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Cheating in online games

On online games, cheating subverts the rules or mechanics of the games to gain an unfair advantage over other players, generally with the use of third-party software. What constitutes cheating is dependent on the game in question, its rules, and consensus opinion as to whether a particular activity is considered to be cheating.

Cheating is present in most multiplayer online games, but it is difficult to measure. Various methods of cheating in online games can take the form of software assistance, such as scripts and bots, and various forms of unsporting play taking advantage of exploits within the game. The Internet and darknets can provide players with the methodology necessary to cheat in online games, with software often available for purchase.

As methods of cheating have advanced, video game publishers have similarly increased methods of anti-cheating, but are still limited in their effectiveness. Punishments for cheaters also have various forms, with legal measures also being taken against those who create or use cheats. While some countries include laws that prohibit and punish cheating, video game companies have a history of citing copyright infringement in lawsuits against cheaters.

Aimbots and triggerbots
An aimbot or autoaim is a type of computer game bot most commonly used in first-person shooter games to provide varying levels of automated target acquisition and calibration to the player. They are sometimes used along with a triggerbot, which automatically shoots when an opponent appears within the field-of-view or aiming reticule of the player.

Aimbotting relies on each player's client computer receiving information about all other players, whether they are visible from the player's position or not. Targeting is a matter of determining the location of any opponent relative to the player's location and pointing the player's weapon at the target. This targeting works regardless of whether the opponent is behind walls or too far away to be seen directly.

Some servers allow inactive players to spectate, watching the game from the viewpoints of the active players. Recording of gameplay actions is also often possible. If someone was using a targeting aimbot, the bot would be obvious to the spectator as unnatural exact position tracking. Some aimbots and triggerbots attempt to hide from spectators the fact they are being used through a number of methods, such as delaying firing to hide the fact it shoots the instant an opponent is in the cheater's crosshair. Some triggerbot programs can be easily toggled on and off using the mouse or keyboard.

Cheat suites may incorporate these in addition to other features, including adjustments to extrasensory perception, move speed, ammo count, and player radar. Neophytes may colloquially define these suites as aimbot programs.

Artificial lag/lag switch
In the peer-to-peer gaming model, lagging is what happens when the stream of data between one or more players gets slowed or interrupted, causing movement to stutter and making opponents appear to behave erratically. By using a lag switch, a player is able to disrupt uploads from the client to the server, while their own client queues up the actions performed. The goal is to gain advantage over another player without reciprocation; opponents slow down or stop moving, allowing the lag switch user to easily outmaneuver them. From the opponent's perspective, the player using the device may appear to be teleporting, invisible or invincible, while the opponents suffer delayed animations and fast-forwarded game play, delivered in bursts. Some gaming communities refer to this method as "tapping" which refers to the users "tapping" on and off their internet connection to create the lag.

The term "lag switch" encompasses many methods of disrupting the network communication between a client and its server. One method is by attaching a physical device, called a hardware lag switch, to a standard Ethernet cable. By flipping the switch on and off, the physical connection between the client and the server is disrupted. The designers of video game console hardware have started to introduce built-in protection against lag switches in the form of voltage detectors, which detect a change in voltage when the switch is flipped. Some manufacturers have taken counter measures to bypass or trick this detector. This can also be achieved by simply unplugging the Ethernet cord going to the client, causing a disruption in the player's internet connection. Other methods, called a software or wireless lag switch, involve using a computer program. In this method, the cheater runs an application on a computer connected to the same network as the client. The application hogs the network bandwidth, disrupting the communication between the client and its server. However, one cannot do this for an unlimited amount of time. At some point, if no traffic is being received, most game clients and/or game servers will decide that the connection has been lost and will remove the player from the game. In some P2P games, it can result in all players lagging or being disconnected from the game.

Simpler methods are firewall or router rules that apply bandwidth shaping and network latency, a cheat is able to adjust limits on both bandwidth and latency to stay relevant to a P2P network yet have considerable advantage over other players.

Look-ahead
Look-ahead cheating is a method of cheating within a peer-to-peer multiplayer gaming architecture where the cheating client gains an unfair advantage by delaying their actions to see what other players do before announcing its own action.

A client can cheat using this method by acting as if it is suffering from high latency; the outgoing packet is forged by attaching a time-stamp that is prior to the actual moment the packet is sent, thereby fooling other clients into thinking that the action was sent at the correct time, but was delayed in arrival. A partial solution is the lockstep protocol.

World-hacking
World-hacking is a method or third-party program that enables a user to exploit bugs and to view more of a level than intended by the developer.

A common aspect of real-time strategy games is the player's partial limitation or complete inability to see beyond the visibility range of individual game objects that are under their ownership (typically units and structures); this concept is controlled by a mechanism known as the fog of war. World-hacking usually enables the user to bypass this mechanism, either by removing it entirely and/or by rendering objects through the fog that would not normally be visible. In multiplayer modes, this allows for a distinct advantage against the other players who are subject to the intended settings. The advantage gained can be substantial, especially for the average real-time strategy games that rely on the rock paper scissors dynamic to balance out individual objects' varying strengths and weaknesses.

World-hacking may also allow a player to see through solid or opaque objects and/or manipulate or remove textures, to know in advance when an opponent is about to come into targeting range from an occluded area. This can be done by making wall textures transparent, or modifying the game maps to insert polygonal holes into otherwise solid walls. This variation is commonly known as a "wallhack" since it basically allows to the player to see enemies through walls.

World-hacking relies on the fact that an FPS server usually sends raw positional information for all players in the game, and leaves it up to the client's 3D renderer to hide opponents behind walls, in plant foliage, or in dark shadows. If the game map rendering could be turned off completely, all players could be seen moving around in what appears to be empty space. Complete map hiding offers no advantage to a cheater as they would be unable to navigate the invisible map pathways and obstacles. However, if only certain surfaces are made transparent or removed, this leaves just enough of an outline of the world to allow the cheater still to navigate it easily.

Asus released wireframe display drivers in 2001 that enabled players to use wallhacks, announcing the settings as "special weapons" that users could employ in multiplayer games. In a poll by the Online Gamers Association, 90% of its members were against the release of the drivers.

Boosting / Win trading
Players will set up multiple accounts to play against each other. Usually, the primary account will be allowed to win through a deliberate lack of resistance from the secondary account(s) due to those accounts being unplayed or those players agreeing to lose. Some players will reverse roles between games, giving each account an equal win–loss record.

Disconnecting
In games where wins and losses are recorded on a player's account, a player may disconnect when they are about to lose in order to prevent that loss from being recorded. This is usually done by activating known in-game glitches or through third-party sources via "IP booting" (a feature of firewall software). Some players do this if they feel their opponent is being unfair. Some games implement a disconnection penalty, usually by recording the disconnect as a loss, a deduction of experience, or even Elo points. Certain games also have a 'disconnect delay' period before the player can disconnect that can last 10–30 seconds. This prevents a player from instantly disconnecting if they are about to die or lose. In some games, if a player disconnects they can receive a warning or even get locked out of online play for a short period.

Rapid Fire Modifications (Macros)
In many games, weapons can be fired in burst fire or single shot fire modes. Modifying a controller or keyboard/mouse to gain the advantage of having a faster firing weapon than the standard player can be considered a method of cheating. These modifications can create an imbalance within the game. In addition to modifying a console or its controller, it is possible to achieve a similar effect on the PC by binding the firing button to the scroll wheel of a mouse, or by using a macro setting that will simulate rapid key presses automatically. However, most games limit the rate at which weapons can be fired, regardless of how fast a player presses the button, in order to limit this form of cheating.

Exploits
Exploiting is the application of an unintended feature or bug that gives the player an advantage not intended by the game design. Exploiting is generally considered cheating by the gaming community at large due to the unfair advantage usually gained by the exploiter. Most software developers of online games prohibit exploiting in their terms of service and often issue sanctions against players found to be exploiting. There is some contention by exploiters that exploiting should not be considered cheating as it is merely taking advantage of actions allowed by the software. Some players view exploiting as a skill because certain exploits take a significant amount of time to find, or dexterity and timing to use.

Farming
The term farming may refer to the practice of garnering achievements or virtual property for the purpose of real-money-trading. With rare exception, this has no direct effect on the gaming experience of other players; instead, it is a violation of most EULAs and could devalue the virtual property being farmed.

Twinking
Twinking is the act of transferring gear intended for higher level characters to lower level characters that would be incapable of obtaining the gear on their own. Twinked characters have a huge advantage over non-twinked characters, as well as the rest of the game world. This is usually used by players who wish to create a new character, either to help them level more rapidly or to gain an unfair advantage in PvP (i.e. player versus player, a type of multiplayer interactive conflict). Most MMORPGs tolerate it, provided that the twinked character is not used in PvP combat against non-twinked characters. Often limits on twinking are placed into the game, usually through strict level or stat requirements to equip the item. Circumventing these level requirements would then be further cheating.

Ghosting
Most games allow other participants to observe the game as it is played from a variety of perspectives; depending on the game, perspectives allow an observer a map overview or attach a "camera" to the movement of a specific player. In doing so, the observer can communicate with an accomplice using a secondary communication methodology (in-game private message, third party communication, or even off-line) to inform friendly players of traps or the position of opponents. An observer can be an active player, using a separate computer, connection and account.

Some systems prevent inactive players from observing the game if they are on the same IP address as an active player, on the grounds that they are probably in close physical proximity; when all players from a single IP address are no longer active participants, they are all allowed to observe. However, this restriction can be easily evaded if there are multiple IP addresses available at one location (a common feature of broadband subscriptions), or if the observer installs remote desktop software on their computer, thus enabling their computer screen to be viewed by select other players in real time.

Additionally, this may be used against players livestreaming to platforms like Twitch to observe the player and their team's position and stats. This is often referred to as stream sniping.

