Phillie Phanatic
Phillie Phanatic is the mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team . It is a large green figure with a lot of fur, who has been running around and joking around during the games on and off the field since April 25, 1978. He is one of the most popular mascots in American professional sports. According to its fictional origin, it is a specimen of a rare species of bird that came to Philadelphia from the Galápagos Islands , lives in Citizens Bank Park and became an enthusiastic Phillies fan there.
description
Phillie Phanatic is a green doll that vaguely resembles a bird. Its trumpet-like beak and fat belly are striking. The doll is just over two meters tall, has a waist circumference of 218 cm and is size 56.
history
Prehistory and origin
Phillie's predecessors were Phil and Phyllis , two characters in colonial outfits. They came on the field before the game and waved to the fans. More movements were hardly possible because of the heavy and difficult to use costumes.
The idea for the mascot came from Danny Lehmann, a member of the Phillies PR team. He had seen the San Diego Chicken live in the stadium shortly before . The San Diego Chicken, which had only recently been introduced, was the first baseball mascot that was active all season long, making jokes, playing with children, playing pranks in the breaks and thus creating its own entertainment program. Lehmann suggested introducing a similar mascot, primarily to attract more families with children to the stadium. Since this type of mascot had not yet been introduced into American professional sport, the first discussions about Phillie were heated and controversial.
In particular, the then president and later owner of the Phillies Bill Giles spoke out against the mascot. Only after lengthy discussions at the end of the 1977 season was Lehmann able to implement his idea. The Phillies found the Bonnie Erickson / Wayde Harrison team, who had recently set up a workshop for dolls of all kinds. Erickson had previously worked for the Muppet Show , creating Miss Piggy in the process . This gave him experience in creating large, entertaining dolls with large radii of movement. The original design was $ 3,500. The Phillies refused to buy the copyright to the figure for $ 1,100. After the Phanatic was successful, they caught up on that purchase for $ 200,000.
The role the Phanatic would play was initially unclear. Giles says with hindsight that he still had no real idea. Dave Raymond, the first actor, remembers that nobody at the Phillies could tell him what to do in costume. The most accurate statement came from Giles, stating that he should interact with the crowd in the stadium.
Dave Raymond as Phillie Phanatic (1978-1993)
Dave Raymond had just graduated from the University of Delaware at the time, where he had played on the American football team. In the summer of 1977 he had completed an internship at the Phillies office and the key people there remembered the lively, athletic young man with strong non-verbal communication. According to Raymond, he learned many of his non-verbal communication skills from his mother. She was deaf herself, active in the deaf scene and a teacher of American Sign Language .
Phillie first appeared on April 25, 1978 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia in a game against the Chicago Cubs . According to former members of the organization, "we still had no idea what exactly he was supposed to do." Raymond stepped onto the field after the third inning and tried to attract attention. Against all fears, the fans reacted enthusiastically, immediately perceived the Phillie Phanatic as an additional attraction and celebrated it. The game that night ended 7-0 for the Phillies, which also helped the fans' acceptance of the mascot. Raymond got a free hand in his actions from the Philadelphia Phillies, so that he could play pranks and fool around like no other mascot. The fans loved him for it.
Phillie Phanatic was immediately accepted by fans and was an instant hit. In the first two years alone, the Phillies sold multi-million dollar merchandise. Following the example of Phillie Phanatic, other major league baseball mascots were created . One of the most memorable events in its history is the brawl the Phanatic had in 1988 with Tommy Lasorda , manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers . The Phanatic had used a replica of Lasorda as a sandbag on the sidelines, which upset him so much that he attacked the real Phillie Phanatic.
Raymond played the Phanatic until 1993. After that, he worked for a few years in the creation and maintenance of mascots together with Harrison / Erickson, the creators of the Phanatic, and has since become self-employed in this area. He originally made $ 25 per game, but by 1993 his salary had risen to $ 100,000 a year.
Tom Burgoyne as Phillie Phanatic (since 1993)
Tom Burgoyne has played Phillie Phanatic since 1993. Burgoyne grew up at a time when mascots were already introduced in sports. He was a regular visitor to Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium in his childhood and youth and played the mascot in high school.
In official communications from the team, however, he is only considered “Phillie Phanatic's best friend”. Activities that have been added in recent years include the five-foot-long fiberglass hot dog cannon that can shoot hot dogs to the highest seats. This is attached to the quad of the Phillie Phanatic. But he only pulls it out once during a game in order to preserve the special thing about the action.
Occasionally, Phillie Phanatic is sued, mostly for accidentally hurting someone with a stormy hug or some other joke. The biggest fine the Phillies have paid to date has been $ 2.5 million. On the occasion of the opening of a paint shop, Phillie Phanatic hugged a guest too hard, who suffered from back pain as a result.
Burgoyne has written several books on the Phillies, which appear under his own name and only marginally mention the Phanatic. In addition, four children's books were published in which Phillie Phanatic is an acting figure: The Phillie Phanatic's Happiest Memories (2003 by Tom Burgoyne ), The Phillie Phanatic's Moving Day (2003 by Tom Burgoyne), Phillie Phanatics Phanastic Journey (2005 by Tom Burgoyne) and Hello Phillie Phanatic (2007 by Aimee Aryal). Together with the Philadelphia Phillies he started the program Be a Phanatic about Reading , which aims to make reading fun for children.
Since 2002, Phillie Phanatic has been one of three mascots in the Baseball Hall of Fame alongside the San Diego Chicken and Youppi . There was an official ceremony of the museum. Phillie was so successful that almost all MLB teams now have such mascots.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tom Burgoyne: What is a Phillie? In: Movin on Up. Retrieved February 8, 2014 (English, from Google Books): "[...] the Phanatic is a rare species of bird from the Galapagos Islands."
- ^ A b c d e Robert M. Jarvis, Phyllis Coleman: Hi-Jinks at the Ballpark: Costumed Mascots in the Major Leagues. 3 Cardozo L. Rev. 2001-2002, p. 1659.
- ^ A b Erin St John Kelly: NEW YORKERS & CO .; Mascots R Them. In: The New York Times. dated February 15, 1998.
- ^ A b c d Robert Gordon: Then Bowa Said to Schmidt…: The Greatest Phillies Stories Ever Told. Triumph Books, 2013 ISBN 1-62368-226-6 Chapter 7.
- ↑ Bob Gordon: Game of My Life Philadelphia Phillies: Memorable Stories Of Phillies Baseball. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 2013 ISBN 1-61321-431-6 , Chapter 24.
- ↑ a b R. M. Schneiderman: Phillie Phanatic's Brooklyn Origins . In: The Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2010.
- ^ Maria Gallagher: Inside The Phillie Phanatic Phanatically Speaking, He's Only 16 Years Old , Daily News August 30, 1993.
- ↑ Bob Gordon: Game of My Life Philadelphia Phillies: Memorable Stories Of Phillies Baseball. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 2013 ISBN 1-61321-431-6 , Chapter 25.
- ^ Robert Gordon: Then Bowa Said to Schmidt ...: The Greatest Phillies Stories Ever Told. Triumph Books, 2013 ISBN 1-62368-226-6 p. 7.
- ^ A b George Gmelch, JJ Weiner: In the Ballpark: The Working Lives of Baseball People. U of Nebraska Press, 2006 ISBN 0-8032-3385-X p. 251.
- ↑ Richard D. Greenwood: The Phillie Phanatic
literature
- Bob Gordon: Game of My Life Philadelphia Phillies: Memorable Stories Of Phillies Baseball. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 2013 ISBN 1-61321-431-6 , Chapter 24/25.
