Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
In an entirely cynical world, it was only a matter of time before the conversation of whether or not to outlaw MLB Mascot’s was brought to the table. After years of the Phillie Phanatic torturing Philadelphia Phillies fans, a mascot that goes by the name of “Oriole Bird” is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Prior to the seventh inning in Sunday’s thriller between the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers, the hometown birds were unable to muster a single run.
In the middle of the seventh inning, Oriole Bird swiftly jumped on top of the home dugout to kindly remove his cap during the signing of “God Bless America.” Baltimore’s mascot accidentally dropped his enlarged cap and Adam Jones placed it on his cap to poke fun at how big the hat actually is. Well, this brought the team some good fortune as they nailed three runs in the bottom of the seventh and went on to win the crucial game by a score of 4-2.
All’s well that end’s well some say, yet the issue of the mascot affecting the game and the fans that attend the game is not going anywhere. This is a unique case where the mascot exists solely to excite the fans — if the fans are more annoyed than entertained than the fluffy bird should be nixed. If baseball wasn’t in shambles attendance wise I would say get rid of the gimmicks, but I’m interested to see who exactly wants the pesky characters to stay in ballparks across the league.
Keep in mind, the Oriole Bird has been around since 1979 and there are 37 mascots around professional baseball — a few teams have multiple while others to not have any.
