20th Anniversary of the Milwaukee Brewers racing sausages

Found this in an old bookmark file tonight, while preparing for my Algonquin College Sports Management class tomorrow.

Here's a press release from the Brewers:

This Thursday, June 27, 2013 marks an anniversary of one of the most historic events in Milwaukee Brewers history. On that day in 1993, the Klement's Famous Racing Sausages came to life, jumping off of the scoreboard and onto the field to complete the first of well over 1,000 "official" races to date. The races became a fixture at Milwaukee County Stadium and the tradition carried on with the move to Miller Park.
The Milwaukee Brewers and Klement's want to invite you to join in celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the occasion on Thursday, June 27. The fun starts at 6 am at NorthPoint Custard, 2272 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, along the Lake Michigan shores. The first 250 fans will receive a free sausage breakfast sandwich (of course), a coffee, and best of all, an exclusive 20th Anniversary Klement's Famous Racing Sausages Commemorative T-Shirt. Fewer than 500 of the shirts will be made, and the event will be first come, first served.
That afternoon, the Brewers will host a pre-game ceremony to officially mark the anniversary, which will include a race featuring only the "Original Three" Sausages and much more.

A few fun facts on the history of the Klement's Famous Racing Sausages:

1. The Klement's Famous Racing Sausages began as a scoreboard animation in the early 1990's with three characters running toward Milwaukee County Stadium against the backdrop of the city skyline. They were shown running through the parking lot, arriving at the gates to the outfield, where they merely became dots on the scoreboard and a winner was determined.
2. In the fall of 1992, the idea to have the Sausages transform from a simple scoreboard dot to arrive on field to complete the race as live Sausages -- was presented by Milwaukee graphic designer Michael Dillon (McDill Design) to Gabe Paul (then VP of Operations for The Milwaukee Brewers). During the off-season, Dillon advanced the idea on his own and hand crafted three larger than life costumes of the lovable characters: a Bratwurst, a Polish, and an Italian sausage. In the spring of 1993, he got the call from Gabe Paul. The sausages could race -- live.
3. The first race took place at Milwaukee County Stadium on June 27, 1993 and made history by being the first-ever live racing event by mascots at a MLB game.
4. The original race was scheduled for June 26, 1993 -- a notable date for fans as it was the first series in which former Milwaukee Brewer, Paul Molitor, played in County Stadium, as a Toronto Blue Jay against his former team. However, there was a scoreboard malfunction that day and the race was postponed to Sunday, June 27.
5. The winner of the first race was the Bratwurst. The original costumed runners were all McDill Design employees -- Michael Dillon as the Bratwurst, Dan Necci as the Italian, and Jeff Paul as the Polish.
6. According to Dillon, the race was a well-kept secret, which resulted in a mixed reception: the crowd went "berserk" but the officiating umpires (and more than a few players) thought that it "diminished the professional nature" of the game. Coincidentally, the controversy may have been the catalyst the team needed as the Brewers had been scoreless through the sixth inning and rallied with two runs in both the 7th and 8th innings - after the sausage race.
7. For the remainder of the 1993 season, the Sausage characters raced live only at those games that had particularly high attendance.
8. In the 1994 season, the live Sausage race resumed on Sunday, May 29 -- the day the Brewers retired Robin Yount's number 19 jersey, and became a fixture at every home game since -- with Klement's as the official sponsor.
9. The phenomenon of live racing mascots was born in Milwaukee, and was a first for MLB. Entering the 2013 season, nearly half of all MLB teams now have their own version of the iconic race.
10. A video of the June 27, 1993, first live race can be viewed here.

Great mascot photo featuring Harvey the Hound (Calgary Flames)

From the Twitter feed of @Kristin_Hallett:

Harvey distracts Nystrom during his 2nd intermission interview. Best mascot in the NHL. twitter.com/Kristin_Hallet…
— Kristin Hallett (@Kristin_Hallett) February 14, 2013

The Washington Nationals are introducing a fifth racing president this weekend

...and speculation is that it will be JFK. UPDATE: The fifth racing president will be William Howard Taft.