Stacking
Stacking involves altering game settings or team lineups to give one or more teams an unfair advantage over others. One example includes arranging a team composed of skilled or professional players against a team with members of lesser skill. Less ethical rigging involves weighting the game by providing a player or team with an advantage by outfitting them with better (or more familiar) weapons or equipment, or creating a play field that caters to a certain player, team or playing style. Many games prevent this by preventing players from joining a team with more players than the opposing side, forcing newcomers to balance the teams.

Scripting
Scripting is the use of a program or game feature to automate certain actions or behaviors. The use of scripts may or may not be considered cheating, depending on the behavior involved, and whether said behaviour is replicable without the use of such script. A script may give the user unusually fast firing rate, unobtainable otherwise, or may perform seemingly trivial tasks such as reloading. Some scripts can also tamper with other players' systems by spoofing commands.

Implementation of cheats
In the client–server model, the server is responsible for information security and enforcing game rules. (See "Anti-cheating methods and limitations" below for drawbacks.) In the peer-to-peer gaming model, clients run equal code but are still subject to most of the same type of cheats found in the client–server multiplayer model; however, the peer-to-peer multiplayer model has been deprecated in favor of the client–server model with the wider adoption of high-speed networks.

"Never trust the client" is a maxim among game developers (as well as other developers) that summarizes the model of client–server game design. It means that no information sent from a client should be accepted by a server if it breaks the game rules or the basic mechanics of the game, and that no information should be sent to a client unless it is "need-to-know." For example, a server with no rule enforcement or data integrity checking will synchronize all of the clients with all of the information about all of the other clients. The server will be very fast, but any wallhack program will reveal where all the players in the game are, what team they are on, and what state they are in — health, weapon, ammo etc. At the same time, altered and erroneous data from a client will allow a player to break the game rules, manipulate the server, and even manipulate other clients.

Game code modification
Many cheats are implemented by modifying game software, despite EULAs which forbid modification. While game software distributed in binary-only versions makes it harder to modify code, reverse engineering is possible. Also game data files can be edited separately from the main program and thereby circumvent protections implemented in software.

System software modification
Rather than modifying the game code (which the game itself or a 3rd-party protection system may detect), some cheats modify underlying system components. An example of this is graphics driver modifications that ignore depth checking and draw all objects on the screen—a primitive wallhack. System or driver modification is harder to detect, as there are a large number of system drivers that differ from user to user.

Packet interception and manipulation
The security of game software can be circumvented by intercepting and/or manipulating data (divided into "packets") in real-time while in transit from the client to the server or vice versa (i.e. a man-in-the-middle attack). Interception can be passive or result in active manipulation; either method can be performed on the client machine itself or via an external communication proxy; some aimbots incorporate this method.

Third-party hardware peripherals
Some computer and console devices sold under the guise of "accessibility peripherals" have been used to gain unfair advantages over other players of games, such as eliminating recoil completely and boosting aim assistance, and some may even include additionally downloadable macros.

Some games use different pools for matchmaking purposes, for instance, PC players are matched with other PC players, and console players are matched with other console players. A console peripheral allowing the use of mouse and keyboard can be used to trick the console system to provide additional aim assistance provided to controllers.

Anti-cheating methods and limitations
There are many facets of cheating in online games which make the creation of a system to stop cheating very difficult; however, game developers and third-party software developers have created or are developing technologies that attempt to prevent cheating. Such countermeasures are commonly used in video games, with notable anti-cheat software being BattlEye, GameGuard, PunkBuster, Valve Anti-Cheat (specifically used on games on the Steam platform), and EasyAntiCheat.

Exploits of bugs are usually resolved/removed via a patch to the game; however, not all companies force the patches/updates on users, leaving the actual resolution to individual users.

Authoritative and mirrored server design
Generally, the better the server is at enforcing the rules, the less of a problem cheating will be in the game. In this approach all client functionality either runs purely on the game server or alternatively the game server mirrors the client gameplay and continuously validates the game state. In many mobile games, it is a common practice to run the client game sessions synchronously on the server, using exactly the same user input. The client session is reset when the game sessions become unsynced, thereby preventing cheating.

Server-side game code makes a trade-off between calculating and sending results for display on a just-in-time basis or trusting the client to calculate and display the results in appropriate sequence as a player progresses. It can do this by sending the parts of the world state needed for immediate display, which can result in client lag under bandwidth constraints, or sending the player the entire world state, which results in faster display for the player under the same bandwidth constraints, but exposes that data to interception or manipulation—a trade-off between security and efficiency.

When game servers were restricted by limited available resources such as storage, memory, internal bandwidth, and computational capacity due to the technologies available and the cost of the hardware, coupled with internet connections that were slow, it was believed to be necessary to compromise on security for optimization to minimize the impact on the end-user. Today however, with the increased speed and power of multi-core computers, lower-priced hardware, and the increased availability of broadband internet, this has become less of an issue.

Software obfuscation
Additionally to storing data in non-standard formats, some games also utilize runtime protection through software protectors. The key target is to keep attackers from directly inspecting or modifying compiled software. Protectors utilize any of three methods to protect software.

Encryption solutions will encrypt the code instructions and typically use a multi–layered defense mechanism against any reversing or tampering attempts that target the decryption code directly. Most protection systems in this category encrypt the code and then decrypt it at the application's startup or during runtime. This is the moment at which an attacker will breakpoint, reverse, and inject custom code. Runtime decryption may also add significant processing overhead and lower the game's framerate. Alternatively, some solutions focus on obfuscating the code by inserting jump statements and seemingly random instruction paths. The final and strongest alternative is virtualization. In this approach the encrypted code runs on a virtual CPU that can be markedly different from generic x86 and x64 CPUs as the command set can be unique for each protected file.

The shared weakness of protectors and virtualizers is that they impact performance, either by requiring decryption or by introducing unnecessary CPU instructions. To reduce the overhead code virtualizers are often only used to secure the critical parts of the code base, such as those interfacing with the game state and rendering.

Player supervision
Spectator functionality can allow server administrators to monitor individual players and thereby determine whether or not a cheat is in place. One risk of the spectator mode is that in competitive matches the spectator could abuse the mode for spying on specific players and communicating player positions and tactics to the opposing team. Some games get around this limitation by not allowing spectator mode at all, or by delaying the video feed.

Some games have systemized player supervision by allowing the community to review reports of disruptive behavior, determine whether those reports are valid, and apply temporary bans if appropriate. Reports can include data such as screenshots, videos, and chatlogs.

Anomaly detection
Anomalies in player behavior can be detected by statistically analyzing game events sent by the client to the server. The benefit is that this anti–cheat method is non–intrusive to the player's privacy and guaranteed to work on all end–user system configurations. The restriction of this method is that it cannot always be clear whether or not a player is cheating. Highly skilled players can for example develop such a map sense that they may end up being flagged for the use of a wallhack and/or aimbot. On the other hand, players may also cheat in a way that is under the detection thresholds and remain uncaught.

To reduce the amount of false positives, statistical detection systems are often combined with a supervision system that either is community driven or managed by a professional administrator team. In such implementations unusual player behavior can trigger a client-side component to create and upload reports for review.

Pattern detection
Pattern detection systems scan the player's hard drives and system memory for known cheat code or programs. Compared to statistical detection the key advantage is that also the subtle cheaters are detected. Other than this, a pure pattern detection approach generally has few advantages. Experience has shown that keeping detection-based systems up to date is relatively slow and labor-intensive as one needs to constantly track down cheats and update detection patterns. End–users may also be concerned with privacy issues, such as has been the case with VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) accessing browsing history.

Sandboxing
Sandboxing a software process can protect against potentially malicious actions such as code injection and memory modifications that would otherwise tamper with the game. One of the key benefits of sandboxing is that it can effectively prevent the underlying cheat mechanisms from working, and thereby can avoid the need for banning game community members as cheats simply do not work. Additionally, strong prevention mechanisms can stop many game hackers from targeting the game because of elevated skill requirements. Compared to pattern detection systems, sandboxing is generally not privacy invasive, as the approach requires no data to be uploaded to foreign back-end systems.

System incompatibility
Anti-cheat software commonly use low-level system interfaces not intended by the OS vendor for public use. As a result, they are a common source of incompatibilities with newer versions of operating systems and security measures as well as alternative OS API implementations such as Wine. For example, Windows enables Hypervisor-protected Code Integrity (HVCI) by default in every market except Chinese and Korean installations due to anti-cheat compatibility issues.

Third-party hardware detection
With the additional scrutiny directed towards the rising popularity of the third-party peripherals being used to gain unfair advantages in competitive games, game developers such as Bungie and Activision started cracking down on the users of these peripherals, with Activision updating its RICOCHET cheat detection software to detect such devices, while Bungie has just announced that while they are fine with using peripherals for the sake of genuine accessibility, they are ready to take countermeasures if they detect players using these devices to gain unfair advantages.

Penalties for cheating
Game publishers can implement a wide array of consequences for cheating players.

Banning players
Some game publishers may decide to try to permanently ban players who are persistent in cheating and ruining the game community. Such bans are typically placed based on hardware ID or IP address. Consequently, cheaters may develop ways of getting around these bans, by either playing through proxy or VPN servers, or spoofing or changing their hardware configuration.

Some companies and leagues ban suspected cheaters by blacklisting specific installation or serial keys, or user accounts, meaning that the player is effectively prevented from playing the game online. Certain games are known to identify cheaters and "shadow ban" them by placing them in matchmaking with other cheaters only, so as not to let the cheaters know that they have been identified.

While game publishers are known to ban players employing cheats, the actual number of players banned is usually not revealed. Exceptions to this include Blizzard Entertainment, Nexon, and CipSoft, known for banning cheaters in batches, and publicising the number of banned accounts, presumably in order to discourage others from cheating.

