September 9, 2025 • 32 mins
Today Will and Mango are tipping their hats to the true MVPs of competitive sports: mascots! Find out how these costumed characters became a fixture of modern ballgames, and take a trip back to antiquity to meet the avian mascots of ancient Greece and Rome. Plus: the Muppet-y pedigree of the Philly Phanatic, the wacky world of Japanese civic mascots, and the tragic tale of the most maligned mascot in MLB history (RIP Crazy Crab).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio. Guess what Will?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What's that Mango?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So I was tracing the history of mascots this week,
in particular the furry, foam headed ones we see at
sporting events.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm glad that you just told me what a mascot
looked like. So what did you find?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It led me to the French opera, which is not
what I think you'd expect. Now, you might assume that
the word mascot has something to do with the word mask,
since so many mascots wear them, but actually mascot was
derived from the French word for good luck charm. The
term first came to prominence thanks to an eighteen eighty
French operetta about a witch called La Mascott.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I have never heard of this, so tell me a
little bit of this opera. What's it about.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
So in the story, there's this young farm girl named
Bettina who is born with a magical influence and it
brings good luck to all the people around her. So
the plot is mostly everyone just trying to take advantage
of that. Before this operetta, good luck charms in France
had always been objects, but this operetta posed the question
what if a person was a good luck charm? So
(01:21):
Betina was actually the first modern mascot. Now, unfortunately she
doesn't wear a goofy costume or even try to hype
up the crowd with free T shirts, but she does
represent the very beginning of these living good luck charms
that we find everywhere from pro sports to corporations to
elementary schools. And you know, with fall sports just around
the corner and starting to heat up, I thought now
(01:44):
would be a perfect time to check out some of
the world's strangest mascots and the colorful stories behind them.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Definitely let's dive in. Hey their podcast listeners, welcome to
(02:13):
Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and is always I'm
joined by my good friend manguesh hot Ticketer and this
morning I wish I had eaten breakfast because on the
other side of that soundproof glass making me hungry because
he is dressed up like a biscuit. I mean, there
is butter drooling down from that biscuit. It looks so good.
That's our friend and producer, Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
He is not just dressed up as any old biscuit.
He is Monty, the anthropomorphized biscuit from the Montgomery Biscuit.
I think that's a nod to your Alabama.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Roots R and my love of carbs.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Now, thank you so much for that, Dylan Will. We're
talking about mascots today. Do you have a favorite team
name or mascot from growing up, or anyone you were
particularly happy to see.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I mean, you know, as a kid, I always thought
it was so funny that you know, again you mention
this growing up in Alabama and having the University of
Alabama have this elephant as a mascot. Never quite understood
why they have this giant elephant of a mascot. I
don't think elephants were around Alabama, but that always cracked
me up. But now I love the mascots. That's part
(03:15):
of the fun of when you're picking the NCAA tournament
every year during the basketball season and just getting basically
to pick based on mascots. That's the more fun way
to do it, how about you.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You know, we grew up outside of Philly, so of
course there was the Philly fanatic nat Are Gritty, But
speaking of elephants in Brooklyn, I can't believe how excited
people get for the New York Liberty mascot Ellie Elephant. Yeah,
she is honestly like royalty around these parts. She has
a whole Nicki Minaj video where she walks out onto
the floor and people are just so happy to see her.
(03:46):
She's in Vogue magazine. It's unbelievable. Ruby's basketball team is
also the Brooklyn Pickles, and I think if they had
a mascot, that would be my favorite.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Why is it so funny when it's food like the
biscuits we were talking about, there's something so funny.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Do you know why is an elephant though? It's because
when they built the Brooklyn Bridge p. T. Barnum had
elephants walk over it.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Because its strength or something. Oh that's so cool. Yeah, well,
it has been a lot of fun to see how
crazy they are for Ellie.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Well, I'm excited to dive in just generally today. I'm
really thinking we should get started with a deep cut
a mascot that's one of the true ogs, and that's
the owl of Athens. We're going way back here now.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Owls have been associated with the Greek city since the
classical era, and reportedly they even nested in the rafters
of the original Parthenon.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And there's also a connection to Athena. Right, wasn't she
a big fan of ols?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's exactly right. So the goddess of wisdom was the
patron deity of the Athenians, who happened to be pretty
brainy themselves. And because Athena was thought to have a
special kinship with owls, her followers started treating the birds
as this sacred symbol of her intellect. Now that's why
so much of the pottery and statues from that era
are chock full of Athena and her different owls. So
(05:02):
you've got Athena with an owl on her shoulder, Athena
with an owl flying overhead. Then you've got Athena with
an owl flying overhead but preparing to land on her shoulder.
Just all these different options here. So if you go
to an exhibit of the city's relics, it's a lot
of Athena and owls.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And where owls just a symbol of Athens or were
they considered lucky to well?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Athenians took the site of an owl as a good omen,
especially when they saw them on the battlefield. In fact,
There's a famous example of this at the Battle of Salamus.
This is when the Athenians were squaring off against Persian
invaders and an Athenian general was trying to convince his
fellow citizens that it was time to deploy the fleet,
but the people weren't buying it because victories seemed like
(05:43):
too much of a long shot. Then all of a sudden,
an owl landed right on the mast of the general's ship,
and people were so won over by this support from
the gods that they immediately deployed the Athenian fleet. And
the rest is ancient history. Isn't that wild?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I mean, inspiring a crowd is classic mascot behavior. So
that's really great job on the el's part.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
It is pretty amazing. Well, I've got an even better
bird mascot story for you. Have you actually heard of
the Roman army and their vultures?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I haven't. So you know how some colleges have live
animal mascots that they keep on campus, like a bulldog
or a horse or things like that. I give you
examples of other animals if you need them. Well, the
practice of bringing a live mascot along to rouse your
team may have actually started with the Roman army about
three hundred years or so after the Battle of Salamus. Now,
at the time, the Romans were constantly fighting off the
(06:32):
Germanic tribes of Europe, and as you might imagine, scavenging
vultures were a pretty common sight on the battlefields. So
two vultures in particular, though, would actually follow the Roman
troops as they marched, and this is because they knew
that once the fighting was over, there would be a
pile of corpses to snack on.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Actually, did I ever tell you about the time I
saw a sky burial intive?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
No. They basically wrap a body and prepare it in
this sacred way so that vultures and wild dog and
crows leave no body behind. And it's really powerful to see.
But I have these two contrasting images, because you know,
we'd hiked up to a monastery and it's this gorgeous, quiet,
quiet ceremony where you're there to observe this sky burial.
