Inside The Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies Mascot Completely Whiffs On Historic Homer

The Philadelphia Phillies' mascot missed filming an important milestone in franchise history.

Tyler Maher

Mar 30, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies mascot The Phanatic.
Mar 30, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies mascot The Phanatic. / Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports
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The Philadelphia Phillies' 11-4 rout of the Texas Rangers at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday was historic for several reasons.

For starters, it improved the Phillies' record to 36-14, tying the best start by an MLB team since the 2001 Seattle Mariners.

The game also featured three home runs by Philadelphia, including the 14,000th in franchise history. J.T. Realmuto hit the milestone blast with his third-inning solo shot to left field off Rangers starter Dane Dunning, giving the Phillies a 3-2 lead with his sixth long ball of the season.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia's cameraman in left field totally missed the historic homer, as he had his camera pointed in the wrong direction.

The man behind the camera was none other than the Phillie Phanatic.

The Phanatic was getting crowd shots rather than focusing on the action on the field, so he totally missed Realmuto's homer.

By the time he swung the camera back towards home plate, it was too late.

In his defense, the Phillie Phanatic is not a trained cameraman, and filming games isn't part of his job description. Still, he's worked enough ballgames to know that the action is on the field, not in the stands. He should also know to always keep an eye out whenever a dangerous hitter like Realmuto is up.

Fortunately for the Phanatic, his blunder will go down as a minor footnote in team history.

Edmundo Sosa homered in the fourth and Bryce Harper went yard in the eighth, overshadowing Realmuto's big fly. After the game, most of the attention was on the team's historic start rather than their mascot's silly miscue.

If the Phanatic does end up behind the camera again, hopefully he learned a valuable lesson.

If he's going to film the crowd, he better do it only when the other team is hitting.

Published
Tyler Maher
TYLER MAHER

Tyler is a writer for Sports Illustrated's Inside the Phillies. He grew up in Massachusetts and is a huge Boston sports fan, especially the Red Sox. He went to Tufts University and played club baseball for the Jumbos. Since graduating, he has worked for MLB.com, The Game Day, FanDuel and Forbes. When he's not writing about baseball, he enjoys running, traveling, and playing fetch with his golden retriever.

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