The Accidental Mascot: How Mr. Celery Reached His Salad Days with the Wilmington Blue Rocks

Introduction

Mascots have a long history in minor-league baseball as rallying forces or ongoing symbols of their team. Some minor-league teams have long-standing traditional mascots, perhaps based on local or regional attributes, while other teams which are owned by, or have long-standing relationships with, a major-league parent, such as the Reading Phillies or the Pawtucket Red Sox, often have a junior version of the parent club’s mascot.¹ Whatever their historic derivation, minor-league team mascots serve an important role in generating excitement and coalescing support for the home team. Similarly, some teams have logos, symbols, or even fight songs which serve as rallying points for fans.

Although it is not uncommon for an impromptu symbol, slogan, or cheer to arise in the heat of a pennant race, it is rare when a full-blown mascot suddenly appears and becomes wildly popular, particularly when the mascot in question has no discernible features or connections whatsoever to the team. In 2000, one such “accidental mascot”—a celery stalk—took the fans of the Wilmington Blue Rocks by storm. This paper will discuss the germination and evolution of Mr. Celery as a mascot, particularly his impact fanatically and economically on the Blue Rocks and their fans; the implications on sponsors and other stakeholders on the addition of new mascots; and the place of new mascots in existing promotional, marketing, merchandising programs and operations for the team.

Historical Development and Significance of Mascots and Other Symbols

Mascot: a person or thing held to bring good luck; something regarded as a cherished emblem or symbol.

The word mascot, which may have been first used dialectically in Provence and Gascony to describe anything that brought luck to a household, was subsequently popularized by a comic operetta entitled La Mascotte.² In the United States, mascots have traditionally been chosen to reflect qualities (such as the fighting spirit personified by predatory animals or warriors) or local or regional traits.

Some minor-league teams have long-standing traditional mascots, such as Wool E. Bull (Durham Bulls) or Muddy the Mud Hen (Toledo Mud Hens). Other minor-league teams have local or regional features which have been used to create a mascot—for example, Champ, the purported underwater denizen of Lake Champlain who serves as mascot for the Vermont Lake Monsters. Successful mascots such as Champ survive even when team ownership is in peril or changes hands. The mascot is part of the team, not the ownership group. It has its own identity, and its own fan base, which transcends that of any owner.

A recent Mascot Mania contest sponsored by Minor League Baseball (MiLB) demonstrates the fierce loyalty of fans to their mascots. In Spring 2012, MiLB created a 64-spot playoff bracket (similar to the brackets for the ncaa men’s and women’s basketball tournaments) and conducted six rounds of voting to reduce the field to a “Final Four” of Ike the Spike (State College Spikes, Pirates); Orbit (Albuquerque Isotopes, Dodgers); Phinley (Clearwater Threshers, Phillies); and Snappy D. Turtle (Beloit Snappers, Twins.) It is not clear how MiLB selected 64 mascots from over 150 minor-league teams. However, hundreds of messages posted on MiLB’s website indicated that many fans were upset that their favorite mascots were not in the field of 64. Many of the 326 comments bemoaned the exclusion of mascots such as Spikes (Rochester Red Wings), Sox the Fox (Colorado Springs), Scrappy (Mahoning Valley Scrappers), and Humphrey (Boise Hawks.)

It is not uncommon for impromptu symbols to arise in the heat of a pennant race or season. For example, the Los Angeles Angels’ Rally Monkey mascot debuted on June 6, 2000, when, with the Angels trailing the San Francisco Giants 5–4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, two video board operators took a clip of a monkey jumping around from the 1994 movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, superimposing the words rally monkey on the screen. The Angels scored two runs, won the game, and a mascot was born. The team subsequently hired...