(07:15):
But also, vultures are super weird creatures, really like, they're
so majestic in the air, and then when they land
and they waddle quickly towards the food, they are so
ugly and so ill mannered, and they're just bopping their
heads in this funny way.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It is so weird to see them on the way,
definitely is.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Anyway, So I cut you off. So the Romans like
their vulture friends accompanying them on these war escapades.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, I mean weirdly, it boosted their confidence, like they
believe that vultures weren't following them because they were goners,
they were following them because they knew that Romans were
reliable killers or meat providers. So at any rate, the
soldiers were such fans of those two vultures that the
army blacksmith made bronze collars for the birds to wear,
and from that point on, whenever the soldiers caught a
(08:00):
glimpse of the birds and their shiny collars in the wilds,
it would rally the troops and spur them on to
yet another victory. But if you're not sold on a
vulture mascot, there are still plenty of other examples that
we can pull inspiration from. Actually realized this when we
started the research for this episode. But history is littered
with mascots.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Well, here's something funny. In the early days, just having
a mascot around was seen as beneficial, right, so just
seeing an owl or having a vulture accompany you to
a battle. But that actually seems a little passive compared
to today's mascots, like they're always cheering and dancing, trying
to work up the crowd. But here's something I just read.
There's actually an industry rule about not standing still during
(08:40):
the game. The mascot always has to be moving.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
No, I've never thought about that, so so why is that?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, it's partly to keep them from blocking anyone's view
for longer than a couple seconds, right, But it's also
because motion helps sell the illusion that the character is
real and not just some random in a lion suit.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Thinking back about that with us in college, that giant
duke Blue Devil, whenever it ended up in front of you,
were like, please move. So that actually makes a lot
of sense. And has that always been the case, like
ever since humans started dressing up as the Philly Fanatic
or whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Well, the expectations for mascot behavior have soolutinely changed over
the years. What is interesting, though, is that it didn't
happen all at once. So like baseball, for example, in
the early twentieth century. Just a decade or so after
Lama Scott debuted in France, American baseball players had already
lashed onto the idea of ordinary people acting as good
(09:30):
luck mascots. For example, imagine there was a player who'd
been in a slump for the whole game or whatever,
and then in the last inning he noticed the kid
in the bleacher smiling at him, and the very next second,
the player hits a home run and wins the game
for his team. Now, most likely it was coincidence, but
there's also the off chance that the kid is good luck.
So the player decides, what the heck, I'll give the
(09:51):
kid some free tickets for the next game, just to
be on the safe side. And that's how an instant
mascot would come about.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Wow, and is this something that actually happened, Like player
rope strangers into being their own personal mascots.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, and not just individual players. Sometimes the entire team
would adopt a standout fan as their mascot. So if
a pro team went on a winning streak, they would
usually find someone or something around them to credit for
that success. And this applied to college games too. For instance,
the Harvard team's early mascot was John the Orange Man,
who was a local man who sold fruit during the games.
(10:25):
And over at Yale they had a bulldog named Handsome
Dan that the team would walk onto the field before games,
and in fact they still do. Yale is currently on
its nineteenth Handsome Dan.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I mean, fruit vendors and wandering pets aren't generally the
kind of mascots that you see these days, but that's
still pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Definitely not. So why don't we take a quick break
and then we can talk about how sports mascots went
from good luck charms to the wild costume performers we
know today. Welcome back to part time Genius. Before we
(11:07):
dive back into the weird and wonderful world of mascots,
I just wanted to remind you that if you want
to share a fact with us, suggest a topic, or
ask us a question, you can always give us a
call on the PTG hotline. The number is three zero
two four zero five five nine two five. We are
waiting to hear from you. Okay, Well, so, costume characters
on the sidelines are a pretty standard site in sports today,
(11:29):
but that hasn't always been the case. So why don't
you tell me how it happened, Well.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
The rise of elaborate costumes actually didn't happen until the
seventies and eighties, but you know, there was a move
toward more active team mascots that began in the nineteen forties.
There's this one famous example from an exhibition game that
Joe DiMaggio played in with service members in Hawaii, and
this was during World War Two. Now, one of the
pitchers was a guy named Max Patkin, who was a
former minor league player who joined the Navy. So Demaggio
(11:56):
hit a home run off of Patkin, and then, to
everyone's surprise, the pitcher left the mound and started mimicking
the way that Demaggio ran. Pat Can chased him around
the bases, and the crowd ate it up. So news
of the event spread, and once the war was over,
the Cleveland Indians actually hired pat Can to entertain crowds
at their games.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So he just chased players around the bases after they
hit home runs, like that was his act.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I mean, that was a big part of it. I
mean you could actually still picture this, like when you
go to baseball games, see them always be on the
bases and everything. He'd always make funny faces, do slapstick routines,
like you know, use five bats to hit a ball,
or jumping out of the way when someone threw them
a pitch. Whatever. It was always up to no good.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
He was kind of like a baseball at Rodeo Cloud.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I guess that's exactly right. In fact, Patin became known
as the clown Prints of baseball, and he was a
real legend in his own right. He wracked up more
than four thousand appearances during his career and supposedly never
missed the game between nineteen forty four and nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Almost fifty three. That's insane. So did you wear a
mask or a dress up? Uh?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Kind of like he never put anything over his head,
But he did help promote the idea that mascot should
wear costumes, so in his case, that meant a baggy
baseball uniform with a question mark instead of a number.
But in nineteen sixty four, the New York Mets kind
of won up Patkins' mascot game, so they gave their
mascot a giant baseball shaped head to go along with
the uniform, one that we can all picture these days.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, and so that's how mister met got to start.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, mister Met is considered the first MLB costume mascot
to exist in human form rather than just as artwork.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So he was a big hit with the crowds for
about a decade, but then in the mid seventies he
was phased out due to waning popularity. Now, luckily for
mascot fans, a college student in San Diego stepped up
to fill the gap, and he did so by wearing
a giant chicken suit. I knew people were wondering when
that one was coming.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Which team has a chicken for a mascot?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Again, Well, he wasn't an official team mascot per se,
but he was a fixture of Padres games through the
nineteen seventies. Back then, there was a radio station in
San Diego called kg and they hired a college student
named ted Yelunis to put on a chicken suit and
promote the station at Padres games. But here's the thing.
The Padres were so lousy at the time that most
(14:11):
people went to their games just to see the giant chicken. Unfortunately,
the stunt didn't increase the station's listenership, which had been
the whole point of it all along.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So did they fire the Chicken?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Then they did. Unfortunately, the radio station fired Ted and
took back the costume, but he bought his own chicken
suit and kept ride on performing, so pretty soon the
Famous Chicken became a local hero, despite the fact that
he wasn't officially affiliated with anybody.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I love that they took away his chickensit and he
was like.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yes, show you, I'll show you. I can. I still
know how to be a chicken anyway. Thanks to the
Famous Chicken, teams began to realize how popular and potentially
lucrative mascots could be. So most official mascots at the
time were maskless, like Max Patkin and his baggy uniform.
But with a full body costume and mask, a team
could create is larger than live character and better yet
(15:02):
an anonymous one, so unlike traditional mascots, no one would
be able to tell who was actually wearing the costume.