VIDEO: Mascots celebrate Phillie Phanatic's birthday by dancing to Solja Boy's "Crank It"

If you can find a funnier mascot video than this today, let me know.



Philly.com reported: "It was the Phanatic's birthday Sunday and all of his mascot friends showed up to celebrate. But this event seems to get weirder by the year. They played a Wiffle ball game before the real game and the Phanatic plunked his mother, Phoebe, in the head with a pitch. The Oriole Bird was not pleased with this development. A Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpet mascot played shortstop and made a crucial error to decide the game. When it was over, everyone, including the San Diego Friar, danced to music by Soulja Boy. Creepy."

Thanks to Trevor for pointing me towards this stuff.

Joe Favorito on why the Washington Nationals President mascots are awesome

Good piece here by Joe on the Washington Nationals Presidents Race: Nats Make The Most Out of Their Mascots:

However for all their onfield issues, one thing that the Nats have done well is market and create interest in their mascots, interest which has drummed up American Idol like appeal for the brand and ancillary marketing dollars not seen in the mascot business these days...

They are goofy, fun and maretable in the offseason, and easily packagable to sponsors. Their races are capable of thousands of downloads without license fees on YouTube, and their appearance can easily be tied into a sponsor year-round, giving great added valkue to anything the Nats sales team can drum up. They appeal to young and old, and those selected through the tryouts are probably unique stories enough to generate even ancillary pubilicity for the team.

Video: The original Chicago Bears mascot

Here's a great mini-doc from 1970 about George Motica, the guy who dressed up as the original Chicago Bears mascot. After you watch this video, you'll see why most sports mascots aren't allowed to talk.

(via Your Mascot Sucks)

Dandy, the long-lost mascot of the New York Yankees

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on Dandy, the one-time mascot of the New York Yankees:

From 1979 to 1981, the Yankees employed a mascot named Dandy. He was big and blue and a spectacular failure—a historical oddity for a proud franchise that has collected 27 world championships but would just as soon forget he even existed.

"It's one of the sadder stories," said Wayde Harrison, who created Dandy with his wife, Bonnie Erickson.

In 1979, the Yankees appeared eager to replicate the success of the Phillie Phanatic, the green, pot-bellied mascot that Mr. Harrison and Ms. Erickson created in 1978. In his first two years of existence, according to Mr. Harrison, Phanatic-related products generated $2 million in revenue—and his popularity has not waned.

...

Want to know whom to blame for Dandy's premature demise? Look no further than the San Diego Chicken and Lou Piniella.

On July 10, 1979, the Chicken—on sabbatical from the Padres, his regular employer—was working for the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome, where he threw a hex on Yankees pitcher Ron Guidry as he warmed up. Mr. Piniella, the Yankees' left fielder at the time, considered this to be in poor taste, so he chased the Chicken and, lacking apparent success, fired his glove at him in a fit of rage.

In the wake of that fiasco, Mr. Steinbrenner supported Mr. Piniella by telling reporters that mascots had no place in baseball—this, just two weeks before the Yankees were to introduce their own.

Read the entire article...

Dandy looks like a long-lost cousin of Youppi!, and not coincidentally they were both created by Acme Mascots.

Article: Finding a mascot a key to pro sports organizations

Here's an article from nwi.com about mascots in professional sports. Some highlights:

"You have to miss family birthday parties and weddings to go to other people's birthday parties and weddings," said Carrie Norwood, mascot coordinator with the White Sox. "You have to have a bigger than life personality, and know when not to have a bigger than life personality."

...

Professional sports teams see the importance of a mascot equal to who is on the field. The mascot is the friendly member of the team that fans can touch and interact with, while athletes aren't always as available.

