Monday, February 24, 2020

Grapefruit Game 2 - Phillie Phanatic Evolution

2020 Chachi Preview #10

2001 Nabisco Phillies
 
1992 Donruss Triple Play #133
 
2019 Topps Opening Day
Mascots #M-21
Phillies 4, Pirates 3 (10 Innings)
Spring Training Game 2 - Sunday Afternoon, February 23rd in Clearwater
Record - 1-0-1

One Sentence Summary:  Jay Bruce's two-run double in the first paced the offense and Aaron Nola pitched two scoreless innings in his spring debut.

What It Means:  Everything stopped on Sunday afternoon as my family and I gathered around the TV and watched the first few innings of the game - the first of many games we'll watch together in 2020.

What Happened:  The Phillies enjoyed a four-run first inning and made the lead stand the rest of the game.  Jean Segura and Kyle Garlick accounted for the other two Phillies runs with RBI singles.  Nola allowed three hits and struck out a batter in his outing.

Featured Card:  It was exciting to watch the Phillies on TV again, but the big news for the club was the "evolution" of the team's mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, who debuted his new look.  For the record, I'm fine with this.  He looks strange for now, but our kids seemed to shrug off the changes and fans will get used to the new look over time.  There's a copyright lawsuit going on now between the Phillies and the original creators of the Phanatic (Harrison/Erickson) and the tweaks to the Phanatic's appearance are mostly, if not entirely, due to that.

The new look Phanatic has actual hands, some sort of scalloped wings on his arms and star shapes around his eyes.  His eyes are now surrounded by bushier blue fuzz.  He appears to be skinnier with a blue tail feather and he's wearing blue socks with red shoes.  His snout is also shorter.  Shown above are a few cards tracking the evolution of the best mascot in baseball over the years.

Camp Head Count:  70

4 comments:

night owl said...

This Phillie Phanatic situation is so weird. I agree, the changes don't effect things TOO much but the fact the changes were made and for legal reasons is strange. I guess I'll have to see him in action on TV to determine how different he is.

Brett Alan said...

Uni Watch has a rundown of the changes to the Phanatic and some commentary today. https://uni-watch.com/2020/02/24/phils-phan-phlames-of-controversy-with-new-look-phanatic/

Jim said...

The bushy eyebrows and the weird scales under his arms bother me a little, but he's still the Phanatic.

Brett - Thanks for the link!

Jim from Downingtown said...

If the Phanatic becomes a big story this year, it's going to be a looooong season.