That meant the mascot couldn't age or retire or do
something scandalous to tarnish the team's image.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Well. Not only that, it also allowed for mascots that
could be turned into merch.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Right, It's exactly right, And they're all reasons why lots
of brands use mascots, not just sports teams, and think
about you know, like Geico's Gecko, right, and it puts
a friendly face to something as abstract as insurance, and
it gives them something cute to slap on T shirts
and coffee mugs and other merch.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
So definitely lots of advantages to using a non human
character for your mascot. And that's whether it's a cartoon
or somebody in costume. So who were some of the
first teams to realize this and kind of follow in
the steps of mister met and the famous Chicken.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Well, your home team mascot of course, the Philly fanatic
for one. And when the Chicken came to the scene
in the seventies, the Phillies were in need of a
new mascot. At the time, they were repped by phil
and Phyllis, who were just two people dressed in colonial
go How I just learning this, Yeah, you should have
known your city's history. They stood on the field during
(16:07):
the National anthem and that was pretty much it. Phil
and Phillis came out for the national anthem and then
I'm guessing they were a little tired and went on
to bed, but the Phillies called in a designer named
Bonnie Ericson. While her name may not ring a bell,
I guarantee you that you're familiar with her work because
her resume is ridiculous. It includes the creation of not one,
not two, but three all star muppets. You got Statler
(16:29):
and Waldorf and Miss Piggy Wow. So Ericson designed them
while working for Jim Henson at the children's television workshops.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Such a legend. So you always hear about the people
who performed those characters or did the voices, but you
never really think about who actually designed and built those
muppets in the first time.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
That's really cool, Yeah, it really is. And in addition
to building muppets, Ericson designed life sized versions of Sesame
Street characters for their ice shows. And this was a
big thing in the seventies, Sesame Street doing these big
ice skating shows, and so she had experience making full
body costumes that performers could move around in, and that's
why the Phillies knew she was the right person for
(17:04):
the job.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
It's funny because like, look at the fanatic now, it
makes so much sense that he was made by someone
who worked on Sesame Street, like he's just such a
crazy mishmash of Muppet features.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, the Fanatic does look pretty muppety, but it's not
like Ericson threw the character together using leftover Sesame Street
parts or anything like that. Like she put a lot
of thought into every single element of the design.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I actually found this great article on Slate about the
Fanatics history, and it includes a breakdown of the choices
Ericson made. So here's what it says. Every part of
the Fanatic is like a masterclass in mascot design. For starters.
He's green, not the standard Philly's red, so he stands
out in the crowd. The dug butt and the pear
shaped body ensures that no matter how the performer moves
(17:48):
in the costume, it's funny. His eyes are low on
his face, which makes him look childlike. He also comes
with a backstory, which involves being from the Galapica's Island.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Short.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
The result is a character that's good and slightly aggressive.
He'll rub a ball guy's head or rip the hat
off of somebody cheering for the wrong team, and usually
he gets away with it.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah, because he's so darn cute. I'm not sure what
being from the Galapagos Islands has to do with any
of that, but he is very cute and very monstery,
and I do love how he's beloved by both adults
and kids.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, the appeal to all ages ended up being what
drew in so many different fans, and it wasn't long
until other teams caught onto the Phillies strategy. Ericson and
other designers became really busy over the next decade designing
new costume mascots for every team in the league. Other
sports got in on the action too, and pretty soon
every pro team in the country had a big headed
mascot in its corner.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, and the world was as it should be.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
But all right, now that we've given sports mascots their due,
I want to spend some time on one of the
stranger branches of the mascot tree, which are the so
called civic mascots that are popped up all over Japan.
But first, let's take another quick break. Welcome back to
(19:13):
part time Genius. Okay, So, in Japan there's something called
civic mascots. At last count, there are around two thousand
of them, And a civic mascot is like any other mascot,
except it represents a community or a public service instead
of a team or a business. So, for example, if
you walk around a city in Japan, you might see
a cartoon version of the local mascot on street signs
or posters, and if you attend a public event like
(19:35):
a store opening or a festival, you'd probably find the
costumed version standing there for hugs and selfies as well.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
So are they all different characters? Like every town has
its own mascot. Maybe not every town, but all of
the major ones and many of the smaller ones do too.
At this point, it is more unusual to not have
a mascot than to have one, and some of the
larger cities actually have dozens of mascots. It's almost like
one for every district, plus one for each public service
(20:02):
like hospitals, schools, police, sanitation, you name it. Some prisons
even have their own mascots, largely as a way to
make their presence less intimidating to local kids, which is
both kind of cute and dystopian. I'm curious, so, like,
how much are these towns spending on mascot costumes, because
I mean dozens of custom made costumes that can't be cheap.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, it gets pretty pricey. In fact, some politicians have
condemned the mascots as a waste of government funds, and
one of the most famous cases is a bureaucratic pushback
from twenty fifteen, when the governor of Osaka finally put
his foot down. His prefecture had introduced ninety two different
mascots over the years, and there were so many he
(20:41):
argued that most residents could no longer keep track of them,
including himself. So his solution was to eliminate the twenty
least popular characters, bringing that mascot headcount down to seventy two.
And yeah, I get where he's coming from, but it's
also kind of funny and sad to think about those
twenty mascots getting the acts Like That's why I preferred
(21:01):
the solution that a small town in Hokkaido came up
with back in twenty fourteen. The Rumoi sub prefecture needed
fewer mascots, but they couldn't bring themselves to axe any
of them, so instead, the town combined its ten characters
vultron style. The one giant robot mascot.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
I like the vultron callback there. That's pretty great and
what a genius solution, you know. I'm curious though, like,
are all the civic mascots really that creative? Like with
two thousand of them running around, they can't all be
generic tigers and bears or whatever.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, japan civic mascots do not disappoint on the variety front.
For starters. Most of them reflect something unique about the
place they represent, like local wildlife or produce or a landmark,
and that specificity cuts down on the repetition while also
ensuring that each mascot boosts regional pride. For instance, the
southwest town of Mizumaki is known for its unusually large
(21:55):
garlic clothes, and its mascot reflects that he's a chubby
little guy in a with a giant garlic clove for
a head. Now, other towns have gotten even stranger with
their designs. The city of Hakuto's mascot is a googly
eyed piece of sushi with spinley arms and legs. There's
also a cheetan, a clumsy otter that wears a tortoise
as a hat, and probably the weirdest of the lot,
(22:18):
is Amazoni's, which Atlas Obscura describes as a scowling, masked
woman who whips people with a locally grown Welsh onion.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I feel like you just like put words into a generator,
a sentence generator. Those are not words I expected to
hear in the same sentence. But how do they come
up with this stuff?
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Most civic mascots are voted on by the public, and
often they're based on designs submitted by local children. That's
probably not the case with the onion lady, or that
the rest of them are all right.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Well, one more question about this. I'm really curious how
this mascot craze even got started, Like, is this a
long running tradition in Japan or something.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
It's actually a pretty recent phenomena. It only dates back
to two thousand and seven, and that's the year that
a white samurai cat mascot named Hikoonyan was created in
the city of Hikone, and this was to celebrate the
four hundredth anniversary of a local castle. The idea was that,
you know, it might help boost tourism, and needless to say,
(23:15):
the fluffy cat and a samurai helmet worked pretty soon
people were flocking to the castle from all over the country.
