Who are the Galápagos Gang, the Phillies’ weirder, lesser-known mascots? Why are they?
They’re merciless when it comes to defending the Phanatic’s honor and have no problem pushing, pecking, or eating anyone who gets in their way.
When the Phanatic’s best friend, Tom Burgoyne, decided to bring a new crew of mascots into the Phillies family, he wanted one of them, Iggy — a yellow land iguana who bears a strange resemblance to Pac-Man and no resemblance to an iguana — to be endowed with a special superpower.
“We requested he be able to eat people,” said Burgoyne, who’s portrayed the Phanatic since 1994. “Now iguanas don’t normally eat people, they have a tongue that shoots out, but the Phanatic already has one of those.”
Able to ingest ornery umpires and yappy Yankees fans in one fell swoop of his gaping maw, Iggy is the Phanatic’s “muscle” and a proud member of the Galápagos Gang, the Phillies’ lesser-known and extremely-strange inflatable mascots. Other members of the group include Sid the sea lion, Calvin the giant tortoise, and Bessie the blue-footed booby, all of whom are at least 7 feet tall, with Bessie pushing 8 feet.
While they don’t get much TV time, the gang can usually be found greeting fans as they enter Citizens Bank Park, wandering around the concourse, or hanging out in Ashburn Alley doing headstands, posing for photos, and catching hot dogs fired from the Phanatic’s cannon with fishing nets.
“They’re really interactive and they always try to entertain,” Burgoyne said.
When the gang is allowed on the field, they’re merciless when it comes to defending the Phanatic’s honor and have no problem pushing, pecking, or eating anyone who gets in their way.
‘If it’s done right’
The Galápagos Gang was the brainchild of Burgoyne, who was inspired to bring them on board after attending an MLB mascot conference in Las Vegas in 2014 where a company called Signs & Shapes gave a presentation on the inflatable mascot characters it creates.
“I wasn’t a real big inflatable character guy at the time, but they were the new thing, all the rage,” Burgoyne said.
He remembered when the Zooperstars — a group of inflatable mascot entertainers with names like Donovan McCrabb, Whale Gretzky, and Ken Giraffey, Jr. — came to the Phanatic’s birthday party and were a hit with fans, particularly kids.
“So that was in the back of my head, that if it’s done right it can be funny, crazy, and popular,” Burgoyne said. “I didn’t like the idea of doing an inflatable version of the Phanatic, that didn’t make any sense to me … then I had this idea of having the Phanatic’s friends from the Galápagos visit him.”
Part of the Phanatic’s long-standing backstory is that he came to Philly in 1978 from the Galápagos Islands, a land filled with unique and incredible species, just like him.
As the author of many children’s books, Burgyone explored what might happen if the Phanatic returned to his homeland in 2010′s The Phillie Phanatic’s Galapagos Islands Adventure. In the book, the Phanatic meets species native to the islands as well as an entire town of Phanatics.
That book led Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic to offer Burgoyne, the Phanatic, and the Phanatic’s original best friend, Dave Raymond, the chance to be guest stars aboard a cruise to the Galápagos in 2012, which was billed as “A unique journey to the homeland of the Phillies’ mascot.”
“I sometimes joke it’s great the Phanatic’s backstory was that he was from the Galápagos and not Detroit,” Burgoyne said.
He used his book and his experiences on the islands to develop the characters of the Galápagos Gang, which were then made by Signs & Shapes of Omaha, Neb.
“They came out so engaging and colorful and cute, and they’re a great photo op,” Burgoyne said. “When you get them all together and you’re a little kid and you have these four big characters around you, it can be memorable.”
‘Hear them squealing’
The Galápagos Gang was officially introduced at the Phanatic’s birthday party in April 2015 and came rolling in on a flatbed truck.
“It was a beautiful Sunday and you really heard the response from the crowd and the kids. You could just hear them squealing,” Burgoyne said. “The Phanatic greeted them and we all lined up in front of the mound and did a whole dance medley of songs.”
