When this season’s MLB batting practice caps were released in early February, everyone focused on how cool it was that the Phillies’ design featured the Phillie Phanatic. Today the Phils are celebrating their mascot’s birthday by wearing that cap for their home game against the White Sox. Here are a couple of additional pics:
I love this! And did they go the extra mile by putting the Phanatic logo on their batting helmets? No, unfortunately:
That’s disappointing. First baseman Bryce Harper tried to single-handedly make up for it by wearing lots of Phanatics-green accessories — shoes, belt, shinguard, batting gloves, oven mitt:
Harper also gave the Phanatic a birthday present prior to the game:
Happy birthday, Phanatic! 🥳
From: Bryce pic.twitter.com/k8TYabF7Z6
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 21, 2024
I love every bit of this. The only downer: Yesterday was April 21, but Wikipedia says the Phanatic was actually born on April 25, 1978. But the Phils are on the road on April 25 this year, so I guess we can allow it. Here’s hoping they start wearing these caps on a semi-regular basis — and that they go for matching helmet decals to boot!
(My thanks to Christian Berumen, who was the first to bring this development to my attention.)
I LOVE EVERY BIT OF THIS
That Phanatic-peeking-out-from-the-sunglasses shot is great.
SO COOL
GOOD ON THE PHILLIES!
Signed, a Met fan
If I had known about this I might have considered the possibility of contemplating perhaps thinking about actually watching a baseball game.
Maybe.
I still remember watching the 1980 World Series. I was five years old and all I cared about was when they were going to show “that big green thing” again.
BRILLIANT! Now we need the Brewers to wear a Barrelman hat in game. :)
Agreed! But not their current Barrelman BP cap, but a Barrelman cap in actual team colors. And there’s precedent: The Crew have worn caps with Barrelman’s face both with their TATC unis and with their Youniform duds. Those are my two top favorite Brewers caps all-time.
I’ve been saying for years the Phillies need to put the phantic in every pieces of equipment for regular season games. Half the crowd is there to see the phillie phantic I’ve loved the phanatic since 1980 keep him on the equipment
We need more of this
This is true city connect
fun and also a beautiful hat.
The Phillies celebrate the Phanatics birthday on a Sunday…in 2015 it was on April 17..2018 April 29…they have even pushed his party until May and June. Sorry….I know way too much about this.
And Kevin Millwood got him the best gift ever. link
It may be that the Phanatic’s birthday follows a lunar calendar, or a lunisolar algorithm like that used to fix the date of Easter.
Love everything about this, it is what makes following a team a satisfying experience even when the results are disappointing. Yes, I support the Mets and I love our mascots but the Philly Phanatic is royalty.
That hat is very good, hope they wear it more often.
I still have an irrational hatred of the Pirates because of the Phanatic. At the 2nd game I ever saw at The Vet, they knocked him off his ATV, stole it, and beat him up in the dugout. It was 1980. I was 4.
As someone who loves the Phanatic, I was not a fan of this. Major league ballcaps have letters on them, not mascot logos. Celebrate his birthday with a jersey patch. I’d even accept a Phanatic-green P on the hat instead. Now get off my lawn.
Harper wearing an excessive amount of Phanatic-green gear was not a birthday day thing, he has been doing that pandering / attention seeking thing pretty much since he showed up to Philly.
Even the belt??
I’ve seen that belt before. But all the other stuff is fairly standard on him.
Not sure about the belt, but shoes, gloves, headband, oven mitt, and various padding have been pretty common for him the last few years.
….So teams can wear their BP hats in regular season games….?
Surprised MLB allows this. Have any other teams done this or are planning to?
link
Thanks for the link.
The Yankees and the Koch family…yep, that tracks.
The Rockies’ mascot Dinger also celebrated a birthday recently, but no corresponding headwear unfortunately :(
The worst part of this is that the hat really could have been a basis for the City Connect IMHO. But they did what they did instead. Sad.
Phillies players wearing a hat with the Phanatic wearing a hat. This is like a UniWatch fractal.
Based on the screenshots these look like these aren’t the standard textured BP caps? Hard to tell though.
We don’t mascots on the caps or uniforms. Those caps look like single A or double A baseball. The Phillies have one of the best uniforms. They should stick with the red caps and pinstripes for ALL home games and the grays on the road. And have all players wear red shoes. Get rid of everything else.