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Opinion

Meet the mascot guru who went from being the original Phillie Phanatic to helping create Gritty

Twenty-five years after Dave Raymond stepped aside as the groundbreaking Phanatic, his career as a mascot guru is speeding along like the three-wheeler he once raced recklessly across Veterans Stadium's notorious turf.

Dave Raymond, the original Phillie Phanatic whose mascot company not only devised the Flyers' controversial Gritty but has recently made one for a giant pharmaceutical company, the Irritable Bowel. He is shown in his home office on Oct. 12, 2018, with some of his Phanatic paraphenalia.
Dave Raymond, the original Phillie Phanatic whose mascot company not only devised the Flyers' controversial Gritty but has recently made one for a giant pharmaceutical company, the Irritable Bowel. He is shown in his home office on Oct. 12, 2018, with some of his Phanatic paraphenalia.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer