I Hate the Phillie Phanatic
I hate the Phillie Phanatic.In fact, I am not very happy about mascots in general. I think they take away from the game on the field.
One of the worst incidents was perpetrated by the Phillie Phanatic. The Dodgers were in town to play the Phillies and somehow, it got ahold of one of my jerseys. It took the jersey, put it on a dummy and ran over the dummy again and again.
That type of a display should not be shown in ballparks, especially in front of children. It exhibits violence and disrespect.
I pulled the Phanatic aside and said, “Why don’t you run over a dummy with a Phillies jersey?”
I called the front office of the Phillies and told them how I felt. They can play with kids in the stands, but running over the dummy was simply wrong, and that kids would get the wrong impression. Apparently, they didn’t care.
The next time we were in Philadelphia, I confronted the Phanatic. I told it not to use my jersey anymore, and so the next time he did, I was forced to act. I went right up to it and body slammed it to the turf.
I often wondered how it got my jersey, and then I found out how. Steve Sax would give it the jerseys because my players thought it was a funny thing to do.
Labels: tommy lasorda
