Mascot Week: Southpaw

This is Mascot Week.  All week. I shall be featuring some of my favorite mascots.

I fully admit I am not a huge fan of the White Sox, although I have warmed up to them a bit over the last couple years. My interest in the team seems to come and go.

That doesn't stop me from having interest in Southpaw. I think he's the best mascot they have ever had.

Like a lot of mascots, Southpaw's species is unknown, but he is listed as "a fuzzy green dude." Hi favorite food is ants on a log, but not real ants, since he is not an anteater.

His name derives from his southside birth and his left-handedness. He made his major league debut on June 13, 2004. Southpaw is a friendly sort and states that he is buddies with all other mascots. In fact, I have seen him hanging out with other mascots several times, including at Swiper's annual birthday celebration at the Chicago Bandits ball park.

The White Sox mascot history isn't good. They hired the marketing team that created the Phillie Phanatic to design mascots and they developed Ribbie and Roobarb. Ribbie was an anteater and Roobarb was undetermined.

The new mascots signaled the end of Andy the Clown, a fixture at White Sox games for years. The Sox reversed that decision, but limited his action. It was a bit unpleasant. The new mascots were pretty unpopular with everyone and were eventually retired in 1988.

It was odd that mascots were so critically viewed. I have an odd fascination and soft spot for mascots, yet I didn't even like those two.

Fortunately, Southpaw came along and has been very popular with fans. I know I definitely like the big green fuzzy dude!

Southpaw and me in Rosemont, IL-July 2017.

Friendly Encounters: Southpaw and Jimmy Blaze

Friendly Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends who have met celebrities.

I met Psychotic Jimmy Blaze several years back at a POWW event. Jim wrestled there and also ran the show.

Jim always welcomed us at his shows and we did some interviews of him and his talented wrestler roster. He's a hard-working promoter and wrestler and he's a good guy.

POWW usually rotates their shows at a handful of northwest suburban venues. Every summer POWW runs events on the southside of Chicago. That is where Jim met Southpaw, the beloved mascot of the Chicago White Sox.

Jim is a Sox fan and was happy to meet Southpaw. I don't know how big of a wrestling fan Southpaw is, but he seemed happy to meet Jim or maybe he was afraid of being clotheslined by him. Either way, it made for a good picture.

For more info on POWW, including matches and locations for their next events, check out the POWW Facebook page. A night at POWW is always a night of fun.

Jim Blaze and Southpaw in Chicago, IL-July 2018.

Friendly Encounters: Southpaw and Glen Rylko

Friendly Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends who have met celebrities.

My buddy Glen Rylko is a bit late for my "Mascot Week," but that won't stop me from running his picture, espceially since baseball season is underway.  Glen is a big fan of the White Sox and it has been evident in some of his previous appearances here.  This time, he is featured with Southpaw, the newest mascot of the Sox.

Southpaw debuted in June of 2004.  I don't know what exactly Southpaw is.  Maybe nobody knows.  Maybe he isn;t anything specifically.  He might just be a bigm, fluffy generic mascot.

Anyway, he is an improvement over the Sox mascots of my youth.  As mascots started popping up everywhere, the Sox created Ribbie and Rhubarb.  I guess they were popular with the really young folks, but nobody else seemed to care for them.  Then again, most grownups don't care for any mascots.

I do have an appreciation for mascots though.  Any company can toss out some poor guy in a goofy, nondescript mascot costume, but a well-crafted mascot with a talented person inside can actually be entertaining and charming.

On the other side, Glen might say he is charming and entertaining.  I can't argue that.  He is a good guy and we cross paths at various comic cons and wrestling events.  Those events don't usually have mascots though.  They don't need them.  There are already anough characters present.

Glen Rylko and Southpaw in Chicago, IL-June 2016.