So here is our first report from our summer writing project. The girls and I wrote a letter to each mascot in Major League Baseball. There are 28 that we know of. And a few teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Angels and Cubs do not have cute, lovable mascots — or at least mascots we could find from our research scanning the kids pages of MLB.com. And some teams, like the Reds (Gapper and Mr. Redlegs — who replaced the now-retired Mr. Red) and the Pirates (Pirate Parrot and Captain Jolly Rogers) have two mascots.
We wrote a letter to each mascot asking them a few baseball questions like: “Who is your best mascot friend?” and “What do you like to do to make the fans go crazy?” and “What is your favorite thing about baseball?” and “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Questions from a 6 and 3-year-old and maybe a question or two that I threw in as well.
This letter-writing campaign started when we were watching the Royals play the Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg in July. (We referred to that stadium as the Casserole Pot. It’s not much to look at from the outside and it’s got this cute little topper in the center of the roof, it just reminds me of my grandma’s casserole pots!) So, anyway, we’re watching the game in the dome (first dome game for me and the girls) and we see their mascot, Raymond, who is an Aardvark.
He comes down our aisle but doesn’t linger long enough for the girls to get hugs. See, a great baseball game at our house means one thing and one thing only — getting hugs from the mascots. The girls take mascots and fireworks at the ballpark for granted. Katie doesn’t realize that fireworks are shot off traditionally for the Fourth of July holiday, she thinks it’s the special privilege of ballparks.
So we must scan the crowds looking for Raymond.
“Where is Raymond? I don’t see Raymond. Can I have more food,” the three-year-old asks constantly.
Between innings, the Rays have their own heated running race between unusual objects. In Kansas City it’s the hot dog race between ketchup, mustard and relish, but in Tropicana Field it’s a bottle race. I cannot remember if there’s a racing orange juice or not. (Feel free to enlighten me on the bottle participants.) Anyway, the girls are glued to Raymond and are quite appalled when they see their new idol TRIP the water bottle.
“Why did Raymond trip the water bottle?” is the question we must field the rest of the game.
We do not have a good answer. The helpful guy seating in front of us who told us during the first inning that Raymond is in fact an aardvark mascot, cannot help us out either. We wonder if aardvarks have an aversion to water like cats do or something.
Then, in the eighth inning, the girls are excited to get a handshake from Raymond — donning his Rally Ray cape — on the way back from across the stadium after finding that the stingrays tank is closed. (The guy in the row in front of us warned us it was kind of nasty anyway.)
So with a glimpse of the Raymond/Rally Ray Raymond the girls are still concerned how a “superhero” aardvark mascot could get away with tripping a bottle race participant. I suggest we write a letter to Raymond. This in turn, becomes THE summer project of writing to ALL MLB mascots. We mailed out the letters the first part of August.
We are pleased to report that we have received letters back from five mascots, including Raymond of the Rays. Raymond writes: “I tripped the Bottle because he always wins. I try to let the other bottles win.” This seemed to satisfy the girls, as well as the accompanying stuff in the box of goodies. Raymond sent BamBams and two backpacks and stickers. The girls are now lifelong Raymond fans.
The Orioles Bird, who says his favorite thing about baseball is “the home runs and all the mascots” sent the girls instant tattoos, car magnets, Old Bay spice packets (very clever, I think) as well as the team’s schedule card.
The Phillie Phanatic living at the Citizens Bank Park, sent the girls an autographed copy of his birthday book along with an 8.5 x 11 “limited edition” photo card.
The girls have also received great letters from Dinger the Rockies purple dinosaur and Rangers Captain, the horse mascot of Texas.
Ranger Captain’s favorite thing about baseball “has to be hearing one of our players hit a home run. The sound of the baseball hitting the bat and then sailing into the stands is awesome.”
And Dinger says his favorite thing about baseball is the relationships. “All over the park you see Fathers and Sons, Husbands and Wives, Brothers and Sisters, First dates, and Best Friends enjoying baseball together.”
We think it’s a great relationship with fans when the mascots take the time to write back. It keeps the girls running to the mailbox daily.