"When kids think of the RailCats, they do think of Rusty as being No. 1," said Laura Blakeley, Manager of Merchandise and Community Relations for the RailCats. "For a lot of people, when they hear 'RailCats', they think of Rusty."

Rusty the RailCat, mascot for Gary's Northern League baseball team, makes between $50 to $70 per appearance. Southpaw is a full-time front office staff member in the franchise with a full slate of regular-season home games plus an additional 250 outside appearances.

"A fair range is between $30,000 to $200,000 per year, but it just depends on who the character is," Norwood said. "It's about how much experience you have, because someone like the Philly Phanatic is going to get paid more because he's flying all over the country."

...

The secrecy of keeping a mascot's identity varies from team to team. While Famous Chicken Ted Giannoulas isn't shy about giving interviews, talking to a crowd or revealing who he is, Norwood said that there are members of Southpaw's family who don't know about the day job.

Blackhawks media representative Adam Rogowin said the team has a policy of not allowing Tommy Hawk to speak with the media or public. When Rusty practiced routines with the RailCats' dance team last season, media and cameras were limited so as not to reveal the identity of the man behind the suit.

"It's kind of like being Superman," Norwood said. "Once people realize there's someone inside, then the fantasy is ruined. That's one reason our performer doesn't go around telling people what he does. The way adults react toward Southpaw, they totally forget there's someone inside. We want to keep it that way."

Unlike most colleges, which rotate mascots as performers graduate, most professional teams hope to keep performers on the staff as long as possible. The directors say that fans notice anomalies in behavior of mascots, which is why a major league mascot like Southpaw has maintained continuity.

"People notice if Jammer goes from right-handed to left-handed when signing an autograph," Keegan said. "They note the small changes. ... Last year, our Jammer could ride a skateboard. If we have to find someone new, we have to find certain traits.

Read the entire article...

You can learn a lot from Wikipedia's NHL mascot page

Clearly, the decline of Encyclopedia Britannica is due to the fact that they didn't have comprehensive entries on topics such as this one: List of NHL mascots.

I thought I knew a lot about NHL mascots, but after reading this page I also learned that:

• Dallas, Edmonton, New York and Philadelphia* have never had mascots.
• The giant purple octopus the Red Wings use in the playoffs is called Al.
• Bailey, from the L.A. Kings, wears number 72 -- as in 72 degrees F, a nice sunny day in L.A.
  
• The Colorado Avalanche have had two mascots in their relatively short history. A St. Bernard and a Yeti.
• Harvey the Hound (Calgary) was the NHL's first mascot*, introduced in 1983.
• In Phoenix, Howler wears #96 on his jersey, they year the Jets moved to Phoenix. (Take that, Winnipeg.)
• The Ducks mascot, Wildwing, has a last name: Flashblade.
• The former Quebec Nordiques mascot was Badaboum, who looks a bit like a walrus.
• The former Winnipeg Jets mascot was Bennie, who looks like what happens when the Philly Phanatic mates with Grimace.

"The Flyers debuted a short-lived skating mascot named Slapshot in 1976. It remains the only mascot in Flyers' team history."

VIDEO: Rocky's Fantasy Factory "Nuggest Feet"

Guess we have a bit of a NBA mascot theme going on this week. I don't know why but I really like this dance video from the Denver Nuggets featuring their mascot, Rocky.

Promotions gone wrong: "A TV for Everyone"

From the Utah Jazz: "A TV For Everyone", starring The Bear.
Enjoy.

Law & Order: Mascots

Here's a recent article from the Sports & Entertainment Law Report: "Kansas City Royals Mascot Faces Lawsuit":

According to court papers filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, during a Royals game last September Sluggerrr, the mascot, hopped upon the Royals dugout, stuffed one or more hot dogs or sausages into an air canon, and blasted the crowd. Then, not happy with his feat of daring do, Sluggerrr allegedly dropped the booming bazooka and began throwing the meats into the crowds by hand — and threw a sausage directly into the waiting face of Royals fan John Coomer, who was sitting only a few feet away, about six rows from the dugout. Although at first it sounds like an amusing mishap, according to Coomer the misaimed dog struck him in the eye, detached his retina caused cataracts and has lead to at least two surgeries and permanent vision loss. More importantly, if the case is not settled its result could impact professional sports venues’ and teams liability in a variety of ways.