Suspension
In some cases a ban may not be permanent and will expire after a certain period of time. Suspensions are commonly used as a punitive measure for abuse of game glitches, harassing players, or benefiting from hacks. Temporary bans may also be utilized in case a violation cannot be fully proven, as is common with anti-cheating methods based on supervision or statistical detection.

In-game kick
In general kicking is perceived as a mild punishment, serving as a warning for the player in question. Some anti-cheat systems may decide to kick players out of a game server when the system integrity cannot be enforced nor be determined with certainty. Other anti-cheat methods may also utilize kicks as an instant punishment for presumably unfair game play behavior.

Some games may also provide the community with the option of voting for particular players to be kicked. Such a system provides the power to self-regulate and effectively get rid of abusive players without depending on supervision or other anti-cheat methods. Even though vote kicking brings many benefits, it may also serve as a tool for trolling or griefing by allowing for legitimate players to be removed out of the game through the voting process.

Demotion
When a violation is the result of farming or stat-padding, it may be too severe of a punishment to suspend or ban players. Some games, therefore, implement a system of demotion in which the offender is moved to a lower rank (demoting), the opposite of a promotion.

Progress-removal
In several games where points are used, if a player is caught cheating they will get their score reset to the base value that is applied when a new player joins the server.

Legal measures
In recent years, countries including South Korea and China have criminalized the sale or use of cheats in video games. In South Korea, cheaters could be punished with up to 5 years in jail or fines exceeding $40,000. The presence of cheaters in online games may push away the legitimate playerbase and reduce overall profits in the industry, leading to game developers working with legislative bodies or enforcement agencies.

Historically, some game companies have also taken legal measures against individuals that have created and sold cheating tools in video games as a means to curb their use. Anti-cheat experts have argued that it is particularly important to take legal steps against entities who profit from making and selling cheats. In April 2013, coder DrUnKeN ChEeTaH was sued by Nexon America for operating GameAnarchy, a popular subscription based cheat provider for Combat Arms, and lost, Nexon being awarded $1.4M in damages. In January 2017, Riot Games successfully sued the LeagueSharp service, which offered a subscription-based hacking service for Riot's League of Legends, with a $10 million award to be paid to Riot. Blizzard Entertainment sued Bossland GMBH for distributing software hacks for several of its games, and was awarded $8.5 million in damages. Epic Games, producers of the battle royale game Fortnite have sued two cheaters partnered with AddictedCheats, who offer cheating services for a variety of online games. Bungie had sued AimJunkies for cheats related to Destiny 2. Parts of their claims were settled via arbitration with Bungie being awarded $4.3 million, but a jury trial found for Bungie on copyright infringement claims, and while Bungie was awarded around $60,000 based on revenue made by AimJunkies, it was the first time that a jury trial had ruled on cheat software for video games, potentially setting future case law for further challenges.

Often, game company lawsuits against cheaters or cheat providers cite copyright infringement as the reason for the lawsuit. While some argue against the merit of this claim, grounds for copyright infringement include damaging the company's intellectual property, affecting the experience of other users, and circumventing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which could be applied to video games.

title: Cheating in online games


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Little Emory River

The Little Emory River rises in Morgan County, Tennessee near the town of Coalfield. It is one of the major tributaries to the Emory River. It crosses into Roane County, where it soon becomes an embayment of Watts Bar Lake several miles upstream of its mouth into the Emory. (Watts Bar Lake is a relatively deep reservoir  and causes "slack water" conditions many miles up several Tennessee River tributaries, not just the main stream.)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Little Emory River


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Blue Neon Alley

another non-notable website. Ianb 00:05, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete - Wikipedia is not a web directory. -- Cyrius|✎ 02:18, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: What bothers me is that we don't have an article on Beat poetry, and the term doesn't redirect to The Beats. I wish we did, except that I have great antipathy toward them.  Recommend that the information in this article be appended to The Beats as an external link & deleted.  Geogre 14:54, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. I took the liberty of adding the site as an external link to Beat generation. - Eisnel 07:34, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)


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Kurd Lasswitz

Kurd Lasswitz (Kurd Laßwitz; 20 April 1848 – 17 October 1910) was a German author, scientist, and philosopher. He has been called "the father of German science fiction". He sometimes used the pseudonym Velatus.

Biography
Lasswitz studied mathematics and physics at the University of Breslau and the University of Berlin, and earned his doctorate in 1873. He spent most of his career as a teacher at the Ernestine Gymnasium in Gotha (1876–1908).

Works
His first published science fiction story was Bis zum Nullpunkt des Seins ("To the Zero Point of Existence", 1871), depicting life in 2371, but he earned his reputation with his 1897 novel Auf zwei Planeten, which describes an encounter between humans and a Martian civilization that is older and more advanced. The book has the Martian race running out of water, eating synthetic foods, travelling by rolling roads, and utilising space stations. His spaceships use anti-gravity, but travel realistic orbital trajectories, and use occasional mid-course corrections in travelling between Mars and the Earth; the book depicted the technically correct transit between the orbits of two planets, something poorly understood by other early science fiction writers. It influenced Walter Hohmann and Wernher von Braun. The book was not translated into English until 1971 (as Two Planets), and the translation is incomplete. Auf zwei Planeten was his most successful novel. A story from Lasswitz's Traumkristalle served as the basis for "The Library of Babel", a short story by Jorge Luis Borges.

His last book was Sternentau: Die Pflanze vom Neptunsmond ("Star Dew: the Plant of Neptune's Moon", 1909). He is also known for his 1896 biography of Gustav Fechner.

For his writing (totalling around 420 works including non-fiction), Lasswitz has been called "the first utopistic-scientific writer in Germany" or even "a German Jules Verne".

A crater on Mars was named in his honour, as was the asteroid 46514 Lasswitz.

There also is the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis, an award for German-speaking as well as foreign authors of science fiction since 1981.

title: Kurd Lasswitz


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List of Major League Baseball mascots

This is a list of current and former Major League Baseball mascots, sorted alphabetically.

The tradition in the Major League Baseball mascot began with Mr. Met, introduced for the New York Mets when Shea Stadium opened in 1964. Although some mascots came and went over time, the popularity of mascots increased when The San Diego Chicken started independently making appearances at San Diego Padres games in 1977. Philadelphia Phillies management felt they needed a mascot similar to the Chicken, so they debuted the Phillie Phanatic in 1978.

All but three major-league teams have "official" mascots (Dodgers, Yankees, and Angels). Seven team mascots – Sluggerrr (Kansas City Royals), the San Diego Chicken, the Phillie Phanatic, Mr. Met, the Oriole Bird, Slider (Cleveland Guardians), and Southpaw (Chicago White Sox) – have been inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame. Several others have been nominated since the Hall's creation in 2005.

Mascots in MLB are often used to help market the team and league to young children.

Ace (Toronto Blue Jays)
Ace is the official mascot of the Toronto Blue Jays. He, along with his female counterpart, "Diamond" replaced former mascot BJ Birdie before the 2002 season as a mascot duo. Like his predecessor, Ace is a large anthropomorphic blue jay. The mascot's name is baseball slang for a team's top starting pitcher (the "ace" of the staff, such as former Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay).

In 2004, Ace became the sole mascot of the team after Diamond was removed by the Blue Jays prior to the start of the season. In 2011, Blue Jays fans were introduced to his younger brother Junior (see below).

Barrelman (Milwaukee Brewers)
Barrelman (aka "Owgust" and "Beer Barrel Man"), is an auxiliary mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers. He originated from a logo used by the original minor league Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association from the 1940s to 1952. He was resurrected and upgraded to be a costumed performing character in 2015. Before then, he was only used as an official logo image, and, since 1977, only appearing on special materials.

Baxter the Bobcat (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Baxter the Bobcat is the mascot of the Arizona Diamondbacks. His full name is D. Baxter the Bobcat, and he became the mascot in 2000. The mascot was created by Brantley Bell, the son of Jay Bell, one of the players on the Diamondbacks 1998 inaugural season roster. Brantley came up with the name from two sources. "D. Baxter" comes from the team's nickname, "the D-Backs". The bobcat is from the original name of the stadium where the Diamondbacks play. Today called Chase Field, it was once called Bank One Ballpark, or informally as "BOB" for short. The bobcat is a wild cat native to Arizona.

Bernie Brewer (Milwaukee Brewers)
Bernie Brewer is the official mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers. The Bernie Brewer character became the team's mascot in 1973, appearing as a cheerful man with a big mustache. A beer-barreled chalet was built for him inside the stadium where he led the crowd cheering. Following each home run and every victory by the Brewers, he would slide down and plunge himself into a huge beer mug in celebration. He was joined by a companion Bonnie Brewer, who would playfully swat at the backside of the opposing team's third base coach with a broom as the field crew swept the base paths.

Bernie Brewer was a fixture at Brewers home games until 1984, when the Brewers re-built the bleachers at Milwaukee County Stadium, replacing the chalet with a sound tower and sending Bernie into retirement. By popular demand, Bernie Brewer came out of his retirement in 1993, when the fans voted for his return. Bernie was brought back not as just a mustachioed man in lederhosen, but a full-body costume of a man, including large foam head. The chalet was then rebuilt (it had been in storage on the third base side under the box seats) above the left-center field bleachers. The original beer mug that Bernie used to slide into is still in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as part of the Lakefront Brewery, Inc. tour.

In 2001, Bernie moved to American Family Field, and today the old chalet has become known as "Bernie's Dugout", stationed above the left field bleachers, where he cheers on for the team during home games. Currently he slides down a plastic yellow slide, no longer into a vat of beer but onto a platform in the shape of home plate when a Brewer hits a home run, while a sign tower with Bob Uecker's trademark home run call ("Get up, get up, get outta here, GONE!!") lights up above the Dugout, and he waves the team flag after landing in the bottom platform. When American Family Insurance bought the naming rights of the stadium, the dugout became "Bernie's Chalet", which pays homage to the old Milwaukee County Stadium chalet.

