Stomper

I noticed that the mascot for the Oakland Athletics happens to be a walking elephant named Stomper dressed up in a baseball uniform. I wonder where that idea came from. My first encounter with Stomper was at a Milwaukee Brewers game. A group of baseball mascots came in to celebrate Bernie Brewer's birthday. Stomper was trying to hit a baseball but his trunk kept interfering. It was entertaining even though Stomper could not hit the ball in the air. The origin of the elephant on the jersey of the Oakland Athletics dates back to the days when the team was in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia A's were one of the original teams in the American League when it formed in 1901. The term white elephant was a remark from New York Giants manager John McGraw. He was describing the effort of industrialist Ben Shibe's investment in the Philadelphia baseball team. White elephants are rare and they are hard to take care of. In response to McGraw's comment, Mack adopted a white elephant as the mascot. John McGraw was so annoyed that he refused to play the A's in the 1904 World Series. That year and 1994 were the only two years there was not a World Series since 1903. The elephant appeared on the sleeve of the 1918 team uniforms. In 1920 a blue elephant actually replaced the A on the chest of the team's uniform. The elephant lost its color in 1924 becoming white. The A replaced the elephant on the front of the jersey in 1928. The elephant was retired in 1963 by then owner Charles O. Finley. He replaced it with a real live Missouri mule, named Charlie-O, the Mule. Since 1988 when the elephant came out of retirement it has been on the sleeve of A's uniforms. The 1988 team also went on to the 3 consecutive World Series appearances which made the elephant appear to bring some kind of good luck to the franchise. They lost to Los Angeles in 1988. They won the World Series in 1989 over cross bay rival San Francisco. They were swept in 1990 by Cincinnati.

Here are some basic facts about Stomper Elle Phant. Stomper made his debut April 2, 1997 on Opening Day. His likeness is somewhat based on that of slugger Mark McGwire. His parents are Stella & Stanley Elle Phant. His jersey number is 00. He is six feet, six inches tall. His weight is listed at one ton but I doubt it. His favorite team is obviously Oakland. His favorite colors are green and gold His favorite food is peanuts. No surprises here.