For 17 years, one sound outside Rogers Centre never let Blue Jays fans down, an alto saxophone ringing from the hill near Union Station's SkyWalk.
That busker, known to fans as "Saxy Sady," has decided to call it a career.
Her real name is Tess, and Thursday's 3-1 Blue Jays win over Tampa Bay marked the final time she played outside the stadium.
"It was a very emotional day for me," Tess told blogTO.
For her first 15 years, she rarely missed a home game, showing up hours before first pitch through heat, rain or anything else, playing fans in and then playing them back out toward Union Station afterward.
When she started busking outside Rogers Centre in 2009, she worried other musicians or vendors wouldn't let her keep a spot. That worry didn't last long.
"Fans would shoo any intruders away and would protect my corner," she said.
How a rejection led her to a saxophone in the first place
Tess never planned on this path. She only picked up the saxophone after being told she was "too old" to be a female vocal lead in a band.
Heartbroken, she wandered into a Church Street shop and spotted a cheap, beat-up alto saxophone in the window.
"I remember thinking, 'Oh dear, you're ugly too,'" she said. "I bought it to hang on my wall, so it could feel pretty."
She started busking the very next day and never really stopped.
Recent years made showing up harder. Her 94-year-old mother died in 2021 after a battle with Alzheimer's, and Tess split her time between Toronto for home games and Windsor to help her father grieve.
Her father passed away from bone cancer in September 2025 at age 98.
"I once saw a picture of a tiger about to pounce," Tess said. "There was a phrase on the photo that said, 'Knowing when.'" She says Thursday was her own "when."
Her retirement follows fellow gameday fixture "Rockin' Rick" Donaldson, who stepped away last season after 36 years drumming between Gates 5 and 6.
Tess isn't disappearing from the fan base entirely, though. She's got a soft spot for Ernie Clement and even owns a stuffed giraffe she's named after him.
Did you ever hear Saxy Sady playing outside a Blue Jays game?
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