Billy The Marlin (Miami Marlins)
Billy The Marlin is the official mascot of the Miami Marlins. Resembling a marlin with limbs, he can be seen at every Marlins home game. He competes in a waterboat race, which is an animated video shown on the screen, during each game. The name, picked by original team owner Wayne Huizenga, is derived from the fact that a marlin is a billfish, and Huizenga wanted a name that was different from the baseball type names of other mascots (like Slider and Sluggerrr) and one that children could remember more easily. On Mother's Day and Father's Day, Billy is joined by his parents, Bill Sr. and Betty the Marlin. Billy is also seen at games dancing with kids on the field in between innings and making special appearances in the Fan Zone.

On Opening Day of 1997, the year the Marlins won their first World Series Championship, a Navy SEAL who was parachuting into Hard Rock Stadium (then known as Pro Player Stadium) as Billy, lost the head in mid-air. While the crowd was unaware of the problem, media outlets had been alerted to Billy's parachute entrance. When he did not arrive, the media ran with the story, getting national attention and leading to ESPN's Dan Patrick's nightly quote, "Bring me the head of Billy the Marlin!"

The original Billy The Marlin was John Routh, who spent 10 years (1993–2002) entertaining Marlins fans. Routh previously portrayed the University of Miami mascots, Sebastian the Ibis and The Miami Maniac from 1983 to 1993, and prior to that, Cocky for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

Blooper (Atlanta Braves)
Since opening day 2018, Blooper has served as the current official mascot of the Atlanta Braves. He, too, has a Twitter account and is present in community events in the Atlanta area and around all of Georgia. Usually wearing a Braves jersey, he is unique for wearing goggles with the uniform and the hat.

Clark (Chicago Cubs)
On January 13, 2014, the Chicago Cubs announced that Clark, a "young, friendly Cub", would become the team's first official mascot in modern history. Clark was named after Clark Street, since the Cubs home field, Wrigley Field, is famously located at "Clark and Addison".

D-backs Luchador (Arizona Diamondbacks)
The D-backs Luchador is the second mascot of the Arizona Diamondbacks. After a giveaway of masks in June 2012 proved popular, the team introduced the Luchador as a permanent character in July 2013. He wears a black cape, red pants, and a mask patterned after the team's logo. Meant to represent the team's Hispanic fans, the Luchador also wrestles with Club Deportivo Coloseo at the Glendale Park and Swap.

Dinger (Colorado Rockies)
Dinger is the official mascot of the Colorado Rockies. He is an anthropomorphic purple triceratops. The choice of a dinosaur, specifically this type, was inspired by the discovery of some fossilized bone fragments including part of a rib, believed to be from a triceratops. His name "Dinger" is one of many slang terms for a home run.

Dinger is often seen on the field before and after the game and roaming around the stadium during the game. When Rockies hitters are at bat in the late innings of a game, he often dances in the seats immediately behind home plate in an effort to distract opposing pitchers, sitting down only immediately before the beginning motion of each pitch.

Dinger works year-round promoting physical fitness and literacy for thousands of elementary school students in the Rocky Mountain Region. He acts out his own Dinger Story for the kids. He also makes appearances at Children's Hospital Colorado and Denver Health. He makes appearances at Rockies events including the 5K Home Run, and the Rockies Rookies Kids Fan Club. He is a purple dinosaur with a Rockies jersey on with black sneakers and a Rockies cap.

DJ Kitty (Tampa Bay Rays)
DJ Kitty is one of three mascots for the Tampa Bay Rays. DJ Kitty comes from the Internet sensation of a kitty playing a DJ System and dancing to the music. The black and white cat wears a Tampa Bay Rays ring, wears chains, and wears his Rays hat backwards. DJ Kitty became an official mascot for the Rays in 2012. The Tampa Bay Rays' other official mascots are Raymond and Stinger.

Fredbird (St. Louis Cardinals)
Fredbird is the official mascot for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is an anthropomorphic cardinal wearing the team's uniform. A person dressed up as Fredbird can often be found entertaining young children during baseball games at Busch Stadium. His name is derived from "Redbird", a synonym for the cardinal bird and for the Cardinals themselves.

Fredbird was introduced in 1979 by the Cardinals, then owned by Anheuser-Busch, to entertain younger fans at the games. He quickly became popular with fans for his dancing, habit of "beaking" the heads of supporters, and for throwing T-shirts into the stands. In later years, he has been joined by "Team Fredbird", a group of young women employed by the club who help him with his T-shirt toss and occasionally in other duties.

Gapper (Cincinnati Reds)

Gapper is one of the current mascots for the Cincinnati Reds. He was first introduced as the furry companion to Mr. Red, the long-time mascot in the winter of 2002 as the franchise was preparing to move to their new home, Great American Ball Park. The mascot was created by David Raymond's Raymond Entertainment Group, the founder being the man inside the Phillie Phanatic costume from 1973 to 1993. A young fan won two season tickets for submitting the winning name; he is named after the "gap" in the stands in the seats of Great American, which provides a view into and out of the stadium. The term "gapper" is also a slang phrase for a batted ball which falls into the "gap" between outfielders (generally a ball hit to either left-center or right-center field which rolls to the fence). According to a recent Cincinnati.com poll of the Red's four mascots, he is the least popular amongst fans. He received 6% of the voting, Mr. Red received 23%, Rosie Red received 34%, and Mr. Redlegs received 47%. Like his fellow mascots he wears a Reds jersey, but with the backwards cap.

Junior (Toronto Blue Jays)
Junior is the younger brother of Ace. He made his mascot debut in 2011. He is half the size of Ace and wears the number 1/2. He only appears on Jr. Jays Sundays (formerly on Saturdays, prior to the 2018 season).

Lou Seal (San Francisco Giants)
Lou Seal is the official mascot of the San Francisco Giants. "Born" on July 25, 1996, Luigi Francisco Seal has been a regular part of all Giants home games, as well as numerous events in San Francisco and around the United States, ever since. Although his name (a play on the name "Lucille") is a bit ambiguous, he is indeed "officially" male and the person inside the costume is a man. Lou Seal is also a reference to the San Francisco Seals, the baseball club that was a mainstay of the Pacific Coast League from 1903 until 1957.

In a contest held by the Giants where fans were asked for ideas, six people submitted the name "Lou Seal". These lucky fans were then invited to a game that season where they sat in a luxury box and got to meet the newly named mascot, and one of them was randomly chosen to throw out the first pitch. He has had 1,150 consecutive home-game appearances, and is one of the four subjects followed in the second season of the Hulu series Behind the Mask. He primarily wears the team's main or orange alternate jersey at home games with the team cap but has varied his clothing and accessories to mark special occasions. For example, he wore a floating costume to swim after Barry Bonds' splash-hit home runs in San Francisco Bay's McCovey Cove and donned a giraffe hat in honor of Brandon Belt's nickname "Baby Giraffe".

Lou Seal also made occasional appearances at the Giants' High-A minor league team, the San Jose Giants. This practice ended in 2006 when the San Jose Giants introduced their own mascot named Gigante.

In 2015, Lou Seal participated in one of the most memorable and elaborate events staged by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. As part of the finale to a daylong event in San Francisco surrounding "Batkid" Miles Scott in 2015, Lou Seal was kidnapped by The Penguin and taken to the Giants' stadium, pursued by Batkid and Batman. After completing an obstacle course, Batman captured the Penguin while Batkid freed a grateful Lou Seal, who thanked him with a hug.

Lou Seal became part of the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2024.

Mariner Moose (Seattle Mariners)
The Mariner Moose is the mascot of the Seattle Mariners. In 1990, a contest for children 14 and under was held to select a mascot, after 2,500 entries the club chose the "Mariner Moose" The Moose made his debut on April 13, 1990 dancing on the field at the Kingdome. During the 1995 American League Division Series between the Mariners and the New York Yankees, the Moose gained national attention when he broke his ankle crashing into the outfield wall at the Kingdome while being towed on inline skates behind an ATV in the outfield. Inline skating behind an ATV would continue to be a fan favorite until 1999, when the team moved to T-Mobile Park and a natural grass playing surface. Since then, the Moose has become quite adept at driving his own ATV around T-Mobile Park's warning track while performing various tricks and having water coolers emptied on him by bullpen pitchers.

The Moose makes several hundred appearances in the community each year in addition to Mariners home games, at everything from hospitals to wedding receptions. The Mariner Moose was featured on the ballot for the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2006 and 2007. He also nearly ran over Coco Crisp with his ATV in 2007, raising the ire of Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell.

Mr. Met (New York Mets)
Mr. Met is the official mascot of the New York Mets. He is a baseball-headed humanoid being who wears a Mets cap and uniform. He can be seen at Citi Field (and previously at Shea Stadium) during Mets home games. He also has appeared in several commercials as part of ESPN's This is SportsCenter campaign, and was selected in 2007 into the Mascot Hall of Fame. Starting in 2014, Mr. Met appeared as a sleeve patch on the Mets' blue alternate home and road jerseys.

Mrs. Met (New York Mets)
Mrs. Met (or Lady Met) is the female version of Mr. Met, the mascot of the New York Mets. She is a baseball-headed humanoid being, has brown hair in a ponytail and wears a Mets cap and uniform.

Mrs. Met first appeared at games in 1975 before disappearing into obscurity. She appeared with Mr. Met in a 2003 "This is SportsCenter" commercial. The Mets reintroduced Mrs. Met in mascot form in 2013. Her first name is Jan.

Mr. Red (Cincinnati Reds)

Mr. Red (or The Running Man) was the first mascot of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. He is a humanoid figure dressed in a Reds uniform, with an oversized baseball for a head.