Read the entire article...

Fun facts about Youppi!

Wikipedia on Youppi:

• Created by the same marketing team who designed the Phanatic
• Was the first mascot to be ejected from a game - August 23, 1989. "In the 11th inning, while atop the visitors' dugout, Youppi! took a running leap, landing hard and noisily on its roof, and then snuck into a front row seat. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda complained to the umpires and Youppi! was ejected, though he later returned, confined to the home team's dugout roof."
• Is one of only three mascots in the baseball hall of fame.
• Is the only pro mascot that we know of that's switched sports - from the Expos to the Canadiens.

From a TSN/Canadian Press report:

[Youppi] has been picked up by the NHL Montreal Canadiens after intense negotiations with 10 different interested groups and companies, including the CFL's Montreal Alouettes.

Terms of the deal between the Expos and the Canadiens were not disclosed but one report said negotiations involved six figures.

Claude Delorme, a former vice-president of the Expos, said discussions began about a week after the club's home season ended.

Youppi!'s last official event was an Expos' game on Sept. 29, 2004 when the team played its final home game at the Olympic Stadium.

The National League club then moved to Washington to become the Nationals.

''He was actually with the Expos for 25 years but was off for 10 months since last October,'' said Delorme.

Delorme admits there were a few stumbling blocks along the way.

''It wasn't really a question of hard negotiations.

''What complicated it was really all the legal issues and we really had to deal with the Expos' rights on the uniform and it took several months and several batteries of lawyers to get there.

''For us it's a natural decision for the Canadiens to adopt him and keep the continuity of Youppi! in Montreal and Quebec.

Tommy Lasorda: I hate the Phillie Phanatic

More from our research into mascots ... here's an article from Tommy Lasorda's blog called "I hate the Phillie Phanatic".

In fact, I am not very happy about mascots in general. I think they take away from the game on the field.

One of the worst incidents was perpetrated by the Phillie Phanatic. The Dodgers were in town to play the Phillies and somehow, it got ahold of one of my jerseys. It took the jersey, put it on a dummy and ran over the dummy again and again.

That type of a display should not be shown in ballparks, especially in front of children. It exhibits violence and disrespect. Read on...

More fun facts about the Phanatic from Wikipedia:

• The Phanatic debuted on April 25, 1978 at The Vet when the Phils played the Chicago Cubs.
• The Phanatic was originally portrayed by Dave Raymond, who was then working as an intern in the team's front office, for fifteen years, from 1978 to 1993.
• In his book Pouring Six Beers At A Time, [Former Phillies VP Bill Giles] wrote of the worst decision of his life when it came to the creation of the Phanatic. The design would cost $5,200 for both the costume and the copyright ownership, or $3,900 just for the costume with Harrison/Erickson retaining the copyright. Giles chose to just buy the costume. Five years later, when Giles and his group of investors bought the team from Ruly Carpenter, the franchise paid $250,000 to Harrison/Erickson for the copyright.
• One week before the Phillies had their 2006 opener, the Phanatic was "dyed" red as part of the team's week-long promotion to "Paint the Town Red".
• He appeared in the closing credits of the film Rocky Balboa (2006).
• The Phanatic also has the dubious distinction of being the most sued mascot in sports. Most notably, the Phillies had to pay a judgment of $2.5 million to a man at a paint store event when the Phanatic jumped the patron with a rough-house bear hug, from which the man sustained serious back injuries.