But much like the famous chicken in San Diego, the
mascot actually became a bigger draw than the main attraction.
The castle was great, but people really wanted to photo
op with this cat, and of course the chance to
buy some cute souvenirs. All told, the Samurai cat brought
in billions of yen from merchandise and from tourism, and
(23:39):
it prompted other cities to create cash cow mascots of
their own. One of my personal favorites is melon Kuma,
which was invented by a city called Yubari shortly after
the samurai cat craze happened. Yubari is best known for
two things. One is melons and the other thing is
grizzly bears.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh okay, and one of those things sounds like a
good reason to visit. The other sounds like a good
reason to avoid.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, but they're both a part of the local culture,
So rather than choose between the two icons, the city
merged them into one bizarre mascot, an extremely angry grizzly
bear wearing a melon on its head. The best part
is he's not supposed to be nice. So at public
events he terrorizes other mascots and chases the kids around.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Wow, that's pretty funny. I'm just trying to imagine this
happening in the United States. I mean, we all have
a lot of places that depend on tourism, and people
everywhere love to make a bug But somehow, I don't know.
The only example of I can think of really is
like the Time Square Elmo. I can't really see it
anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yeah, So one reason this is so big in Japan
might have something to do with Japanese culture and how
the country handles physical interactions in general. I read this
interview with a professional mascot turned instructor named chik Ohira,
and according to her, a big part of the peal
is the way a costume lowers people's inhibitions. So this
is how she put it quote, Japan is a society
(24:58):
that isn't big on t handshakes and hugs aren't common. Instead,
we bow or we maybe do a small wave, But
mascots do hug. It's not to say that we constantly
walk around thinking that we want to be hugged but
don't do it. Rather, we just think not doing it
is normal. But when you end up being hugged by
a mascot, you do get that fuzzy, happy feeling.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It actually makes a lot of sense. And like you mentioned,
the trend started in the two thousands and so that
kind of means a whole generation has grown up with
these characters in their communities. Right, Like, it feels very sweet.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I know, And I really want my hometown of Hocus
and Delaware to come up with a mascot now.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Right before you waste a lot of time brainstorming on
what that should be and petitioning your local politicians, let's
quickly do a fact off. Being a mascot is not
easy work. So according to ESPN, the temperature inside a
(25:54):
full body mascot costume can be up to forty degrees
fahrenheit hotter than the external temperature. So if it's eighty degrees,
it's one hundred and twenty degrees inside that suit. A
former mascot for the Baltimore Orioles once compared the experience
to quote, doing aerobics in a sauna, and the numbers
actually back up that comparison. According to a two thousand
and one study on mascot injuries, the average mascot loses
(26:17):
eight point six pounds of waterweight per performance.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
That's crazy. Everyone should stop doing spin cycle and.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Start getting mask mascot training.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So, speaking of costumes, one thing I've always wondered is
how mascots keep them clean. Well, it turns out the
solution is to spray the whole thing with a bottle
full of vodka. That tip actually comes from Bonnie Ericson,
the woman behind the Philly Fanatic. Apparently alcohol kills bacteria
in the suit without discoloring it, and it's still a
go to method for mascots today, but there are a
(26:49):
couple other options as well. Now some teams use clear
listerine and others use a special cologne for dogs. It's
called for Breeze, and I guess it works on fake well, so.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Fur breeze that's pretty good. Actually, do you know? There's
an official mascot Hall of Fame and it's in Whiting, Indiana.
There's a three story museum there and it opened in
twenty eighteen as the first of its kind dedicated to
these unsung heroes of pro sports. When you're inside, guests
can actually find historical exhibits on the origins of the mascots,
as well as a Hall of Fame with plaques for
(27:22):
all of the inductees and maybe best of all, an
interactive area where you can fire real T shirts at
a digital crowd. And before you ask, yes, the Mascot
Hall of Fame has its own mascot. His name is Reggie.
He's this giant, purple muppety guy with a bunch of
fries sticking out of the top of his head. And
for the record, he has not been inducted into the
(27:43):
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, of course, Reggie's got more working on Regy. Well,
moving away from sports mascots for a second, I have
to share a quick fact about the Vlasic Pickles mascot, which,
as you know, is a stork, but not many people
know why it's a stork. So, according to the company website,
the spokespird with a graccho Marx voice was chosen in
nineteen seventy four because quote, the national birth rate was
(28:07):
dropping at that time and babies were in short supply,
so concerned flastic managers simply offered the stork an opportunity
to deliver pickles instead, and as ridiculous says that sounds,
the real world rationale was actually very clever. The company
combined the classic myth of storks delivering babies with the
widespread belief that pregnant women crave pickles, and voila mascot
(28:30):
was born.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
One of my favorite mascot stories, hands down, is the
tragic tale of the Crazy Crab aka the most hated
mascot in MLB history. Creative for the San Francisco Giants
in nineteen eighty four, the dopey looking Crab mascot was
intended as a satirical take on the proliferation of mascots,
so as more teams adopted mascots, some fans actually weren't
(28:53):
happy about the silly characters invading games, and the Crazy Crab,
with his ugly, awkward costume, was meant to chant those
feelings into jeers rather than cheers. He was kind of
like a heel character and pro wrestling, and as cynical
as this mascot was, it probably would have been fine
if not for the fact that Giants did horribly during
the nineteen eighty four season. In fact, they finished dead
(29:15):
last in the league, so as you can imagine, all
those losses left fans feeling bitter, and the Crab became
the target of their frustrations. Pretty soon, at every home game,
fans would pelt him with everything from food and trash
to empty bottles even in batteries. Things got so bad
that his shell had to be reinforced with fiberglass to
prevent the actor inside from being injured. Needless to say,
(29:37):
the Giants pulled the plug on the whole idea and
the Crazy Crab was retired after just one season. So
it appeared during a two thousand and eight game, but
he was promptly booed and has not re emerged since.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That is amazing. Okay, here's a fun one from Metalflass Sports.
Mascots don't get to interact with each other very often,
but the one exception to that is on their birthdays.
Teams like to use a character's birthdate as a chance
to do some marketing, and that usually means throwing a
pr party and inviting other mascots from the league to attend.
(30:08):
These get togethers are as silly as you might expect,
but they go a long way towards making the mascot
and their fans feel like one big, happy family. And
at the end of the day, isn't that what mascots
are all about that and making money.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yeah, I was gonna say also, that was a nice
palate cleanser after my Crazy Crab story. So I think
you deserve this week's trophy.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Congrats, Thank you, Will, and I'm going to dedicate this
one to Crazy Crab. He feels like he could use
a win. That is it for today's show. We'll be
back next week. If you have a question you'd like
us to answer, or if you'd like to make a
suggestion for an official part Time Genius mascot, give us
a call on our hotline. That's three or two four
oh five five nine two five. We really love hearing
(30:51):
from you, but from Dylan, Mary, Gabe, Will and myself.
Thank you so much for listening. Part Time Genius is
the production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. This show is hosted
(31:15):
by Will Pearson and me Mongashtikler and research by our
good pal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's episode was engineered and
produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with support from Tyler Klang.