Mr. Red made his first appearance on a Reds uniform as a sleeve patch in 1955. The patch featured Mr. Red's head, clad in an old-fashioned white pillbox baseball cap with red stripes. The following season, 1956, saw the Reds adopt sleeveless jerseys, and Mr. Red was eliminated from the home uniform. He was moved to the left breast of the road uniform, and remained there for one season before being eliminated. In 1999, the Reds re-designed their uniform and "Mr. Red" was reintroduced as a sleeve patch on the undershirt. A human version of the mascot did not appear until the early 1980s. The costumed mascot disappeared in the late 1980s but was reintroduced in 1997. The humanoid Mr. Red retired in 2007 leaving Gapper, Rosie Red and Mr. Redlegs to take his place. A new version of Mr. Red was unveiled at Redsfest 2012; the new mascot will be on the field with Mr. Redlegs, Gapper and Rosie Red.

Mr. Redlegs (Cincinnati Reds)
Mr. Redlegs is a mascot of the Cincinnati Reds. He was reintroduced in 2007 to play a supporting role, along with Mr. Red. Mr. Redlegs appeared as a patch on the Reds' uniforms for two seasons in the 1950s (the team briefly assumed the nickname as a response to the second red scare). In 2008, Mr. Redlegs gained national notoriety by falling off of an ATV during pre-game antics. This caused the large, baseball-shaped head to fall off of the Mr. Redlegs costume, exposing the head of the person inside the costume. He was seen a few days later wearing a neck brace as a joke. Unlike Mr. Red, he wears a kepi.

Orbit (Houston Astros)
Orbit is the mascot of the Houston Astros. Orbit represents a green space alien with antennae, in keeping with the Space City theme of the city of Houston. Originally serving as team mascot from 1990 until 1999, he was replaced by a new mascot, Junction Jack.

To coincide with the Astros' move to the American League West and unveiling of their new uniforms, caps, and logo, Orbit was reintroduced on November 2, 2012, to serve as the Astros' mascot once more for 2013 and beyond.

The Oriole Bird (Baltimore Orioles)

The Oriole Bird is the official mascot of the Baltimore Orioles and is a cartoon version of the bird of the same name. He was "hatched" out of a giant egg prior to the team's 1979 season opener at Memorial Stadium on April 6. According to Orioles.com, The Oriole Bird's favorite foods are "mostly bird seed, with occasional crab cake." The Oriole Bird was named to the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2020.

Paws (Detroit Tigers)
Paws is the mascot of the Detroit Tigers. He is a bipedal tiger who made his debut on May 5, 1995, in Tiger Stadium. He wears a Tigers hat and jersey; in previous years, Paws' jersey would have the current season's two-digit abbreviation (i.e. '10 for 2010). However, in 2011 and 2016, Paws' number changed to 00, since the Tigers retired No. 11 and No. 16 in honor of Sparky Anderson and Hal Newhouser, respectively. His dress changes during Comerica Park theme nights such as a Santa Claus outfit during "Christmas in July" night, or an Elvis Presley-inspired costume for Elvis Night. He "resides" in Comerica Park to this day.

Phillie Phanatic (Philadelphia Phillies)
Phillie Phanatic is the official mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies. He is a large, furry, green bi-pedal creature with a cylindrical beak containing a tongue that sticks out. He was created by Harrison/Erickson, who thought that the team needed a mascot similar to The San Diego Chicken. The character is named for the fanatical fans of the team and, according to former team owner Bill Giles, was to bring more families to Veterans Stadium, the Phillies' ballpark at the time, which had become noted for rowdiness and even violence at times. He can be seen riding around on an ATV at home games. In 2008, Forbes named the Phanatic the best mascot in sports.

Phoebe Phanatic (Philadelphia Phillies)
Phoebe Phanatic is the mother of the Phillie Phanatic, the official mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies. She is a large, furry, green bi-pedal creature with an extendable tongue. Phoebe is brought out on special occasions in Philadelphia, such as games on Mother's Day.

Phred (Philadelphia Phillies)
Phred is a secondary mascot for the Philadelphia Phillies. He is a furry, green bi-pedal creature with an extendable tongue, who stands about half the height of his more well-known cousin, the Phillie Phanatic. Phred is used only occasionally in Philadelphia.

The Pierogis (Pittsburgh Pirates)
The Pierogis are a series of seven people dressed in pierogi costumes that race in a promotion between innings during Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. The contestants in this race include Jalapeño Hannah (green hat), Cheese Chester (yellow), Sauerkraut Saul (red), Oliver Onion (purple), Bacon Burt (orange), Potato Pete (blue), and Pizza Penny (Red and White checkered). The Great Pierogi Race was inspired by the Milwaukee Brewers' Sausage Race.

Pirate Parrot (Pittsburgh Pirates)

The Pirate Parrot is the mascot of the Pittsburgh Pirates, debuting in 1979. He is a large green parrot who wears a Pirates jersey and cap. The character of a parrot was derived from the classic story Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, most notably the one owned by Long John Silver named "Captain Flint". He is often seen dancing on the dugouts and shooting hot-dogs from a cannon, during team home wins he can be seen celebrating waving a Jolly Roger flag.

The Racing Presidents (Washington Nationals)
The Washington Nationals have a President's Race during their games. The race debuted in 2006, and the four presidents on Mount Rushmore – George Washington ("George"), Thomas Jefferson ("Tom"), Abraham Lincoln ("Abe"), and Theodore Roosevelt ("Teddy") – have raced in every season since. In 2013, a fifth permanent contestant – William Howard Taft ("Will") – was added. A sixth contestant was added in 2015 as part of a three-year marketing deal with the White House Historical Association, with the sixth slot changing annually based on the president featured by the association on its annual Christmas ornament. Calvin Coolidge ("Cal") was the first to fill the sixth slot, making his debut in July 2015. Herbert Hoover ("Herbie") replaced Coolidge for 2016. Each president has a uniform number corresponding to his place in the order in which they held the office (George – 1; Tom – 3; Abe – 16; Teddy – 26; Bill – 27; Cal – 30; Herbie – 31).

The Racing Presidents became an instant success upon their 2006 debut and make multiple public appearances every year. Notably, Abraham Lincoln appeared on the Illinois float for President Barack Obama's first inauguration parade on January 20, 2009.

A running gag with the Racing presidents from 2006 to 2012 was that Teddy could never win a race, although he came close in 2012, after apparently defeating the other three presidents: While he was "Tebowing" near the finish line, George drove up in a car and whacked him in the back of the head with a baseball bat, knocking him out before he could finish the race. In October 2012, however, just before the regular season ended and shortly before the Nationals' first postseason run began, Teddy finally won his first race, and he then went on to win four straight.

The Nationals scrapped plans to replace Herbie in 2017 with the president to be featured on that year's White House Historical Association Christmas ornament. Instead, they announced before the 2017 season that Bill, Cal, and Herbie all had retired to Florida, where in 2017 they began a new series of presidents Races among themselves during Nationals spring training games at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach. Meanwhile, the presidents Race at Nationals Park returned in 2017 to its original format of 2006–2012, featuring only George, Tom, Abe, and Teddy.

Rally Squirrel (St. Louis Cardinals)
Rally Squirrel is a secondary mascot for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is an anthropomorphic squirrel wearing the team's uniform with a number 11 (presumably for the 2011 postseason), and was introduced not long after an actual squirrel appeared on the field at Busch Stadium during the fifth inning of Game 4 of the 2011 National League Division Series. The squirrel ran across home plate as Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt was delivering a pitch to Skip Schumaker, causing Oswalt to complain to the umpire that he was distracted by the squirrel. The video of the incident became very popular, and several local businesses in the St. Louis area began creating items to capitalize on the phenomenon.

A performer dressed up as Rally Squirrel took part in Cardinals fan rallies beginning with Game 3 of the 2011 National League Championship Series, and was a companion of the existing Cardinals mascot Fredbird during the remainder of the postseason, assisting Fredbird and Team Fredbird with their duties entertaining the Cardinals fans at Busch Stadium.

Rangers Captain (Texas Rangers)
Rangers Captain is the mascot for the Texas Rangers. Introduced in 2002, he is a palomino horse, dressed in the team's uniform. He wears the uniform number "72" in honor of 1972, the year the Rangers relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Rangers Captain has multiple uniforms to match each of the variants the team has; his chosen uniform for the game matches the uniform choice made by the team for that particular game. However, his outfit sometimes matches a theme the team is promoting; as an example, on April 24, 2010, he dressed up like Elvis Presley as part of an Elvis theme promotional night.

Raymond (Tampa Bay Rays)
Raymond is the original team mascot of the Tampa Bay Rays and one of the team's three official mascots. Raymond is a furry blue creature wearing a large pair of sneakers and a backward baseball cap, completed with a Rays jersey. He is described officially as a "seadog", having been born somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. He is said to reside in a private condominium inside Tropicana Field. Raymond was awarded an honorable mention in the GameOps.com Best Mascot contest for 2006.

Rosie Red (Cincinnati Reds)
Rosie Red is the female mascot of the Cincinnati Reds. She was introduced in August 2008 as the new companion of Gapper and Mr. Redlegs, and her name comes from a female fan, Rosie Janis, who became famous in 1940 for cheering for the team, and is also derived from a female fan group founded to prevent the team from moving from Cincinnati in 1963 and is a philanthropic group associated with the team. The official group name comes from the acronym of "Rooters Organized to Stimulate Interest and Enthuiasm in the Cincinnati Reds". Rosie wears the jersey and cap similar to her partners, but with the skirt.

The Salmon Run (Seattle Mariners)
During Opening Day 2024, the Seattle Mariners unveiled their first mascot race, The Salmon Run, presented by Microsoft. This race consists of four species of salmon - King, Sockeye, Silver, and Humpy. This run is a way to honor the maritime and riverine natural heritage of the Seattle area and is also the first one of its kind in the Western USA.

The Sausages (Milwaukee Brewers)
The sausages are unofficial mascots of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are stylized in the appearance of sausages from around the world. When they were debuted in the mid-1990s there were only three: The German Bratwurst, The Polish Kielbasa, and The Italian Sausage. In the late 1990s The Hot Dog became a racer. In 2006 a fifth sausage was debuted, The Spanish Chorizo. They are a favorite of fans and make sports highlights reels occasionally.

Screech (Washington Nationals)

Screech is the mascot of the Washington Nationals. He is a bald eagle who wears the home cap and jersey of the team. He was "hatched" on April 17, 2005 at the "Kids Opening Day" promotion at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. A nine-year-old fourth grade student in Washington, Glenda Gutierrez, designed the mascot and won a contest sponsored by the team, explaining that it was "strong and eats almost everything". A new "matured" edition of the mascot was unveiled March 2, 2009. The Springfield Falcons, which played in the American Hockey League until they moved to Tucson in 2016, also had a mascot named Screech.

Slider (Cleveland Guardians)
Slider is the mascot for the Cleveland Guardians. He is a large, furry fuchsia-colored creature. He has a large yellow nose and shaggy yellow eyebrows. He was created in 1990, inspired by the Phillie Phanatic. He was best known for an injury during the 1995 American League Championship Series when he fell six feet off an outfield wall and tore knee ligaments. He was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2008.

Sluggerrr (Kansas City Royals)
Sluggerrr is the official mascot of the Kansas City Royals. The 6'9" King of the Jungle, created by character designer Tom Sapp of Real Characters, Inc., made his debut on April 5, 1996. His name is based on the word slugger, which refers to a powerful batter with a high percentage of extra base hits. Sluggerrr is one of few mascots that has Facebook and Twitter accounts, both clearly marked on his homepage.

In 2009, a spectator was injured by a hot dog thrown into the stands by Sluggerrr as part of a between-innings promotion. The spectator sued the Royals organization, claiming that they had been negligent. A jury found for the team under the Baseball Rule, which limits spectators' ability to sue teams for injuries arising from gameplay, but the Missouri Supreme Court reversed that decision, holding that a mascot's hot dog toss is not an essential part of baseball. On retrial, a new jury found that neither the team nor the fan were at fault, and awarded no damages.

He was also seen using the Kauffman Stadium Scoreboard to play Mario Kart 8.

In 2017, Sluggerrr was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame.

Southpaw (Chicago White Sox)
Southpaw is the mascot of the Chicago White Sox. His name is a reference to a left-hand pitcher and is also a reference to Chicago's South Side, where the team plays. He was on a float for Illinois at Barack Obama's inauguration, along with the Washington Nationals racing president representation of Abraham Lincoln. Wearing the team's classic or regular uniforms with the cap, he is present in activities within southern Chicago primarily and in other parts of the city.

Stinger (Tampa Bay Rays)
Stinger is one of the mascots of the Tampa Bay Rays. Stinger is a cow-nosed stingray who is most often seen on Sundays. Stinger is described as the designated greeter for the Ray Tank, the stadium's stingray touch-tank experience. Stinger became an official mascot for the Rays in 2014, joining Raymond and DJ Kitty.

Stomper (Oakland Athletics)
Stomper is the mascot of the Oakland Athletics. Created in 1997, he is an elephant who wears an A's uniform adorned with the number 00. Stomper has performed at several All-Star Games and has appeared in a Public Service Announcement discouraging the use of chewing tobacco.

The use of an elephant to symbolize the A's dates back to the early years of the franchise, when a group of Philadelphia businessmen, headed by sporting goods executive Benjamin Shibe, became the team's first owners. When asked to comment, John McGraw, manager of the New York Giants of the rival National League, said something to the effect that "Shibe had bought himself a white elephant." In response, A's manager (and future owner) Connie Mack selected the elephant as the team symbol and mascot. From time to time an illustration of an elephant has been featured on the Athletics uniform, including from 1988 to the present.

Swinging Friar (San Diego Padres)
The Swinging Friar is the mascot of the San Diego Padres.

The Swinging Friar has been a mascot with the team as early as 1958, when the Padres were still a member of the Pacific Coast League, a minor league baseball organization. He was named after the Spanish Franciscan friars, who founded the Mission San Diego de Alcalá, around which the city of San Diego began to emerge in the 18th century. The Padres joined Major League Baseball in 1969 and kept the popular mascot. He was even on the team emblem until 1984. Wanting a more "professional" image, the owners introduced a more corporate logo. In 1996, he was brought back as a sleeve patch for the club's blue alternate jerseys, and though the team has changed its logo and colors since then, the Friar remains there to this day.

The Swinging Friar is a cartoon-like character, pudgy, balding, and always smiling. He is dressed as a friar with a tonsure, sandals, a dark hooded cloak, and a rope around the waist. He swings a baseball bat; but reportedly, in some years he swings left-handed, in other years he swings right-handed, he may be ambidextrous, or even a switch hitter. On home game Sundays, the Friar wears a special camouflage cloak as the team honors the military background of San Diego with similar uniforms. The Friar also rings a mission bell at home games immediately after a win.

Originally, The Swinging Friar was represented at the ballpark as a real man wearing a friar outfit. Since his return, the character has been a full mascot costume.

Some in the past have confused The San Diego Chicken as the mascot of the Padres. Although he does make appearances occasionally at San Diego sporting events, he has never been the official mascot of any San Diego sports team.

, the Friar is also active with his own Twitter account, which debuted just days after the team's decision to readopt the classic brown and gold uniform colors for 2020 and beyond.

T. C. Bear (Minnesota Twins)
T. C. is the mascot for the Minnesota Twins. He was first introduced to Minnesota on April 3, 2000. T. C. is loosely modeled after the Hamm's Beer Bear, a mascot used in advertisements for Hamm's Brewery, an early sponsor for the Twins. The "T. C." stands for the "Twin Cities", Minneapolis and St. Paul. Prior to T.C., the mascot for the Minnesota Twins 1980–81 was a loon named "Twinkie". T.C. can be seen wearing the team home main or alternate uniform with the TC mark on his cap, just like the rest of the team.

Wally the Green Monster and Tessie (Boston Red Sox)

Wally the Green Monster is the official mascot for the Boston Red Sox. His name is derived from the Green Monster nickname of the 37 ft wall in left field at Fenway Park. Wally debuted in 1997 to the chagrin of many older Red Sox fans, despite his popularity with children.

According to the Red Sox promotions department, Wally was a huge Red Sox fan who, in 1947, decided to move inside the left field wall of Fenway Park, since it "eats up" hits that would easily be home runs at other parks. Apparently, he was very shy and lived the life of a hermit for 50 years. In 1997, on the 50th anniversary of the Green Monster being painted green, he came out of the manual scoreboard and has been interacting with players and fans ever since.

When the team began to grow out their beards as a trademark during their 2013 World Series run, Wally was given a long beard as well.

In January 2016, the Red Sox unveiled a new mascot named Tessie, Wally the Green Monster's little sister. Tessie is named after the song "Tessie", which has long been associated with the Red Sox. Tessie wears a blue shirt with the large letter B in red - the symbol utilized in the team's caps, which they both wear.

Former mascots
This is a list of former Major League Baseball mascots. Some of these mascots may still be used, but are not considered "official" mascots.

Astrojack and Astrodillo
Astrojack, an anthropomorphic rabbit, and Astrodillo, an anthropomorphic armadillo, were mascots for the Houston Astros in the 1980s. They wore the Astros' "rainbow" uniforms of that time, and were also the team's first mascots to circulate through the crowd. Before games and during breaks between innings, they would also race around the field on three-wheelers and perform skits with the Astrodome's house band, The Astronuts. The creator of Astrojack and Astrodillo, Logan Goodson, would go on to create a later Astros mascot, Junction Jack, who initially replaced the current Astros mascot, Orbit.

BJ Birdy
BJ Birdy served as the official mascot for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1979 to 1999. He was ejected from a game in 1993 for "showing up" the umpire, after making gestures the umpire found offensive. He was replaced in 1999 with Ace and Diamond. BJ was created and played by the same person, Kevin Shanahan, for his entire 20-year career as the Jays' mascot. Shanahan lost three toes on his left foot in an automobile accident during the 1991 off season, but managed to return as the Jays mascot, missing only the first home game of the season.

Bleacher Creature
The Bleacher Creature was a mascot for the Atlanta Braves major league baseball team during the late 1970s. It featured green shaggy fur with a Braves cap and logo on top. The word Braves was written across its chest in big red letters. It had a permanent toothless smile. The mascot usually roamed the stands from time to time during home games and was intended more for the entertainment of younger fans.

The mascot was costumed by Alan Stensland, then a student at Georgia Tech. Stensland was working as an usher at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium when he was approached to wear the costume. The outfit required someone who was 5"8" to 5'10" tall, and Alen met the height and shoe size requirements. Alen recalls having one of his costume's eyes removed by a youngster on his first night out. They also attempted to bust his kneecaps on bat night. During the 1977 season, the mascot made some 250 appearances at games, parties, and parades.

Stensland was only 18 at the time he first donned the costume. The most intense problem he had was the heat. With the added humidity, a really "funky smell" permeated the inside of the costume. Once Stensland graduated, he left the Braves organization, and the mascot was discontinued. The other Braves mascot, Chief Noc-A-Homa, continued on for several more years until Homer the Brave took its spot. Starting in 2018, Blooper took over the current mascot of the Braves.

Bluepper
Bluepper was a former mascot for the San Diego Padres from 1992 to 1994, He was a dark blue dog-like character with a baseball nose and a sun visor, he was later retired in 1994 because of his unpopularity. The Swinging Friar serves as the current mascot of the Padres.

Bonnie Brewer
Bonnie Brewer is a former official mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers, appearing at Milwaukee County Stadium from 1973 to 1979. Bonnie was portrayed as a young blonde woman in a gold blouse and short blue lederhosen, wearing a baseball cap and frequently carrying a blue-and-gold broom which she would use to sweep the bases.

Bonnie was first introduced as the female companion to the Brewers' mascot Bernie Brewer. Bernie and Bonnie were created by then-team vice president Dick Hackett as part of an effort to create a lively atmosphere at County Stadium, which also included hiring organist Frank Charles to play a Wurlitzer during the games. As Hackett remembers it, Bernie and Bonnie were added over the objections of team owner Bud Selig.

Bonnie was noted mainly for her colorful antics during the seventh-inning stretch. As the grounds crew swept the infield, Bonnie wielded her signature broom, sweeping off each base in turn. After sweeping third base, she would playfully swat the opposing team's third-base coach on the backside with her broom, following it up with a kiss on his cheek.

Bonnie was discontinued after the 1979 season, although no clear reason has ever been given for her "firing". Bernie Brewer was discontinued as a mascot in 1984, although he was brought back as a costumed mascot in 1993, complete with full-body costume and large foam head. Bonnie Brewer returned as part of the nostalgia-heavy final home stand at County Stadium, September 18–28, 2000. , Bonnie is part of the Brewers' "Retro Fridays" promotions at Miller Park, incorporating the traditional base sweeping as well as dancing with Bernie on Bernie's Dugout during the fans' singing of the "Beer Barrel Polka" in the seventh inning stretch.

The Buccaneer
The Buccaneer was a secondary mascot used by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball club during their 1995 season. While the team's primary mascot, the Pirate Parrot, wore an elaborate costume with a prosthetic head and molded frame, the Buccaneer was simply a man in pirate's garb who led the crowd in organized cheers. After an audition involving 30 prospective mascots, 23-year-old Tim Beggy was chosen to portray the Buccaneer.

Beggy was arrested along with a woman in July 1995, while skinny dipping after hours in a closed public swimming pool. Beggy and the woman both reached a plea agreement, under which they each paid a $100 fine and court costs in exchange for more serious charges of "open lewdness" being dropped. Beggy's arrest attracted national attention, including jokes on The Tonight Show, and the Pirates subsequently discontinued the use of the character in the wake of the negative publicity.

Charlie-O
Charlie-O the Mule was the mascot used by the Kansas City Athletics and Oakland A's from 1963 to 1976. The mule was named after their colorful owner at that time, Charles O. Finley.

When the A's moved to Missouri, where the official state animal is the mule, Warren Hearnes gave a mule to Finley for his barnyard menagerie at Municipal Stadium which also include sheep and goats that scampered up the hill behind right field. The Municipal Stadium menagerie also included Warpaint, the horse mascot of the Kansas City Chiefs. As questions swirled about whether Finley would be loyal to Missouri, he embraced the mule and removed the elephant from the A's logo and changed the A's colors from blue, red and white to green, gold, and white.

Finley took the sorrel 5 ft mule around the country, walking him into cocktail parties and hotel lobbies, and on one occasion even into the press room after a large feeding to annoy reporters.

Chester Charge
In April 1977 the Houston Astros introduced their very first mascot, Chester Charge. Chester Charge was a 45-pound costume of a cartoon Texas cavalry soldier on a horse. Chester appeared on the field at the beginning of each home game, during the seventh inning stretch and then ran around the bases at the conclusion of each win. At the blast of a bugle, the scoreboard would light up and the audience would yell, "Charge!" The first Chester Charge was played by Steve Ross who was then an 18-year-old Senior High School student. The creation of Chester Charge and the (incredible for its day) scoreboard graphics were created by Ed Henderson.

Chief Noc-A-Homa
Chief Noc-A-Homa was the original mascot of the Atlanta Braves from the 1950s until 1986. The name was used for the "laughing Indian" sleeve patch worn on Braves jerseys. From at least the early 1960s, while still in Milwaukee County Stadium, until the early 1980s at Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium, this mascot "lived" in a teepee in an unoccupied section of the bleacher seats.

The teepee was involved in a bit of controversy in 1982 when the Braves, who were in first place in the National League West at the time, elected to remove the chief's home to provide more seating for the fans. The team dropped out of first when they lost 19 of 21 games after the removal. The teepee was returned to its spot and the team won the division.

Opposition to Native American mascots caused the Braves to retire Chief Noc-A-Homa and eventually replace him with Homer the Brave, who was eventually replaced with Blooper in 2018.

Crazy Crab
The Crazy Crab was a mascot of the San Francisco Giants for the 1984 season. As opposed to other mascots, Crazy Crab was meant as an "anti-mascot", satirizing on the mascot craze that was going on at the time. Fans were encouraged to boo the mascot (played by actor Wayne Doba) and manager Frank Robinson appeared in a commercial with the crustacean where Robinson was restrained from attacking him. This encouragement may have worked too well, as Giants fans regularly threw various dangerous objects at Crazy Crab, including beer bottles and batteries, and Crazy Crab's suit had to be reinforced with a fiberglass shell for protection. The crab was so hated, players on both the Giants and the opposition would throw rosin bags and other objects at the mascot. Doba sued the San Diego Padres after two of their players (Kurt Bevacqua and future Giants manager Bruce Bochy) tackled him, causing injuries. The mascot lasted only one year and the Giants would not have another mascot until Lou Seal in 1996. The crab returned for the last game at Candlestick Park that the Giants played in 1999, and a bobblehead was given away with its likeness on July 18, 2008, as the franchise celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in the Bay Area. There is a website devoted to bringing back the Crazy Crab called Rehab The Crab and a Crazy Crab sandwich at AT&T Park. In 2014, Colin Hanks directed The Anti-Mascot, an ESPN 30 for 30 short about Crazy Crab. On July 7, 2018, Crazy Crab made an appearance at AT&T Park in honor of the Giants' Crazy Crab scarf giveaway.

Dandy
Dandy was a short-lived mascot of the New York Yankees. He was a large pinstriped bird-like mascot that sported a Yankees hat. He had a mustache that gave him an appearance similar to that of former Yankee pitcher Sparky Lyle or Thurman Munson. His name was a play on the classic American folk song "Yankee Doodle Dandy". He appeared at the start of the 1980 season and was so unpopular that he was quickly canceled. Dandy was beaten up by fans who did not want a mascot, and quit, leading to the elimination of the character as the Yankees chose not to replace him.

Along with this experiment, the Yankees briefly had mascots resembling ballpark food (plus Yankees hats on top) during the mid-1990s. Outside of these two occasions, the Yankees have not had an official mascot or cheerleading squad roam the stands or perform on the field, although the late Freddy Schuman has served as an unofficial promoter in the stands for decades, and a squirrel appearing on the field has brought inspiration as a mascot for the team. In 2021, Bronxie the Rally Turtle served as the Yankees' unofficial mascot.

Diamond
Diamond was a secondary mascot of the Toronto Blue Jays alongside Ace. She and Ace replaced BJ Birdy in 2000. However, Diamond never gained enough appeal with fans to last, and was removed by the Blue Jays at the end of the 2003 season, leaving Ace the sole mascot of the team.

General Admission
General Admission (a pun on the unreserved $4 seating section of the Astrodome) was a mascot for the Houston Astros in the mid-to-late 1990s. He was played by Michael Kenny, who is now the Senior Director of Guest Relations for the Houston Astros, and wore a traditional U.S. Cavalry uniform complete with gold stars he would affix to his uniform for every Astros home run hit in the dome. Whenever an Astro hit a home run, General Admission would fire a cannon from his outfield platform (that would often scare those seated near him). He was "killed off" at the end of the 1999 season when the Astros main mascot, Orbit, had him zapped by an alien ray gun on the penultimate game of the regular season.

Harry Elephante
Harry Elephante was the Oakland Athletics original costumed mascot who debuted sometime in 1980s and was quickly replaced with Trunk, who was eventually replaced with Stomper. His name is a play on Harry Belafonte.

Homer
Homer was the mascot of the Atlanta Braves. He had a baseball shaped head, and looked a little like Mr. Met. Before having the baseball head however, Homer was the personification of the old "Screaming Warrior" logo the Braves used before dropping it in 1988.

Homer's full name was Homer the Brave. This was meant to sound like "home of the brave", the last words of the national anthem. Incidentally, "homer" was also the longtime nickname for a home run.

Homer retired in 2018 after Blooper was introduced.

Homer the Beagle
Homer the Beagle was the mascot of the New York Mets in their inaugural year. He was a live beagle puppy.

Junction Jack
Junction Jack was the mascot character for the Houston Astros from 2000 until 2012. He was a 7 ft rabbit dressed as a railroad engineer. His "relatives" were Junction Julie and Junction Jesse, although they were not certified official mascots by the Astros.

Junction Jack replaced Orbit when the team moved from the Astrodome to Minute Maid Park. The new stadium was originally called "The Ballpark at Union Station" because it was built on the site of the historic railway station in downtown Houston. In keeping with this new theme for the Astros, Orbit was replaced by the engineer. The character was designed by Logan Goodson and named by Duone Byars, both former Astros employees.

After the 2012 season, Junction Jack, Julie, and Jesse were retired, with Orbit returning to his former place as the Astros mascot on November 2, 2012. Orbit's return coincided with the Astros' move to the American League West as well as their new uniforms, caps, and logo.

Larry
Larry, a Bull Terrier, was the mascot for the Cleveland Naps in the 1910s, cared for by player Jack Graney.

Lefty and Righty (Boston Red Sox)
Before their retirement in 2014, Lefty and Righty were each a large, red sock with arms, and before Tessie the Green Monster's introduction in 2016, were the alternate mascot characters for the Boston Red Sox through the 2014 MLB season, joining Wally the Green Monster. They were seen on large outings with Wally such as the 2007 World Series Parade as well as weekend afternoon games at Fenway Park.

