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I contributed a short history of mascots to this book several years ago.
Here it is:
Baseball teams have employed mascots as good luck charms, and used illustrated characters to promote themselves, for as long as the game has been played, but the furry and feathery variety dancing atop dugout roofs today can trace their heritage to a San Diego radio station promotion in 1974.
It was then that KGB radio convinced a college student, Ted Giannoulas, to dress up as a chicken and distribute eggs to children at the San Diego Zoo: Encouraged by the success of the stunt, Giannoulas began appearing in costume at Padres games that year and in short stead became the biggest baseball star hatched in San Diego since Ted Williams. By the end of the 1970s the Chicken’s success prompted other teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates (Pirate Parrot), Philadelphia Phillies (the Phillie Phanatic), Montreal Expos (Youppi) and St. Louis Cardinals (Fredbird) to introduce their own characters. In the 1990s, a second wave of mascots arrived as part of an effort to market the game to children: In 2006, every team but the Dodgers, Cubs and Yankees had employed at least mascot.
Mascots: The Unforgettable and Regrettable
The San Diego Chicken: Never an “official” Padres character — the Swinging Friar has served that role since the team’s founding in 1969 — the Chicken has become a traveling attraction, famous for physical comedy routines including presenting an eyechart to umpires and, with the help of a participating catcher, re-creating the Pete Rose-Ray Fosse All-Star Game collision, complete with slow-motion replay.
Phillie Phanatic: Against the better judgment of team owner Bill Giles, the Phillies introduced the wide-bodied, long-snouted creature in 1978 and it summarily won the cheers of a city famous for its hair-trigger boo reflex. Originally embodied by Dave Raymond, a Phillies mailroom clerk who developed a natural expressiveness having grown up with a deaf mother, the Phanatic was at his best humiliating Phillie opponents, particularly Tommy Lasorda, whom Raymond once described, admiringly, as “a fat bald guy with no sense of humor.”
Mr. Met: The original live-action costumed mascot, the baseball-domed Mr. Met made his first appearance on the cover of a 1963 yearbook and a live debut with the opening of Shea Stadium in 1964. His happy gait and smiling eyes delight children but hide a mischievous nature, perhaps suggesting that the disappearance of his one-time companion, Lady Met, is a mystery best left unsolved.
Youppi: The fluffy orange giant, whose name means “Hooray” in French and whose uniform number was !, became the first two-sport anthropomorphized character after the Expos, for whom he’d served since 1979, carelessly left him behind when they bolted to Washington, only to see him sign for a reported six figures with the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL.
The Pirate Parrot: Kevin Koch, the actor behind the green mask of the Pirates’ mascot for its first six years, went undercover in more ways than one: He made a drug deal while wearing a hidden transmitter to help the FBI secure evidence in its investigation of drug use among ballplayers. The 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials revealed the erstwhile singing Parrot had introduced some Pirate players to a local drug dealer.
Dandy: A pinstriped bird with a mustache resembling Sparky Lyle, Dandy was the official mascot of the Yankees from 1982 to 1985 – a fact the teams' own stuffed shirts, including owner George Steinbrenner, profess not to recall.
Crazy Crab: Intentionally hideous, Crazy Crab was unveiled as a subversive “anti-mascot” in 1984 by the Giants, who encouraged fans to boo the bug-eyed, belligerent crustacean and whose scoreboard admonitions – PLEASE DO NOT THROW THINGS AT THE CRAZY CRAB – practically begged fans to do just that. In his final appearance of the 1984 season — a miserable one for Giants fans — the actor portraying the Crab looked up an angry Candlestick crowd and confessed “I hope there’s nobody up there with a gun.” Sparked in part by a fan petition, Crazy Crab appeared for the first time in 23 years during an 80s throwback promotion in 2006 during which the Crab, true to his sullen nature, attacked Stomper, the mascot of the visiting Oakland A’s. |
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