, but I showed up after a game and it was there.”

“I never thought I’d have the name Tom Selleck in my office,” he added. “Such is life in 2026.”

Cease said that while Selleck’s moustache is “iconic,” he enjoyed his movie performances and interview segments. 

“He just seemed like a nice guy,” Cease said. “So I don’t know, I glorified him a little bit I suppose.”

Cease, 30, signed a seven-year, US$210-million contract with the Blue Jays last winter. He has a 10-5 record and 2.40 earned-run average over 27 starts this season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2026.