The biggest difference between a traditional mascot costume and an inflatable one, according to Burgoyne, is the lack of flexibility in the latter.
“You’re limited by what you can do, so you have to be deliberate with your movements. You can’t convey emotions as easily as the Phanatic can,” he said. “The performers inside are very talented. They can shake if they’re afraid, Calvin sucks his head in and pops it up if he’s scared, they can do certain things that just look funny, like flip around and bounce on their head, and Iggy can roll.”
And don’t forget the eating people part too, because that’s important, very important. What remains frighteningly unclear is how Iggy digests his prey, but we do know he can regurgitate specific unpalatable items from his victims that he doesn’t want in his tummy, like baseball hats.
“He’s eaten umpires, security guards, he’s actually eaten celebrities too, like Carli Lloyd,” Burgoyne said.
Other antics undertaken by the Galápagos Gang include headbanging, somersaults, and offering passing fans high fives, then quickly sucking their arms back into their body (psych!).
Unlike the Phanatic, the Galápagos Gang doesn’t often make appearances outside of Citizens Bank Park (though they have showed up at a Reading Fightin Phils game and at a birthday party for Temple University’s mascot, Hooter).
Part of the phamily
Much like the Phanatic when he was introduced in 1978, the Galápagos Gang was brought on board to get young children excited about baseball and the Phillies.
“As it turned out, the Phanatic appealed to all fans right from the beginning. Adults enjoyed the slapstick humor and irreverence but his main job is to cultivate and develop young fans,” Burgoyne said.
While the Phanatic is universally adored and fêted in Philly like the king he is, the Galápagos Gang does have its detractors, who’ve called the group everything from “an atrocity” to the “Manson Family of mascots” on social media.
A post in the Phillies Reddit channel in April titled: “The Galapagos Gang is a disgrace,” contained a diatribe full of hot air about why Reddit user mcwalton24 does not like the gang.
“They are cheap, tacky, and lower the overall perceived value of the experience of the game,” they wrote. “It’s something I’d expect to see at a traveling parking lot carnival or AA baseball game.”
Phillies fans immediately piled on the thread to defend the Galápagos Gang’s honor and to illustrate that the detractor was solidly in the minority.
“Broo that’s phanatics actual family your talking about,” one fan wrote.
“I hope you get devoured next,” wrote another, under a picture of Iggy eating someone.
While the Galápagos Gang may never achieve the Phanatic’s legendary status, it’s clear they’ve pecked, pushed, and eaten their way into Philadelphians’ hearts and have instilled within us a love that can’t easily be deflated.
I know I’d be willing to sacrifice myself up for Iggy’s next meal.
Meet the Galápagos Gang:
Iggy the land iguana is “kind of the wise guy” and a “slob who’ll eat anything” said Burgoyne, but when opposing fans threaten the Phanatic, Iggy is the first to step in as the big green guy’s body guard. According to his baseball card, Iggy “LOVES the Phillies and only the Phillies” but the Phanatic has had trouble teaching him how to play the game because he “always eats the bat and ball.”
Sid the sea lion is “the old, wise one of the group,” who is always ready to dispense advice, Burgoyne said. According to his baseball card, Sid used to listen to Phillies games on a transistor radio while he was still in the Galápagos and his favorite team of all time was the 1950 Whiz Kids.
Bessie the blue-footed booby is sweet, lovable, and “the mother hen of the group,” Burgoyne said. She followed the Phanatic’s career when he left home and “became the biggest fan on the island,” according to her baseball card. She’s very proud that her feet match the Phillies’ baby blue uniforms.
Calvin the giant tortoise is “always late for everything” and always the last member of the group to come out on field, Burgoyne said. As the youngest member of the Galápagos Gang, Calvin has always looked up to the Phanatic like an older brother, whenever his head isn’t buried in his shell, of course.