What Is The Phillies Mascot?
The Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team’s official mascot is known as the Phillie Phanatic. He has a tongue that can expand and is a sizable, green, featherless bird. At Citizens Bank Park baseball games, he entertains the crowd with a variety of routines and represents the Phillies in public relations and charitable engagements. One…
The Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team’s official mascot is known as the Phillie Phanatic. He has a tongue that can expand and is a sizable, green, featherless bird. At Citizens Bank Park baseball games, he entertains the crowd with a variety of routines and represents the Phillies in public relations and charitable engagements. One of the most memorable mascots in North American sports, the Phanatic is largely regarded as one of the best ballpark mascots.
After the 1977 campaign, Dennis Lehman and Frank Sullivan, the Philadelphia Phillies’ promotions director, felt the team required a mascot that was comparable to the San Diego Chicken of the Padres. Harrison/Erickson of New York City, which had connections to Jim Henson’s Muppets and is now known as Acme Mascots, was the company that created The Phanatic. On the back of his jersey, he wears a star rather than a number. The character is named after the team’s devoted supporters.
Bill Giles claims that the Phanatic was developed to draw more families to the Phillies’ home field, Veterans Stadium.
When the Philadelphia Phillies played the Chicago Cubs at The Vet on April 25, 1978, The Phanatic made his debut. Tim McCarver, a former Phillies player, and club promoter, made him officially public on the locally produced children’s program “Captain Noah and His Magical Ark.”
Giles described how creating the Phanatic was the worst decision of his life in his book Pouring Six Beers at a Time.
The design would cost $3,900 for only the outfit with Harrison/Erickson keeping the copyright, or $5,200 for both the costume and copyright ownership. Giles opted to simply purchase the costume. The club paid $250,000 to Harrison/Erickson for the copyright when Giles and his group of partners acquired the team from Ruly Carpenter five years later.
