For The Love Of Friar
- friarphilsd
- May 2, 2017
- 6 min read
Mascots. Some people love them and some people hate them.
(L to R back row) Bernie Brewer (Milwaukie Brewers), Philly Phanatic (Philadelphia Phillies), Dinger (Colorado Rockies), Wally The Green Monster (Boston RedSox), Sluggerrr (Kansas City Royals), Screech (Washington Nationals), Southpaw (Chicago White Sox), Orbit (Houston Astros), Pirate Parrot (Pittsburgh Pirates)
(L to R middle row) Slider (Cleveland Indians), Raymond (Tampa Bay Rays), Ace (Toronto Blue Jays), Fredbird (St. Louis Cardinals), Billy The Marlin (Miami Marlins), Rangers Captain (Texas Rangers), Mr. Met (New York Mets), Clark (Chicago Cubs), Lou Seal (San Francisco Giants)
(L to R front row) Swinging Friar (San Diego Padres), Stomper (Oakland Athletics), Paws (Detroit Tigers), Mariner Moose (Seattle Mariners), Baxter the Bobcat (Arizona Diamondbacks), Rosie Red (Cincinnati Reds), The Oriole Bird (Baltimore Orioles)
No matter how adults feel about them one thing is for certain. Kids love these larger than life characters. Mascots are not exclusive to MLB. Many Minor League teams have their own mascots.
All but three major-league teams have "official" mascots (Dodgers, Yankees, and Angels). Three team mascots — the Phillie Phanatic, Mr. Met, and Slider (Cleveland Indians) — have been inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame. Several others have been nominated since the Hall's creation in 2005.
They are working on building a real Mascot Hall of Fame. The website says, "Coming to Whiting, Indiana · Spring 2018".
The National Mascot Hall of Fame will be opening its doors in 2018 in Whiting, Indiana. The 25,000 square foot, multi-million dollar facility will be a state-of-the-art, interactive, family fun zone, with a wide range of exhibits, activities and events that celebrate mascot fun.
On Twitter there are a bunch of official Mascot accounts. TC Bear (@TC_00 ) is one of the most active mascot accounts.
Not only can kids (with their parents) access their favorite mascot they can also contact him during games. Most of the active mascot accounts on Twiiter are monitored during games so parents can tell the mascot where they are sitting to the delight of their kids.
Boston Red Sox "Wally The Great Green Monster" (@Wally97) also is very active during games.
Over in Pheonix, the Diamondbacks have a cheeky mascot called Baxter The Bobcat.
Baxter, like many of the mascots that keep up a character Twitter, interacts with fans and other mascots. The Dbacks, like many others, use the Baxter account to its full advantage. It seems Dback fans love their Bobcat and a Twitter account puts him directly in contact with fans- especially fans with kids at the ballpark.
Most mascots, both in MLB and MiLB, participate in many private and public community events. I have to give the men and women who live inside the mascot's costume a lot of credit. Not only for the way they engage the fans and delight the kids at ballgames but also for doing their jobs on really hot days. It has to be sweltering in some of the mascot costumes. Despite the heat these men and women faithfully do their jobs!
Here in San Diego we have an official and unofficial mascot. The unofficial one, that hasn't surfaced for a long time is the San Diego Chicken!
The "Swinging Friar" is currently the mascot of the team. Some in the past have confused The Famous Chicken as the mascot of the Padres. Although he does make appearances occasionally at San Diego sporting events, he has never been the official mascot of any San Diego sports team.
Our official San Diego Padres mascot is the Swinging Friar. He, along with the Padres' Pad Squad ( @PadSquad ), also participates in many private and public events.
The Swinging Friar has been a mascot with the team as early as 1958, when the Padres were still a member of the Pacific Coast League, a minor league baseball organization. He was named after the Spanish Franciscan friars, who founded the Mission San Diego de Alcalá, around which the city of San Diego began to emerge in the 18th century. The Padres joined Major League Baseball in 1969 and kept the popular mascot.