The show is executive produced for iHeart by Katrina Norvell
and Ali Perry, with social media support from Sasha Gay
Trustee Dara Potts and buy Me Shory. For more podcasts
(31:39):
from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio. Guess what Will?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
What's that Mango?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So I was tracing the history of mascots this week,
in particular the furry, foam headed ones we see at
sporting events.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm glad that you just told me what a mascot
looked like. So what did you find?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
It led me to the French opera, which is not
what I think you'd expect. Now, you might assume that
the word mascot has something to do with the word mask,
since so many mascots wear them, but actually mascot was
derived from the French word for good luck charm. The
term first came to prominence thanks to an eighteen eighty
French operetta about a witch called La Mascott.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I have never heard of this, so tell me a
little bit of this opera. What's it about.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
So in the story, there's this young farm girl named
Bettina who is born with a magical influence and it
brings good luck to all the people around her. So
the plot is mostly everyone just trying to take advantage
of that. Before this operetta, good luck charms in France
had always been objects, but this operetta posed the question
what if a person was a good luck charm? So
(01:21):
Betina was actually the first modern mascot. Now, unfortunately she
doesn't wear a goofy costume or even try to hype
up the crowd with free T shirts, but she does
represent the very beginning of these living good luck charms
that we find everywhere from pro sports to corporations to
elementary schools. And you know, with fall sports just around
the corner and starting to heat up, I thought now
(01:44):
would be a perfect time to check out some of
the world's strangest mascots and the colorful stories behind them.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Definitely let's dive in. Hey their podcast listeners, welcome to
(02:13):
Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and is always I'm
joined by my good friend manguesh hot Ticketer and this
morning I wish I had eaten breakfast because on the
other side of that soundproof glass making me hungry because
he is dressed up like a biscuit. I mean, there
is butter drooling down from that biscuit. It looks so good.
That's our friend and producer, Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
He is not just dressed up as any old biscuit.
He is Monty, the anthropomorphized biscuit from the Montgomery Biscuit.
I think that's a nod to your Alabama.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Roots R and my love of carbs.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Now, thank you so much for that, Dylan Will. We're
talking about mascots today. Do you have a favorite team
name or mascot from growing up, or anyone you were
particularly happy to see.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I mean, you know, as a kid, I always thought
it was so funny that you know, again you mention
this growing up in Alabama and having the University of
Alabama have this elephant as a mascot. Never quite understood
why they have this giant elephant of a mascot. I
don't think elephants were around Alabama, but that always cracked
me up. But now I love the mascots. That's part
(03:15):
of the fun of when you're picking the NCAA tournament
every year during the basketball season and just getting basically
to pick based on mascots. That's the more fun way
to do it, how about you.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You know, we grew up outside of Philly, so of
course there was the Philly fanatic nat Are Gritty, But
speaking of elephants in Brooklyn, I can't believe how excited
people get for the New York Liberty mascot Ellie Elephant. Yeah,
she is honestly like royalty around these parts. She has
a whole Nicki Minaj video where she walks out onto
the floor and people are just so happy to see her.
(03:46):
She's in Vogue magazine. It's unbelievable. Ruby's basketball team is
also the Brooklyn Pickles, and I think if they had
a mascot, that would be my favorite.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Why is it so funny when it's food like the
biscuits we were talking about, there's something so funny.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Do you know why is an elephant though? It's because
when they built the Brooklyn Bridge p. T. Barnum had
elephants walk over it.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Because its strength or something. Oh that's so cool. Yeah, well,
it has been a lot of fun to see how
crazy they are for Ellie.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Well, I'm excited to dive in just generally today. I'm
really thinking we should get started with a deep cut
a mascot that's one of the true ogs, and that's
the owl of Athens. We're going way back here now.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Owls have been associated with the Greek city since the
classical era, and reportedly they even nested in the rafters
of the original Parthenon.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And there's also a connection to Athena. Right, wasn't she
a big fan of ols?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's exactly right. So the goddess of wisdom was the
patron deity of the Athenians, who happened to be pretty
brainy themselves. And because Athena was thought to have a
special kinship with owls, her followers started treating the birds
as this sacred symbol of her intellect. Now that's why
so much of the pottery and statues from that era
are chock full of Athena and her different owls. So
(05:02):
you've got Athena with an owl on her shoulder, Athena
with an owl flying overhead. Then you've got Athena with
an owl flying overhead but preparing to land on her shoulder.
Just all these different options here. So if you go
to an exhibit of the city's relics, it's a lot
of Athena and owls.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And where owls just a symbol of Athens or were
they considered lucky to well?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Athenians took the site of an owl as a good omen,
especially when they saw them on the battlefield. In fact,
There's a famous example of this at the Battle of Salamus.
This is when the Athenians were squaring off against Persian
invaders and an Athenian general was trying to convince his
fellow citizens that it was time to deploy the fleet,
but the people weren't buying it because victories seemed like
(05:43):
too much of a long shot. Then all of a sudden,
an owl landed right on the mast of the general's ship,
and people were so won over by this support from
the gods that they immediately deployed the Athenian fleet. And
the rest is ancient history. Isn't that wild?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I mean, inspiring a crowd is classic mascot behavior. So
that's really great job on the el's part.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
It is pretty amazing. Well, I've got an even better
bird mascot story for you. Have you actually heard of
the Roman army and their vultures?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I haven't. So you know how some colleges have live
animal mascots that they keep on campus, like a bulldog
or a horse or things like that. I give you
examples of other animals if you need them. Well, the
practice of bringing a live mascot along to rouse your
team may have actually started with the Roman army about
three hundred years or so after the Battle of Salamus. Now,
at the time, the Romans were constantly fighting off the
(06:32):
Germanic tribes of Europe, and as you might imagine, scavenging
vultures were a pretty common sight on the battlefields. So
two vultures in particular, though, would actually follow the Roman
troops as they marched, and this is because they knew
that once the fighting was over, there would be a
pile of corpses to snack on.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Actually, did I ever tell you about the time I
saw a sky burial intive?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
No. They basically wrap a body and prepare it in
this sacred way so that vultures and wild dog and
crows leave no body behind. And it's really powerful to see.
But I have these two contrasting images, because you know,
we'd hiked up to a monastery and it's this gorgeous, quiet,
quiet ceremony where you're there to observe this sky burial.
(07:15):
But also, vultures are super weird creatures, really like, they're
so majestic in the air, and then when they land
and they waddle quickly towards the food, they are so
ugly and so ill mannered, and they're just bopping their
heads in this funny way.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It is so weird to see them on the way,
definitely is.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Anyway, So I cut you off. So the Romans like
their vulture friends accompanying them on these war escapades.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, I mean weirdly, it boosted their confidence, like they
believe that vultures weren't following them because they were goners,
they were following them because they knew that Romans were
reliable killers or meat providers. So at any rate, the
soldiers were such fans of those two vultures that the
army blacksmith made bronze collars for the birds to wear,
and from that point on, whenever the soldiers caught a
(08:00):
glimpse of the birds and their shiny collars in the wilds,
it would rally the troops and spur them on to
yet another victory. But if you're not sold on a
vulture mascot, there are still plenty of other examples that
we can pull inspiration from. Actually realized this when we
started the research for this episode. But history is littered
with mascots.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Well, here's something funny. In the early days, just having
a mascot around was seen as beneficial, right, so just
seeing an owl or having a vulture accompany you to
a battle. But that actually seems a little passive compared
to today's mascots, like they're always cheering and dancing, trying
to work up the crowd. But here's something I just read.
