Tag: mascots

Tom Seaver's game-worn Mets cap from the 1969 World Series (Image credit: Press Pass Collectibles via eBay)
Posted in Baseball

Hartford Yard Goats unveil mascots

Posted on by Paul
(Hartford Yard Goats image)
(Hartford Yard Goats image)

The Hartford Yard Goats introduced their mascots Chompers and Chew Chew last week.

Hartford is the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. The team had played in New Britain, Conn. for the last 32 years as the New Britain Red Sox, the Hardware City Rock Cats and the New Britain Rock Cats.

I’m not sure how they will go over with kids today, but I’m pretty sure Chompers and Chew Chew would have terrified me as a child.

Hartford opens their inaugural season as the Yard Goats on April 7th against the Richmond Flying Squirrels. You can already purchase a selection of merchandise from their online shop.

Posted in Baseball, Uncategorized

Imagine if the Mets had ended up with the San Diego Chicken…

Posted on by Paul

The Hall of Very Good inducted its Class of 2014 this week, including its first celebrity – The San Diego Chicken. Lou Olsen interviewed the man behind the Chicken, Ted Giannoulas, who shared some fascinating stories of the mascot’s early days.

Originally hired to promote a San Diego radio station, Giannoulas said he was fired over a dispute about who owned the character.

But you know there were a lot of teams that reached out to me after I was fired.  The Mets, Cardinals and Mariners come to mind.  Quite a few made me offers to come out and join them but I…I just couldn’t leave.  I had to stay and be with Padres fans.  I just had to.  That’s why I did the “Grand Hatching” in 1979, to come out in a brand new Chicken suit, based on my old design and without the KGB call sign, and start over on my own.  Lou, you have no idea…the outpouring of emotion was crazy in San Diego for the Chicken, against the radio station.  It really was amazing.  Over the top. It was front page news! 

Just imagine if the Chicken had decided to come to New York in 1979… would he have been embraced here as he was in San Diego? Would Mr. Met still be in mothballs? Who knows…

Check out the full interview for more fascinating stories.

Posted in Uncategorized

Mascots & minis

Posted on by Paul

Most of my baseball card collecting these days is limited to the New York Mets and various minor league team sets I manage to pick up along the way.

Occasionally, there are exceptions. In 2011, I decided to try to complete the set of mascot inserts from Topps’ Opening Day set. After a few recent additions, I’m only missing four more. (Needless to say, I did not try again in 2012 or 2013.)

Swinging-Friar Dbacks

Does anyone know why the Swinging Friar™ is identified on the front of his card, but D. Baxter the Bobcat is not?

Continue reading “Mascots & minis” →

Posted in Uncategorized

Link: Mets Police Calls For Return of “Mettle the Mule”

Posted on by Paul

Until I started reading Mets Police, I wasn’t aware that the Mets ever had a mascot other than Mr. Met. (I never saw – or didn’t pay attention to – the piece that the New York Times Baseball Blog ran a couple of years ago.)

Shannon is calling for the team to bring back Mettle the Mule, who was a part of team history in 1979, for the Mets’ 50th anniversary celebration this year:

Of course everyone will make fun of the Mets and you’ll be teeing up everyone from Francesa to Letterman for jokes.  But they are making them anway.

So screw it.  Let go.  Have fun.  Part of being a Mets fan is appreciating all this.  I bet we’d both love 24 hours of mule jokes than financial talk.

I say why not? It would be something fun to laugh about for a change.

What do you think?

Posted in Baseball, Uncategorized

Name the mascot, then pass the bug spray

Posted on by Paul
Name That Skeeter entry form taken from the Sugarland Skeeters website

There will be a new team in the independent Atlantic League next year, based in Sugarland, Texas. For reasons I don’t understand, somebody thought they should be named the Skeeters.

And of course, they’ve got a giant mosquito for a mascot.

If you’re a kid in the Sugarland, Texas area, you could be the one to name the over-sized bug.

The winner of the contest will be named President of the Kroger Kids Club for the 2012 season. The President will receive honorary membership in the Kroger Kids Club as well as four tickets to the Historic Opening Day Game on April 26, 2012. The contest will run from November 7-25.

It gets better: the yet-to-be-named mosquito is “related” to the Phillie Phanatic.

The mascot was created by Dave Raymond of Raymond Entertainment Group. Raymond pioneered the field of sports mascots with his innovative inhabitation of the world-renowned Phillie Phanatic. He was the original Phanatic, and his vision and performance skill spawned a revolution in the mascot industry.

I ask my readers: What would you name a mosquito mascot? And have you ever run across a less-appealing sports mascot than a mosquito?