The Dodgers, like their other “Los Angeles” clubs, have never had an official mascot. In recent years, the closest they’ve come is a “distinct performing persona,” whatever that means. The Dodgers debuted the “unique performing character” in 2014, but were hesitant to say it was a mascot. He’s called variously a “geep”, a “good-luck charm”, and more recently, a “representative of Dodger fans who have been known to wear gear bearing their likeness.” OK, so not exactly a mascot.
Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten said during an interview last year that there are no plans for a mascot at this time.
“We haven’t had any discussions about it,” he said. “I think our focus right now is trying to win games and give our fans something to cheer about.”
Some people may call him/her a mascot, but he/she isn’t really a mascot in the traditional sense of the word.
However, since 1998 they have used a cartoon character named Duggar Bueller (after John Hughes’ film series) to represent them at baseball games.
Duggar Bueller was created by Jeff Smith and originally appeared in an advertisement that ran in various newspapers across America in February of 1997. The ad invited fans to send in pictures of themselves with Duggar for a chance to win tickets to Game 7 of the National League Championship Series between the Cubs and Braves.
In 1998, after the success of the ad campaign, Smith created a full-length animated film called Duggars! The Movie that told the story of Duggar’s adventures with his friends and family. The movie came out on VHS in 1999 and DVD in 2000. A book based on the movie was also released in 1999.
During Game 7 of the 1998 NLCS, the Dodgers tweeted news of Duggar’s arrival via text message to their cellular phones. That same year, after the successful launch of Twitter, they also used it to tell fans that Duggar would be making an appearance at Dodger Stadium during Game 4 of that series.
The Dodgers have a mascot, but it isn’t called that. During their most recent homestand, the Dodgers unleashed an asexual costumed Dodger figure into the wild to mingle with fans. Look at this abomination: most right-thinking individuals would consider it a mascot. But don’t even think of calling it a mascot. That term has positive connotations, which this creature lacks.
It’s true that the Dodgers don’t have any negative associations with the word “mascot”. They just feel like being different is enough of a reason as anything else.
But if you really want to know what to call the Dodger mascot, then I guess you could call him that. However, since he doesn’t represent the team and they don’t use him as a marketing tool, we’ll just say that he’s an odd character who interacts with fans from time to time.
Except for three major-league clubs, all now have “official” mascots (Dodgers, Yankees, and Angels). Six club mascots have been inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame: Sluggerrr (Kansas City Royals), the San Diego Chicken, the Phillie Phanatic, Mr. Met, the Oriole Bird, and Slider (Cleveland Indians).
There were once eight major league teams that had mascots. The Buffalo Bisons/Braves (first franchise in 1871) and Washington Senators (first team in DC in 1961) were the only two teams that didn’t have one. The Baltimore Orioles did not adopt a mascot until 1954 when they chose Barney because “they wanted to get away from the image of being the Terrapins - a basketball team.” In 1995 the Orioles changed their name and became the O’s - no longer an organization - and lost their mascot status.
The Montreal Expos (1972-2004) were the only other team that didn’t have a mascot. The original intention was to have a bear representing the city but due to health concerns they switched to a robot called Émile.
There were proposals throughout the years by various groups to establish new franchises and most of them included a request to become a “mascot team”. None of these plans came to fruition.
In March 2010 it was announced that the Philadelphia Phillies would be adopting a new mascot to replace the Phillie Phanatic who had been with the team since 1980.
Mascots in the MLB are frequently employed to help sell the club and league to young children, like Sluggerrr (Kansas City Royals), the San Diego Chicken, the Phillie Phanatic, and Mr. Met (New York Mets).
In addition to these “licensed characters”, several real animals have been adopted as baseball team mascots. The Milwaukee Braves used a gorilla named Andy during their time in Atlanta; when they moved to Wisconsin in 1953, they brought Andy with them. A bear cub named Smokey also belonged to the Braves; he died in 1965 at the age of 11. The St. Louis Cardinals have used several dogs as their official mascot since 1954, when the then-newly renamed Cardinals brand began using a dog called Cardinal Pete to promote home games. Other dogs who have served as Cardinals mascot include Chief, who lived from 1955 to 1973; Barney, who lived from 1974 to 1990; and Scruffy, who has served since 1991.
The Cincinnati Reds had a gorilla named Andy in their organization from 1951 to 1952. When the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1960, it took Andy with them. A bulldog named Chuck used by the Dodgers from 1882 to 1890 has been adopted by the Reds as their official mascot.
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