There's actually an industry rule about not standing still during
(08:40):
the game. The mascot always has to be moving.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
No, I've never thought about that, so so why is that?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, it's partly to keep them from blocking anyone's view
for longer than a couple seconds, right, But it's also
because motion helps sell the illusion that the character is
real and not just some random in a lion suit.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Thinking back about that with us in college, that giant
duke Blue Devil, whenever it ended up in front of you,
were like, please move. So that actually makes a lot
of sense. And has that always been the case, like
ever since humans started dressing up as the Philly Fanatic
or whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Well, the expectations for mascot behavior have soolutinely changed over
the years. What is interesting, though, is that it didn't
happen all at once. So like baseball, for example, in
the early twentieth century. Just a decade or so after
Lama Scott debuted in France, American baseball players had already
lashed onto the idea of ordinary people acting as good
(09:30):
luck mascots. For example, imagine there was a player who'd
been in a slump for the whole game or whatever,
and then in the last inning he noticed the kid
in the bleacher smiling at him, and the very next second,
the player hits a home run and wins the game
for his team. Now, most likely it was coincidence, but
there's also the off chance that the kid is good luck.
So the player decides, what the heck, I'll give the
(09:51):
kid some free tickets for the next game, just to
be on the safe side. And that's how an instant
mascot would come about.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Wow, and is this something that actually happened, Like player
rope strangers into being their own personal mascots.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, and not just individual players. Sometimes the entire team
would adopt a standout fan as their mascot. So if
a pro team went on a winning streak, they would
usually find someone or something around them to credit for
that success. And this applied to college games too. For instance,
the Harvard team's early mascot was John the Orange Man,
who was a local man who sold fruit during the games.
(10:25):
And over at Yale they had a bulldog named Handsome
Dan that the team would walk onto the field before games,
and in fact they still do. Yale is currently on
its nineteenth Handsome Dan.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I mean, fruit vendors and wandering pets aren't generally the
kind of mascots that you see these days, but that's
still pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Definitely not. So why don't we take a quick break
and then we can talk about how sports mascots went
from good luck charms to the wild costume performers we
know today. Welcome back to part time Genius. Before we
(11:07):
dive back into the weird and wonderful world of mascots,
I just wanted to remind you that if you want
to share a fact with us, suggest a topic, or
ask us a question, you can always give us a
call on the PTG hotline. The number is three zero
two four zero five five nine two five. We are
waiting to hear from you. Okay, Well, so, costume characters
on the sidelines are a pretty standard site in sports today,
(11:29):
but that hasn't always been the case. So why don't
you tell me how it happened, Well.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
The rise of elaborate costumes actually didn't happen until the
seventies and eighties, but you know, there was a move
toward more active team mascots that began in the nineteen forties.
There's this one famous example from an exhibition game that
Joe DiMaggio played in with service members in Hawaii, and
this was during World War Two. Now, one of the
pitchers was a guy named Max Patkin, who was a
former minor league player who joined the Navy. So Demaggio
(11:56):
hit a home run off of Patkin, and then, to
everyone's surprise, the pitcher left the mound and started mimicking
the way that Demaggio ran. Pat Can chased him around
the bases, and the crowd ate it up. So news
of the event spread, and once the war was over,
the Cleveland Indians actually hired pat Can to entertain crowds
at their games.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So he just chased players around the bases after they
hit home runs, like that was his act.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I mean, that was a big part of it. I
mean you could actually still picture this, like when you
go to baseball games, see them always be on the
bases and everything. He'd always make funny faces, do slapstick routines,
like you know, use five bats to hit a ball,
or jumping out of the way when someone threw them
a pitch. Whatever. It was always up to no good.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
He was kind of like a baseball at Rodeo Cloud.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I guess that's exactly right. In fact, Patin became known
as the clown Prints of baseball, and he was a
real legend in his own right. He wracked up more
than four thousand appearances during his career and supposedly never
missed the game between nineteen forty four and nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Almost fifty three. That's insane. So did you wear a
mask or a dress up? Uh?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Kind of like he never put anything over his head,
But he did help promote the idea that mascot should
wear costumes, so in his case, that meant a baggy
baseball uniform with a question mark instead of a number.
But in nineteen sixty four, the New York Mets kind
of won up Patkins' mascot game, so they gave their
mascot a giant baseball shaped head to go along with
the uniform, one that we can all picture these days.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, and so that's how mister met got to start.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, mister Met is considered the first MLB costume mascot
to exist in human form rather than just as artwork.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So he was a big hit with the crowds for
about a decade, but then in the mid seventies he
was phased out due to waning popularity. Now, luckily for
mascot fans, a college student in San Diego stepped up
to fill the gap, and he did so by wearing
a giant chicken suit. I knew people were wondering when
that one was coming.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Which team has a chicken for a mascot?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Again, Well, he wasn't an official team mascot per se,
but he was a fixture of Padres games through the
nineteen seventies. Back then, there was a radio station in
San Diego called kg and they hired a college student
named ted Yelunis to put on a chicken suit and
promote the station at Padres games. But here's the thing.
The Padres were so lousy at the time that most
(14:11):
people went to their games just to see the giant chicken. Unfortunately,
the stunt didn't increase the station's listenership, which had been
the whole point of it all along.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So did they fire the Chicken?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Then they did. Unfortunately, the radio station fired Ted and
took back the costume, but he bought his own chicken
suit and kept ride on performing, so pretty soon the
Famous Chicken became a local hero, despite the fact that
he wasn't officially affiliated with anybody.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I love that they took away his chickensit and he
was like.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yes, show you, I'll show you. I can. I still
know how to be a chicken anyway. Thanks to the
Famous Chicken, teams began to realize how popular and potentially
lucrative mascots could be. So most official mascots at the
time were maskless, like Max Patkin and his baggy uniform.
But with a full body costume and mask, a team
could create is larger than live character and better yet
(15:02):
an anonymous one, so unlike traditional mascots, no one would
be able to tell who was actually wearing the costume.
