How do mascots like the Phillie Phanatic stay fresh in the summer heat? Vodka and water

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Phillie Phanatic has a boozy little secret for surviving the dog days of summer.

Vodka and water. Neat. Hold the lemon.

Not for hydration. “He’s a milk guy,” jokes Tom Burgoyne, who brings the Phanatic to life.

Burgoyne, officially known as the mascot’s best friend, works up a mighty sweat dancing on dugouts during Philadelphia’s steamy summer nights. Lysol or Febreze used to be the go-tos for keeping the stench under control.

Most mascots these days order off the happy hour menu when they really want to feel fresh and clean on the inside.

“Now a big thing in the mascot world is vodka and water,” Burgoyne said. “You put it in half-and-half, maybe a third vodka, the rest water, you put it in a squeegee bottle and you can spray your head that way and sometimes that takes the smell away.”

Sports fans around the globe get their kicks from all costumed creatures great and small that entertain no matter how red-hot it gets under that heavy honker. The musky muppets take the field through triple-digit heat, broken temperature records and oppressive humidity that can wilt even the most die-hard fan during the summer stretch. Yes, sweaty is the head that wears the crown — such as Kansas Royals’ mascot Sluggerrr — and regular costume cleaning is part of the mascot game.

Of course, so is staying safe.

Mascot performers use vents, fans and lots of breaks to combat the heat

The Phanatic, Fredbird and Clark the Cub all need a respite from the sweltering heat, which include frequent breaks, constant hydration, cooling materials and proper ventilation.

No one with a baseball for a head wants to faint on the field and need even more stitches.

Keeping those performers from overheating is top of mind for Mitch Maxine. His company BAM Mascots, designs and manufactures all sorts of bears, birds, sea creatures and monsters for sports teams at all levels. He understands a good mascot is more than just fabric and fur. Take a walk in their fuzzy feet and most costume designers understand the health and safety of the person inside matters just as much as the amusement provided at the ol’ ballgame.

“In terms of the actual manufacturing of the costumes, they’re just hot,” Maxine said. “In terms of how we build it or what we make it out of, it’s about how to reduce that level of heat.”

That’s not always easy when designing a muscular costume meant to be worn for hours.

“The thing that prevents people from being hot is usually the movement of air,” Maxine said. “If I make a costume, even if I make it out out of very light, thin material, if I wear it in the middle of the heat, unless there’s something to move air through the material and across my skin, I’m going to be hot.”

BAM is among the mascot manufacturers that strategically place vents or a battery-operated fan to circulate fresh air and expel stale air and heat inside the head. Lightweight, durable fabrics are used to wick away moisture and inconspicuous ventilation ports — think of fabric screens on the eyes, nose, mouth, ears or your favorite parrot or moose — can provide fresh air.

No amount of costume tech overrides the importance of staying hydrated

Maxine also suggests cooling vests that can help regulate body temperatures in environments hotter than a pennant race or during extreme physical activity.

Yet, the best advice on those worrisome weather days may as well come straight from mom before a Little League game: Take frequent breaks. Drink water.

“We’ve had a couple of clients saying they want some sort of system built into the costume where a performer can wear a water bottle inside the pouch and have a straw come up inside their head so they can sip water while they’re performing,” he said.

BAM made it for one customer. It was a simple design, just a belt with a holder for a water bottle, with a tube that ran up the character’s chest and into the head. More could be sold in the future.

The Phanatic suit doesn’t include any vents or fans, but the 59-year-old Burgoyne — who started performing as the Phanatic at old Veterans Stadium in the late 1980s — has his own dressing room inside the bowels of Citizens Bank Park and can scamper away for a quick rest to beat the heat.

It’s needed. Consider, this summer in Philadelphia, the city’s public health department declared a heat emergency once temperatures spiked to triple-digits and power outages were even reported.

“At the Vet, I used to wear bags of ice around my belly,” Burgoyne said. “It turned to hot water after five minutes. I don’t know if it really did any good at all. Citizens Bank Park seems to have more of a cross-wind so it doesn’t steam up the way the Vet used. When we came over here (in 2004), I stopped doing it.”

Bernie Brewer, Blooper and Bernie the Marlin might want to try sticking their swampy extendable body parts in the freezer.

There’s an 80% chance the world will break another annual temperature record in the next five years, and it’s even more probable that the world will again exceed the international temperature threshold set 10 years ago, according to a five-year forecast released in May by the World Meteorological Organization and the U.K. Meteorological Office.

Phillies fans send cooling vests in the mail to the Phanatic (“I get a lot of, ‘try this, try that,’” Burgoyne said) or cooling collars to stave off heat exhaustion. The Phanatic — the costume weighs about 35 pounds, Burgoyne normally wears just T-shirts and shorts under the flightless bird — is always hot no matter the weather because of the constant motion needed to ride ATVs or fight Tommy Lasorda or hug it out with Jason Kelce.

On those stifling hot days, the Phanatic doesn’t charm the crowd for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time without a break and, no, he’s never passed out. Burgoyne — such a delightful storyteller, it’s a shame the Phanatic is mute — says a perfect weather day for a mascot is almost any day in October.

“If the Phanatic is out there running around doing his thing in October, all is right in the world,” he said. “He’s not sweating as much, I’m not sweating as much and the Phillies are in the playoffs. That is the ideal time.”

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports