PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — He’s back.
The original Phillie Phanatic surfaced Wednesday morning, following the settlement of a copyright battle between the Philadelphia Phillies and the original designers of the beloved mascot.
The new/old Phanatic made his debut at a “Home Runs for Trees” event at the Navy Yard, hours after the Phils announced the settlement of its 2019 lawsuit against the mascot’s creators, Wayde Harrison and Bonnie Erickson.
Harrison and Erickson sold the copyright to the Phanatic to the Phillies for $250,000 in 1984 but sought to renegotiate the deal in 2019.
When the designers threatened to go to court to make the Phanatic a free agent, the Phillies sued. That suit caused the Phils to alter the look of the Phanatic for the last two years.
“He had some feathers, or things under his arms because he thought it would help him fly. It didn’t,” said Tom Burgoyne, who has spent 32 seasons inside the mascot’s green fur.
“He had a little bit bigger of a backside and that wound up getting in the view of the fans who were trying to watch the game.”
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“It was really exciting to see the reaction online when we announced that the Phanatic is going back to his original self, that he was evolving backwards,” Burgoyne told KYW Newsradio.
“It was really cool that fans really identified with that, I guess, original look of the Phanatic.”
The Phanatic’s mildly clumsy and slightly obnoxious personality has remained the same throughout, Burgoyne said.
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“It’s just really great to see everybody so happy that the original Phanatic is back. But for me, not much of a change," he explained.
"Just still hanging around with the Phanatic. Mayhem wherever he goes, and I’m just the guy who has to clean it all up.”
The terms of the settlement were not released.