That meant the mascot couldn't age or retire or do
something scandalous to tarnish the team's image.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Well. Not only that, it also allowed for mascots that
could be turned into merch.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Right, It's exactly right, And they're all reasons why lots
of brands use mascots, not just sports teams, and think
about you know, like Geico's Gecko, right, and it puts
a friendly face to something as abstract as insurance, and
it gives them something cute to slap on T shirts
and coffee mugs and other merch.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
So definitely lots of advantages to using a non human
character for your mascot. And that's whether it's a cartoon
or somebody in costume. So who were some of the
first teams to realize this and kind of follow in
the steps of mister met and the famous Chicken.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Well, your home team mascot of course, the Philly fanatic
for one. And when the Chicken came to the scene
in the seventies, the Phillies were in need of a
new mascot. At the time, they were repped by phil
and Phyllis, who were just two people dressed in colonial
go How I just learning this, Yeah, you should have
known your city's history. They stood on the field during
(16:07):
the National anthem and that was pretty much it. Phil
and Phillis came out for the national anthem and then
I'm guessing they were a little tired and went on
to bed, but the Phillies called in a designer named
Bonnie Ericson. While her name may not ring a bell,
I guarantee you that you're familiar with her work because
her resume is ridiculous. It includes the creation of not one,
not two, but three all star muppets. You got Statler
(16:29):
and Waldorf and Miss Piggy Wow. So Ericson designed them
while working for Jim Henson at the children's television workshops.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Such a legend. So you always hear about the people
who performed those characters or did the voices, but you
never really think about who actually designed and built those
muppets in the first time.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
That's really cool, Yeah, it really is. And in addition
to building muppets, Ericson designed life sized versions of Sesame
Street characters for their ice shows. And this was a
big thing in the seventies, Sesame Street doing these big
ice skating shows, and so she had experience making full
body costumes that performers could move around in, and that's
why the Phillies knew she was the right person for
(17:04):
the job.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
It's funny because like, look at the fanatic now, it
makes so much sense that he was made by someone
who worked on Sesame Street, like he's just such a
crazy mishmash of Muppet features.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, the Fanatic does look pretty muppety, but it's not
like Ericson threw the character together using leftover Sesame Street
parts or anything like that. Like she put a lot
of thought into every single element of the design.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I actually found this great article on Slate about the
Fanatics history, and it includes a breakdown of the choices
Ericson made. So here's what it says. Every part of
the Fanatic is like a masterclass in mascot design. For starters.
He's green, not the standard Philly's red, so he stands
out in the crowd. The dug butt and the pear
shaped body ensures that no matter how the performer moves
(17:48):
in the costume, it's funny. His eyes are low on
his face, which makes him look childlike. He also comes
with a backstory, which involves being from the Galapica's Island.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Short.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
The result is a character that's good and slightly aggressive.
He'll rub a ball guy's head or rip the hat
off of somebody cheering for the wrong team, and usually
he gets away with it.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah, because he's so darn cute. I'm not sure what
being from the Galapagos Islands has to do with any
of that, but he is very cute and very monstery,
and I do love how he's beloved by both adults
and kids.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, the appeal to all ages ended up being what
drew in so many different fans, and it wasn't long
until other teams caught onto the Phillies strategy. Ericson and
other designers became really busy over the next decade designing
new costume mascots for every team in the league. Other
sports got in on the action too, and pretty soon
every pro team in the country had a big headed
mascot in its corner.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, and the world was as it should be.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
But all right, now that we've given sports mascots their due,
I want to spend some time on one of the
stranger branches of the mascot tree, which are the so
called civic mascots that are popped up all over Japan.
But first, let's take another quick break. Welcome back to
(19:13):
part time Genius. Okay, So, in Japan there's something called
civic mascots. At last count, there are around two thousand
of them, And a civic mascot is like any other mascot,
except it represents a community or a public service instead
of a team or a business. So, for example, if
you walk around a city in Japan, you might see
a cartoon version of the local mascot on street signs
or posters, and if you attend a public event like
(19:35):
a store opening or a festival, you'd probably find the
costumed version standing there for hugs and selfies as well.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
So are they all different characters? Like every town has
its own mascot. Maybe not every town, but all of
the major ones and many of the smaller ones do too.
At this point, it is more unusual to not have
a mascot than to have one, and some of the
larger cities actually have dozens of mascots. It's almost like
one for every district, plus one for each public service
(20:02):
like hospitals, schools, police, sanitation, you name it. Some prisons
even have their own mascots, largely as a way to
make their presence less intimidating to local kids, which is
both kind of cute and dystopian. I'm curious, so, like,
how much are these towns spending on mascot costumes, because
I mean dozens of custom made costumes that can't be cheap.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, it gets pretty pricey. In fact, some politicians have
condemned the mascots as a waste of government funds, and
one of the most famous cases is a bureaucratic pushback
from twenty fifteen, when the governor of Osaka finally put
his foot down. His prefecture had introduced ninety two different
mascots over the years, and there were so many he
(20:41):
argued that most residents could no longer keep track of them,
including himself. So his solution was to eliminate the twenty
least popular characters, bringing that mascot headcount down to seventy two.
And yeah, I get where he's coming from, but it's
also kind of funny and sad to think about those
twenty mascots getting the acts Like That's why I preferred
(21:01):
the solution that a small town in Hokkaido came up
with back in twenty fourteen. The Rumoi sub prefecture needed
fewer mascots, but they couldn't bring themselves to axe any
of them, so instead, the town combined its ten characters
vultron style. The one giant robot mascot.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
I like the vultron callback there. That's pretty great and
what a genius solution, you know. I'm curious though, like,
are all the civic mascots really that creative? Like with
two thousand of them running around, they can't all be
generic tigers and bears or whatever.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, japan civic mascots do not disappoint on the variety front.
For starters. Most of them reflect something unique about the
place they represent, like local wildlife or produce or a landmark,
and that specificity cuts down on the repetition while also
ensuring that each mascot boosts regional pride. For instance, the
southwest town of Mizumaki is known for its unusually large
(21:55):
garlic clothes, and its mascot reflects that he's a chubby
little guy in a with a giant garlic clove for
a head. Now, other towns have gotten even stranger with
their designs. The city of Hakuto's mascot is a googly
eyed piece of sushi with spinley arms and legs. There's
also a cheetan, a clumsy otter that wears a tortoise
as a hat, and probably the weirdest of the lot,
(22:18):
is Amazoni's, which Atlas Obscura describes as a scowling, masked
woman who whips people with a locally grown Welsh onion.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I feel like you just like put words into a generator,
a sentence generator. Those are not words I expected to
hear in the same sentence. But how do they come
up with this stuff?
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Most civic mascots are voted on by the public, and
often they're based on designs submitted by local children. That's
probably not the case with the onion lady, or that
the rest of them are all right.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Well, one more question about this. I'm really curious how
this mascot craze even got started, Like, is this a
long running tradition in Japan or something.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
It's actually a pretty recent phenomena. It only dates back
to two thousand and seven, and that's the year that
a white samurai cat mascot named Hikoonyan was created in
the city of Hikone, and this was to celebrate the
four hundredth anniversary of a local castle. The idea was that,
you know, it might help boost tourism, and needless to say,
(23:15):
the fluffy cat and a samurai helmet worked pretty soon
people were flocking to the castle from all over the country.
But much like the famous chicken in San Diego, the
mascot actually became a bigger draw than the main attraction.