Originally, The Swinging Friar was represented at the ballpark as a real man wearing a friar outfit. Since his return, the character has been a full mascot costume.
He was even on the team emblem until 1984. Wanting a more "professional" image, the owners introduced a more corporate logo. In 1996, he was brought back as a sleeve patch for the club's blue alternate jerseys, and though the team has changed its logo and colors since then, the Friar remains there to this day.
Petco (the store) provides two more unofficial mascots that, from what I have seen at games, children love!
Red Ruff and Blue Mew wander around Petco Park during games.
The Swinging Friar can be found wandering around Petco Park during games as well.
When he participates in community events it is usually in conjunction with the Padres' Pad Squad. Updates about the events and other Swinging Friar news can be found on their Twitter page.
As you can see, below, many of the MLB mascots tweet from their own official Twitter accounts. Last season I asked the Padres if they were planning on giving the Swinging Friar his own Twitter account to interact with Padres fans.
Flash foward to 2017 and there still is no active account. There are three or four accounts, on Twitter, that use the "Swinging Friar" name but all are inactive. One of them- @SwingingFriarSD
says that "This account is owned by @TyNowell for the future use of the @Padres." It was created May 2013 and is still dormant with no posts.
I follow all the MLB mascots on my Twitter account and I have seen how well these mascot accounts work. Most, if not all, are great marketing tools. Young and old people - especially those with young kids- love their team's mascot.
I am very impressed by the way some of these mascot Twitter accopunts interact with fans both during games and after.
I think our Swinging Friar needs his own active Twitter account. Some connected with the Padres may say that his comings and goings are already posted on the Pad Squad Twitter. That may be so but they usually mention him only if he accompinies the Pad Squad to an event.
Mascots with their own, active Twitter accounts are able to engage fans in real time during the game. I can't begin to tell you how many tweets I have seen that praise and give gratitude to their teams mascot for hooking up on Twitter and coming over to where the adults and their kids were sitting.
The Swinging Friar is a big part of San Diego Padres baseball. I think it would be great for the fans and especially great for kids if their parents can summon the happy Swinging Friar to come visit them during a game.
For the love of the Friar, Padres, please make him an official Twitter account!
The Dodgers, Yankees and Angels have no official mascot. Although the Angels have "Rally Monkey" and the Dodgers had this guy wandering around Dodger Stadium in the past.
Anyone know anything about the Dodger's boy?
The linked mascots, below, go to their official Twitter page. The Rockies mascot Dinger, St. Louis' Fredbird, Atlanta's Homer The Brave, Cincinatti's Mr. Red & Mr. Redlegs, The Phillie Phanatic and the Padres' Swinging Friar all do not have official Twitter accounts.
Here are the links. See if your team has an official mascot Twitter account and if not as the team why!
Dinger (Colorado Rockies)- [No Official Twitter Account]
Fredbird (St. Louis Cardinals) Like The Pad Squad Fredbird is on a Fredbird Team Twitter so he does not tweet himself.
Homer The Brave (Atlanta Braves) [No Official Twitter Account]
Mr. Red (Cincinnati Reds)- [No Official Twitter Account]
Mr. Redlegs (Cincinnati Reds)- [No OfficialTwitter Account]
Phillie Phanatic (Philadelphia Phillies)- [No Official Twitter Account]
Swinging Friar (San Diego Padres)- [Not Official - Pending Padres approval]
SAN DIEGO AFFILIATE MiLB MASCOTS:
This bunny is named Jackpot and is with the Storm. According to the Storm's official website Jackpot has been around for a long time. "Jackpot has been with the Storm since their inception in 1994 making him the longest employed mascot in Storm Franchise History."
The San Antonio Mission have two mascots that will make you hungry! This is Ballapeno and Henry The Puffy Taco below:
This is Chico. I could not find a Twitter account for him. The link, below, goes to the official MiLB page for Chico.
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