For those of you who know me personally you know that writing about baseball isn’t something I do because I’m bored, but instead its something I do because of how much the game of baseball means to me. Most of the pictures of me from the ages of 4 to 15 are me with a glove on, or swinging a bat, or with my dad at one of his softball games. So even though I talk about jobs that are under appreciated, I still firmly believe that a bad day working at a baseball field, is still probably a heck of a lot better then a good day at a lot of other jobs.
However, there is one job in baseball that I consider to possibly be one of the worst jobs, that does not threaten your life, that I have ever been around. This job is not easy, despite what fans think, and can at times be brutal to the individual doing it. This job is far an away my #1 most under appreciated job in baseball.
And the Loser…I mean winner is…….
To complete my first series here on 9 Inning Know It All I give you the MOST UNDER APPRECIATED JOB IN BASEBALL…..The Mascot!!!!!!!
Before I get into the good and bad of the job let me first break down my favorite and least favorite mascots.
For the best mascot of all time I easily, hands down give it to THE CHICKEN. No mascot is funnier and more enjoyable then The Chicken. If you haven’t seen The Chicken in person you are missing out on a legend of a mascot.
For my least favorite mascot of all time this one goes to Stanford’s Tree. ITS A TREE. Really how proud of your mascot can you be when the only thing it does is fall over when the wind blows it. This is even worse than Ilwaco high school’s mascot of the fisherman. At least the fisherman makes sense and can make the claim he fishes for great white sharks, but once again a tree is just a tree.
The Good
So here are the good things about being a mascot.
- Most kids think your cool, as long as they are under the age of 10 and not afraid of you. (Don’t worry kids I think the Volcanoes mascot Crater is a little scary too)
- Lets see….hmmmmm….well…..Okay so that is the only good thing about being a mascot.
The Bad
This list may get long so please bare with me.
- Getting kicked in the shins daily
- Having your costume pulled apart by little kids
- Being made fun of by adults
- Falling off a dugout and breaking your leg (Crater did this a few years ago)
- Roller Blading behind a quad and losing control and slamming into the wall and breaking your leg (Mariner Moose in the Kingdom)
- Mascot costumes aren’t nice and cool, when the sun comes out you can bake in those costumes. There is a reason why Disneyland only lets people in costume stay in them for like 20 minutes.
- The smell!!! (Refer to previous point to understand)
- Security takes every opportunity to give you grief
- Posing for endless photos with kids who had their picture taken with you every night that week
- Being tripped intentionally every time you race a kid around the bases.
- I could keep going on but I think you get the idea
To all the Mascots out there, I salute you, and wonder if you aren’t a little crazy for doing it.
Don’t Forget
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