The castle was great, but people really wanted to photo
op with this cat, and of course the chance to
buy some cute souvenirs. All told, the Samurai cat brought
in billions of yen from merchandise and from tourism, and
(23:39):
it prompted other cities to create cash cow mascots of
their own. One of my personal favorites is melon Kuma,
which was invented by a city called Yubari shortly after
the samurai cat craze happened. Yubari is best known for
two things. One is melons and the other thing is
grizzly bears.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh okay, and one of those things sounds like a
good reason to visit. The other sounds like a good
reason to avoid.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, but they're both a part of the local culture,
So rather than choose between the two icons, the city
merged them into one bizarre mascot, an extremely angry grizzly
bear wearing a melon on its head. The best part
is he's not supposed to be nice. So at public
events he terrorizes other mascots and chases the kids around.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Wow, that's pretty funny. I'm just trying to imagine this
happening in the United States. I mean, we all have
a lot of places that depend on tourism, and people
everywhere love to make a bug But somehow, I don't know.
The only example of I can think of really is
like the Time Square Elmo. I can't really see it
anywhere else.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yeah, So one reason this is so big in Japan
might have something to do with Japanese culture and how
the country handles physical interactions in general. I read this
interview with a professional mascot turned instructor named chik Ohira,
and according to her, a big part of the peal
is the way a costume lowers people's inhibitions. So this
is how she put it quote, Japan is a society
(24:58):
that isn't big on t handshakes and hugs aren't common. Instead,
we bow or we maybe do a small wave, But
mascots do hug. It's not to say that we constantly
walk around thinking that we want to be hugged but
don't do it. Rather, we just think not doing it
is normal. But when you end up being hugged by
a mascot, you do get that fuzzy, happy feeling.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It actually makes a lot of sense. And like you mentioned,
the trend started in the two thousands and so that
kind of means a whole generation has grown up with
these characters in their communities. Right, Like, it feels very sweet.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I know, And I really want my hometown of Hocus
and Delaware to come up with a mascot now.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Right before you waste a lot of time brainstorming on
what that should be and petitioning your local politicians, let's
quickly do a fact off. Being a mascot is not
easy work. So according to ESPN, the temperature inside a
(25:54):
full body mascot costume can be up to forty degrees
fahrenheit hotter than the external temperature. So if it's eighty degrees,
it's one hundred and twenty degrees inside that suit. A
former mascot for the Baltimore Orioles once compared the experience
to quote, doing aerobics in a sauna, and the numbers
actually back up that comparison. According to a two thousand
and one study on mascot injuries, the average mascot loses
(26:17):
eight point six pounds of waterweight per performance.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
That's crazy. Everyone should stop doing spin cycle and.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Start getting mask mascot training.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So, speaking of costumes, one thing I've always wondered is
how mascots keep them clean. Well, it turns out the
solution is to spray the whole thing with a bottle
full of vodka. That tip actually comes from Bonnie Ericson,
the woman behind the Philly Fanatic. Apparently alcohol kills bacteria
in the suit without discoloring it, and it's still a
go to method for mascots today, but there are a
(26:49):
couple other options as well. Now some teams use clear
listerine and others use a special cologne for dogs. It's
called for Breeze, and I guess it works on fake well, so.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Fur breeze that's pretty good. Actually, do you know? There's
an official mascot Hall of Fame and it's in Whiting, Indiana.
There's a three story museum there and it opened in
twenty eighteen as the first of its kind dedicated to
these unsung heroes of pro sports. When you're inside, guests
can actually find historical exhibits on the origins of the mascots,
as well as a Hall of Fame with plaques for
(27:22):
all of the inductees and maybe best of all, an
interactive area where you can fire real T shirts at
a digital crowd. And before you ask, yes, the Mascot
Hall of Fame has its own mascot. His name is Reggie.
He's this giant, purple muppety guy with a bunch of
fries sticking out of the top of his head. And
for the record, he has not been inducted into the
(27:43):
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, of course, Reggie's got more working on Regy. Well,
moving away from sports mascots for a second, I have
to share a quick fact about the Vlasic Pickles mascot, which,
as you know, is a stork, but not many people
know why it's a stork. So, according to the company website,
the spokespird with a graccho Marx voice was chosen in
nineteen seventy four because quote, the national birth rate was
(28:07):
dropping at that time and babies were in short supply,
so concerned flastic managers simply offered the stork an opportunity
to deliver pickles instead, and as ridiculous says that sounds,
the real world rationale was actually very clever. The company
combined the classic myth of storks delivering babies with the
widespread belief that pregnant women crave pickles, and voila mascot
(28:30):
was born.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
One of my favorite mascot stories, hands down, is the
tragic tale of the Crazy Crab aka the most hated
mascot in MLB history. Creative for the San Francisco Giants
in nineteen eighty four, the dopey looking Crab mascot was
intended as a satirical take on the proliferation of mascots,
so as more teams adopted mascots, some fans actually weren't
(28:53):
happy about the silly characters invading games, and the Crazy Crab,
with his ugly, awkward costume, was meant to chant those
feelings into jeers rather than cheers. He was kind of
like a heel character and pro wrestling, and as cynical
as this mascot was, it probably would have been fine
if not for the fact that Giants did horribly during
the nineteen eighty four season. In fact, they finished dead
(29:15):
last in the league, so as you can imagine, all
those losses left fans feeling bitter, and the Crab became
the target of their frustrations. Pretty soon, at every home game,
fans would pelt him with everything from food and trash
to empty bottles even in batteries. Things got so bad
that his shell had to be reinforced with fiberglass to
prevent the actor inside from being injured. Needless to say,
(29:37):
the Giants pulled the plug on the whole idea and
the Crazy Crab was retired after just one season. So
it appeared during a two thousand and eight game, but
he was promptly booed and has not re emerged since.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That is amazing. Okay, here's a fun one from Metalflass Sports.
Mascots don't get to interact with each other very often,
but the one exception to that is on their birthdays.
Teams like to use a character's birthdate as a chance
to do some marketing, and that usually means throwing a
pr party and inviting other mascots from the league to attend.
(30:08):
These get togethers are as silly as you might expect,
but they go a long way towards making the mascot
and their fans feel like one big, happy family. And
at the end of the day, isn't that what mascots
are all about that and making money.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yeah, I was gonna say also, that was a nice
palate cleanser after my Crazy Crab story. So I think
you deserve this week's trophy.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Congrats, Thank you, Will, and I'm going to dedicate this
one to Crazy Crab. He feels like he could use
a win. That is it for today's show. We'll be
back next week. If you have a question you'd like
us to answer, or if you'd like to make a
suggestion for an official part Time Genius mascot, give us
a call on our hotline. That's three or two four
oh five five nine two five. We really love hearing
(30:51):
from you, but from Dylan, Mary, Gabe, Will and myself.
Thank you so much for listening. Part Time Genius is
the production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. This show is hosted
(31:15):
by Will Pearson and me Mongashtikler and research by our
good pal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's episode was engineered and
produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with support from Tyler Klang.
The show is executive produced for iHeart by Katrina Norvell
and Ali Perry, with social media support from Sasha Gay
Trustee Dara Potts and buy Me Shory. For more podcasts
(31:39):
from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
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