VIDEO: A treasure trove of Famous Chicken videos

Just found this collection of Famous Chicken videos on YouTube while prepping for a class on mascots and performers. The Famous Chicken - aka The San Diego Chicken - is our favourite mascot of all time. Trivia: He is one of the few pro-sports mascots who talks.

We just need some more cowbell

Here's a fun article from The Business of Sports about the cowbell, and its role in game entertainment. The Cowbell and Sports:

Capitalizing on the cowbell craze that swept BankAtlantic Center last season, the [Florida] Panthers will give out 15,000 red cowbells at Saturday’s 2008-09 home opener. Don’t forget to bring earplugs.

Cowbells won’t just be for supporting the team, they’ll be introducing the team’s new inflatable mascot. Fear not, the popular Dancing Banana will still be making appearances this season.

The cowbell phenomenon at the Panthers started last December when Murphy Burch, a Panthers fan from Cooper City who will be dropping a ceremonial first puck Saturday, saw fans ringing cowbells at a Chicago Wolves minor league hockey game.

Burch, known as "VanMurph" on his Panthers jersey, had grown tired of noisy fans of opposing teams outnumbering -- or at least out-cheering -- Panthers fans at BankAtlantic Center. He bought a couple of cowbells to a game, then a couple more for some friends. Cowbells became a topic on the Panthers message board. Soon a clip of the popular Saturday Night Live skit in which Christopher Walken pleads for Blue Oyster Cult to use “more cowbell,” was playing on the scoreboard and cowbells were for sale at the team’s Pantherland store.

Read Burch's explanation of the cowbell movement here.

While the SNL skit has given renewed life to cowbells in pop culture, the cowbell has been intertwined with sports for years. Popular at minor league and college hockey games, cowbells have also been heard at the Olympics in support of downhill skiers and at bicycling races, among other events.

They’ve been so popular at college football games that the SEC instituted a ban on the noisy bells, threatening a loss of yardage should they get too loud. Fans of Mississippi State still smuggle in the bells.

The Tampa Bay Rays adopted cowbells in 2007 because principal team owner Stuart Sternberg loves the SNL skit. They’ve been handed out to Rays fans – fans in opposing team jerseys are denied – and are used when opposing players have two strikes.

Wikipedia has an entry on cowbells, including four paragraphs about their use in sports.

Mascots perform OK Go treadmill act

Nice find by Jon over at GameOps.com: The Denver Nuggest mascot Rocky & friends performing on treadmills to the OK GO song "Here We Go Again".

Fire stunt delay @ Spurs vs. Hornets game

Here's a vid from a mascot stunt during Game 1 of the Spurs-Hornets NBA playoff series.

Between the first and second quarter, Super Hugo (the Hornets mascot) jumped through a hoop of fire. The stunt went fine (thankfully), but then the gameday crew couldn't extinguish the flaming hoop. The game was delayed 19 minutes as the fire was extinguished and the resulting mess cleaned up.

This could be the beginning of the end of fire stunts in the NBA.

From the archives: Morganna the Kissing Bandit retires

Here's an article from 2001 that appeared on seattlepi.com:

"Morganna the Kissing Bandit," who for more than two decades became baseball's unofficial mascot by jumping onto fields and bussing unsuspecting players -- including George Brett at the 1979 All-Star Game in the Kingdome -- has kissed the game goodbye.

"Three or four months ago, she called me up and said, 'I'm retiring,'" her Tulsa-based agent Jon Terry said. "I have no information on why it was so abrupt, as she was someone who obviously loved attention.

"I don't if she thought she was too old or if it was a health problem. But she was as vivacious as ever. She's the grand dame of baseball."

...

An overly buxom woman who used to dress in hot pants and a tight shirt for her madcap dashes, Morganna is 47 now. She's no spring -- or San Diego -- chicken.

And, face it, she's been doing her player smooching in the minors for much of the past decade.

"She was greeted with a polite response from the 1,300 in the stands," a Charleston, W.Va., columnist wrote recently of a Morganna visit.

A Kentucky native, Morganna was 17 when she attended a 1971 Cincinnati Reds game and a friend dared her to run out on the field at Riverfront Stadium and give Pete Rose a kiss. Rose swore at her for the intrusion, then called her and apologized the next day.

It was the first of nearly two dozen big-league baseball kisses and one of hundreds involving entertainers and other athletes for Morganna, who realized the value of publicity. A Cincinnati sportswriter dubbed her the Kissing Bandit. It was a life of crime she could handle.

Either invited or uninvited, Morganna tried to plant a kiss on someone in each ballpark nationwide. Among her victims were Cal Ripken, Johnny Bench, Steve Garvey, Don Mattingly and Nolan Ryan. Brett got kissed twice. Her Mariners choice for a wet one was former catcher Steve Yeager.

At the '79 All-Star game, Morganna waited seven batters before bounding onto the Kingdome field in the first inning and sprinting for Brett. He got a hug and a kiss. The Mariners were said to have paid for this moment, according to one source.

"Definitely not for the All-Star Game," said Randy Adamack, Mariners vice president with the club since 1978. "We might have done it a few years later, maybe air fare."

In 1986, Morganna showed up in Seattle during the first week of the season and targeted Yeager. A notorious tobacco-chewer, the catcher received only a peck on the cheek. The visit was strategic.

"I told my fans I was going to New York after Mattingly, but their security was ready for me, so I thought I'd surprise everybody," Morganna told the P-I's Art Thiel in a Kingdome security office that night. "I had been planning to kiss Yeager for quite a while. Fans kept suggesting him. I had a break in my schedule and this looked like a good time."

Along the way, Morganna became an exotic dancer, working regularly in Las Vegas, Houston and Oklahoma City. It was good money, sometimes $7,000 to $10,000 per week. In 1985, Morganna was even brought to Tacoma to highlight the grand opening of a local club, Night Moves. She danced topless, signed T-shirts and drew a huge crowd.

...

She often signed her autographs "With breast wishes, Morganna."

Her kissing vocation was not all laughs and giggles. She was arrested and charged with trespassing nearly 20 times, often spending 12 to 14 hours in jail and paying a $100 fine.

You can read more about Morganna on SRO Productions' "Hall of Fame" page, including a little more background onto why she retired. In short -- the world changed, and teams became more concerned with security.

Forbes magazine on America's top sports mascots

Check out this article from Forbes about mascots and sports marketing. Some highlights:

• "What started out as a gimmick to entertain fans during breaks in the action has become an ultra-important component for major- and minor-league sports teams looking to market at the grass roots by nabbing new fans at increasingly earlier ages."

• "According to market researcher The Marketing Arm, original, modern mascots like the Chicken and the Philadelphia Phillies' Phillie Phanatic score the most recognition and resonance with fans ... Other mascots that scored highly on The Marketing Arm's Davie-Brown Index are Mr. Met (New York Mets), the Racing Sausages (Milwaukee Brewers) and Sourdough Sam (San Francisco 49ers). A common theme among the most popular: All are kid-friendly."

• "Rare nowadays is the vicious-looking tiger, or the fierce, non-politically-correct "Indian" wielding a tomahawk. Mean and scary is out, warm and fuzzy is in--all the better to warm youngsters' hearts. Bring a second-grader to a football or baseball game, and there's little chance he'll understand what's going on down on the field. But that muppet-like dinosaur or blue horse roaming the stands will draw his attention immediately. It's what will stay in his memory long after the game is over, all but ensuring an upbeat first impression. Presto: a fan for life."

• In addition to helping secure kids' allegiances, clubs utilize mascots to keep their images up in the local community. The Dallas Cowboys' Rowdy (a cowboy guy) and Chicago Bulls' Benny, both of whom made the Davie-Brown most-recognized list, are just two of the many mascots who represent teams at local hospitals, store openings and other assorted events."
  

(via GameOps.com)