Mettle the Mule
Mettle the Mule was a mascot of the New York Mets for a short time starting in 1976. Originally named Arthur, Mettle was renamed as a result of a fan contest. Mettle was kept in a pen near the Mets' bullpen in the right field of Shea Stadium.

Mr. Oriole
Mr. Oriole was the original Baltimore Orioles mascot in 1954. Commissioned by Orioles Public Relations Director Dick Armstrong to "replicate the expression and appearance of Mr. Oriole" designed by Baltimore Sun cartoonist Jim Hartzell, a costumed mascot was created "so that a three-dimension version of the bird could cavort on the field and in the stands during the games." Mr. Oriole holds the distinction of being the first costumed mascot in Major League Baseball.

Philadelphia Phil and Philadelphia Phillis
Philadelphia Phil and Philadelphia Phillis served as mascots for the Phillies during the 1970s (1971–1979). Their costumes invoked the city's revolutionary spirit from 1776. The pair reappeared with their replacement—the Phanatic—as the Phillies celebrated their final year at Veterans Stadium in 2003, including the final opening day and final game.

Rally
Rally was one of the Atlanta Braves mascots. He was a Red and Blue Muppet-like mascot with a Blue Mowhawk, he first appeared during the 1985–1986 season, and would often be seen hanging out with Homer. He soon disappeared sometime in the early 2000's, leaving Homer the only mascot until Blooper arrived in 2018.

Ribbie and Roobarb
Ribbie and Roobarb were a pair of mascots used by the Chicago White Sox from 1981 to 1988 at Comiskey Park. After the Sox were sold in 1981 by Bill Veeck to an ownership group headed by Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn, the new owners, who were eager to draw on the 1970s popularity of such mascots as The San Diego Chicken, hired the design firm responsible for creating the Phillie Phanatic to create a new mascot for the Sox.

They debuted the pair of furry mascots in September 1981, but the fans never accepted the two, ridiculing them throughout their tenure with the team—both because of their ludicrous appearance, which had no apparent connection with the team, and also because they were seen as an attempt to eliminate Andy the Clown, who had performed unofficially at Sox games since 1960. "Rhubarb" is longtime baseball slang for a heated on-field argument; Ribbie comes from the acronym RBI, for runs batted in. Often reports will say ribbie instead of RBI to describe it.

"For most of the 1980s, the patrons at Comiskey Park ... were asked to endure the 'antics' of baseball's least appealing mascots, Ribbie and Roobarb. One looked like the dim-witted son of Oscar the Grouch, the other like a chartreuse anteater with a genetic flaw."

After another failed mascot in the early 1990s was Waldo the White Sox Wolf. The White Sox introduced a new mascot, Southpaw, in 2004.

Ribbie and Southpaw
Ribbie and Southpaw were a pair of bear mascots created by the Los Angeles Angels in 1993, but they were replaced by Scoop and Clutch in the mid 1990s.

Rootin' Tootin' Ranger
Rootin' Tootin' Ranger was the mascot of the Texas Rangers in the late 1970s. Since 2002, Rangers Captain serves as the team's mascot.

Schottzie
Schottzie was a live St. Bernard mascot used by the Cincinnati Reds from 1982 until his death in 1991, he was later replaced by another St. Bernard named Schottzie (02), who was mascot from 1992 until 1999.

Scoop and Clutch
Scoop and Clutch were mascots for the Anaheim Angels in the 1990s. The pair were bears wearing Angels uniforms complete with halos and wings for some time. They disappeared and were effectively replaced by the Rally Monkey in the 2002 season.

Souki
Souki was the mascot of the Montreal Expos, for only one season (1978), a figure in an Expos uniform with a giant baseball for a head. It was a variation of the popular mascot of the New York Mets called Mr. Met, but with one difference. The Expos' Mr. Met, called Souki, had odd antennas sticking out the sides of his head. He looked like something from outer space and the kids were afraid of him. During a game in late fall, a father attacked Souki after his child was afraid of him (and after a loss). Starting the following year in 1979, Youppi! took over as the official mascot of the Expos until the team's relocation to Washington, D.C. in 2004, where he was replaced with Screech the following year.

Spacey the Needle
Spacey was the winner of the 1979 mascot competition held by the Seattle Mariners and became the team mascot for a few games. The Mariners replaced him with the Mariner Moose in 1990.

The Baseball Bug
The Baseball Bug was the former mascot of the Cleveland Indians from 1980 to 1981. He was a large red creature with a long nose and a baseball cap with eyes and antennas sticking out. He was retired and replaced with Slider after the 1981 season.

Trunk
Trunk was the former mascot of the Oakland Athletics from 1993 to 1996. he was an elephant similar to Stomper, but was skinnier and wore black sunglasses similar to the alternate logo used from 1994 to 2002. He was replaced by Stomper later on in the 1997 season.

Twinkie the Loon
Twinkie was used by the Minnesota Twins for two seasons 1980 and 1981. T.C. replaced him in 2000.

Waldo the White Sox Wolf
Waldo the White Sox Wolf was a short-lived mascot of the Chicago White Sox in the 1990's before Southpaw's debut in 2004.

Youppi!
Youppi! was the mascot of the Montreal Expos, before the franchise moved to Washington as the Washington Nationals. He is an orange furry creature with a white face originally leased in 1979 and designed by Bonnie Erickson, formerly a designer for some of Jim Henson's Muppets characters. Youppi! was so named resembling the phrase Yippee! or Hooray! in French. Youppi! was the first mascot to be thrown out of a Major League Baseball game: on August 23, 1989, in the 11th inning, while atop the visitors' dugout, Youppi! took a running leap, landing hard and noisily on its roof, and then sneaked into a front row seat. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda complained to the umpires and Youppi! was ejected, though he later returned, confined to the home team's dugout roof. Youppi! was abandoned as a mascot and replaced with Screech after the Expos franchise moved to Washington in 2005, but was adopted by the NHL's Montreal Canadiens team on September 16, 2005, as potentially the first sports mascot to switch their allegiance from one sport to another, while remaining in the same city.

Youppi! was voted to the Mascot Hall of Fame in December 2019, and was inducted in June 2020. Youppi! is the first mascot of a Canadian team to receive the honor.

Teams without a mascot
The following MLB teams do not currently have an official mascot:

 * New York Yankees
 * Los Angeles Dodgers
 * Los Angeles Angels

Mascot store in various ballparks
The "Build-A-Bear Workshop" Make-Your-Own-Phanatic store, at Citizens Bank Park, was the first store of its kind in sports. Fans are invited to buy and stuff a Phillie Phanatic doll and dress it up. Following the 2010 season, the Build-A- Bear in Philadelphia was discontinued. Similar shops have since been set up in Cincinnati (Great American Ball Park), Cleveland (Progressive Field), St. Louis (Busch Stadium), San Francisco (Oracle Park), and Washington, D.C. (Nationals Park). The Milwaukee Brewers also have in their main team store at Miller Park a whole section of their store consisting entirely of merchandise featuring the Racing Sausages, called The Meat Locker.

title: List of Major League Baseball mascots


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Pediatric urology

Pediatric urology is a surgical subspecialty of medicine dealing with the disorders of children's genitourinary systems. Pediatric urologists provide care for both boys and girls ranging from birth to early adult age. The most common problems are those involving disorders of urination, reproductive organs and testes.

Focus areas
Some of the problems they deal with are:
 * Bladder control problems such as bedwetting and daytime urinary incontinence
 * Undescended testes (cryptorchidism)
 * Hypospadias
 * Epispadias
 * Urolithiasis (bladder and kidney stones)
 * Chordee and other minor malformations of the penis
 * Phimosis
 * Urinary obstruction and vesicoureteral reflux
 * Neurogenic bladder (e.g., associated with spina bifida)
 * Antenatal hydronephrosis
 * Tumors and cancers of the kidneys
 * Repair of genitourinary trauma
 * Genitourinary malformations and birth defects
 * Prune belly syndrome
 * Cloacal exstrophy, bladder exstrophy, and epispadias
 * Ambiguous genitalia and intersex conditions

Pediatric urologists
In North America, most pediatric urologists are associated with children's hospitals. Training for board certification in pediatric urology typically consists of a surgery internship as part of a urology residency followed by subspecialty training in pediatric urology at a major children's hospital. In India, Pediatric Urology is practiced by Pediatric Surgeons with a special interest/ training in pediatric urology as well as by adult urologists who get trained in Pediatric Urology.

title: Pediatric urology


text:
Piney River (Middle Tennessee)

The Piney River is a 23.7 mi tributary of the Duck River in Middle Tennessee in the United States. Via the Duck River, the Tennessee River, and the Ohio River, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed. The headwater tributaries of the Piney River rise in Dickson County, Tennessee, near the city of Dickson. Dickson is located on the "Tennessee Valley Divide", which corresponds for some distance with the downtown's Main Street. The western part of the town, the part in the Tennessee Valley (as opposed to the Cumberland Valley), is drained by the East Piney River, a tributary to the Piney.

The city lakes, formerly a water supply source and the site of an early electrical power plant even before this, are on a Piney River tributary, as was a former city sewer plant, which was closed when a larger water intake was built further down on the Piney. The upper reaches of the Piney were inadequate for the area's needs, and a pipeline to the Cumberland River in the north end of the county has now been completed, relieving the Piney of the burden of supplying the water needs to a growing community that threatened soon to exhaust it.

The West and East Piney rivers flow together near the community of Mount Sinai; this confluence marks the true head of the stream. The stream flows from this point south-southeast into Hickman County, where it meets the waters of the Duck River a few miles west-northwest of Centerville. The Piney's major tributary in Hickman County is Mill Creek, a scenic stream which is frequently stocked with trout by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

In August 2021 a rain system produced up to 17 in of rain in the area within 24 hours. The resulting flash flooding was responsible for more than twenty deaths.

title: Piney River (Middle Tennessee)