Who is Cheese Hat Man? In search of the Blue Jays’ cheesiest superfan
A hero? A villain? A plant from the Dairy Farmers of Canada?
Yesterday’s American League Championship game between Seattle and Toronto left Blue Jays fans with a lot of questions: What happened to Wonderboy? (Trey Yesavage failed to bring the fire.) What was up with Vladdy? (Our star slugger struck out.) And, most importantly, Who is Cheese Hat Man? The dude sat to the right of home plate, sporting a blue-green sequin blazer and—when the Jays were at bat—a triangle cheese hat.
It’s not clear why Jays fans seemed to collectively take notice of Mr. Cheese Head during Monday’s game. Maybe back-to-back poor showings left us looking for something else to focus on. Enter the man with the gouda tricorne, who drew a melting pot of mixed reactions.
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Some wondered if he might be at the wrong sporting event, since cheese hats are the signature fashion statement for Green Bay Packers fans. Others saw the unusual topper as a ploy meant to distract the Mariners’ pitching power (albeit not a very successful one). Many asked, Who does this cheese-hat idiot think he is? But there were also some kind words for our capped crusader, who apparently gave his hat to a young fan when the Jays’ prospects started to look worse than a wheel of brie at a vegan convention.
Like most iconic alter egos, Cheese Hat Man has kept his Clark Kent identity under wraps. We can report that, up until recently, he was known as Sequin Blazer Guy (also Disco Jay) and was a familiar presence for Jays fans. The dairy headgear has been around since at least September 28, when a parody account devoted to Home Plate Lady (another icon of Jays fandom) posted on X: “In my day, if a man in a glittery jacket and a cheese hat tried to start the wave behind home plate I would have strangled him with my scarf.”
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Still, that same account was singing Cheese Hat’s praises by yesterday night’s game, perhaps coming to the inevitable conclusion that, while he may not be the hero Jays fans want—paging Vladdy’s right arm—Cheese Hat Man is the hero we need right now.
Will he make the trip to Seattle? We will continue to cover this stilton story as it develops.
Courtney Shea is a freelance journalist in Toronto. She started her career as an intern at Toronto Life and continues to contribute frequently to the publication, including her 2022 National Magazine Award–winning feature, “The Death Cheaters,” her regular Q&As and her recent investigation into whether Taylor Swift hung out at a Toronto dive bar (she did not). Courtney was a producer and writer on the 2022 documentary The Talented Mr. Rosenberg, based on her 2014 Toronto Life magazine feature “The Yorkville Swindler.”
