Power Ranking all of the MLB Mascots

Mascots have been around since 1964, when Mr. Met appeared at the Shea Stadium opening.

Since then, the Major League Baseball mascot has taken on incredible responsibilities, including diving down slides, dancing on dugouts, and racing each other around the field for pure amusement.

The following is a ranking of the best mascots in baseball, from worst to first.

One little note: Only four teams in major league baseball are without a mascot—the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs.

However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t represented by humorous characters.

These characters are still included and ranked.

No. 30: Paws (Detroit)

Paws is the mascot of the Detroit Tigers. He is a Tiger. Can you get more creative than that?

No. 29: Sluggerrr (Kansas City)

Sluggerrr is the official mascot of the Kansas City Royals. This crown-wearing lion made his debut on April 5, 1996.

No. 28: Ace (Toronto)

Ace is the official mascot of the Toronto Blue Jays. He, along with his female counterpart "Diamond," replaced former mascot BJ Birdie before the 2002 season as a mascot duo. Like his predecessor, Ace resembles a large Blue Jay.

In 2004, Ace became the sole mascot of the team after Diamond was removed by the Blue Jays prior to the start of the season.

No. 27: D. Baxter the Bobcat (Arizona)

D. Baxter the Bobcat is the mascot for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He joined the team in 2000. His full name is D. Baxter the Bobcat, which is supposed to come from the team's nickname, the D-Backs.

The Diamondbacks picked a bobcat because they played in Bank One Ballpark (now called Chase Field), which was nicknamed "BOB" to shorten the park name.

When it was time for the team to get a mascot, an anthropomorphic snake made no sense to them, but because there are bobcats present in the desert, the team picked D. Baxter because his species had the fans' nickname of the stadium.

No. 26: Dinger (Colorado)

Dinger is the official mascot of the Colorado Rockies. He is an anthropomorphic purple triceratops.

The Rockies triceratops is often seen on the field before and after the game and roaming around the stadium during the game. He has been the Colorado Rockies' biggest fan since he first hatched from his egg at Mile High Stadium on April 16, 1994.

No. 25: Junction Jack (Houston)

Junction Jack has been the mascot character for the Houston Astros since March 2000. He is a seven-foot (2.13 meter) tall rabbit dressed as a railroad engineer.

Junction Jack replaced Orbit when the team moved from the Astrodome to Minute Maid Park. The new stadium was originally called "The Ballpark at Union Station" because it was built on the site of the historic railway station in downtown Houston.

No. 24: Pirate Parrot (Pittsburgh)

The Pirate Parrot is the mascot of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Debuting in 1979, he is a large green parrot who wears a Pirates jersey and cap.

The character of a parrot was derived from the classic story Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, most notably the one owned by Long John Silver named "Captain Flint."

No. 23: Rangers Captain (Texas)

Rangers Captain is the mascot for the Texas Rangers. Introduced in 2002, he is a palomino-style horse, dressed in the team's uniform. He wears the uniform No. "72" in honor of 1972, the year the Rangers relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

No. 22: Billy the Marlin (Florida)

Billy the Marlin is the official mascot of the Florida Marlins. Resembling a marlin with limbs, he can be seen at every Marlins home game. He competes in a waterboat race, which is a computer-animated video shown on the screen, during each game.

No. 21: Slider (Cleveland)

Slider is the mascot for the Cleveland Indians. He is a large, furry, fuchsia-colored creature. He has a large yellow nose and shaggy yellow eyebrows.

He was best known for an injury during the 1995 American League Championship Series when he fell six feet off an outfield wall and tore knee ligaments.

No. 20 Rally Monkey (Los Angeles Angels)

He might not be official, but everyone knows that when the monkey starts jumping up and down on the center field scoreboard, the Angles are mounting a rally.

No. 19: Gapper (Cincinnati)

Gapper is the current mascot for the Cincinnati Reds.

He was first introduced as the furry companion to Mr. Red, the longtime mascot, in the winter of 2002 as the franchise was preparing to move to its new home, Great American Ball Park. While he’s no Mr. Red, he has become a very popular fixture in Cincinnati.

No. 18: T.C. Bear (Minnesota)

T.C. Bear is the mascot for the Minnesota Twins. He was first introduced to Minnesota on April 3, 2000.

T.C. is loosely modeled after the Hamm's Beer Bear, a mascot used in advertisements for Hamm's Brewery, an early sponsor for the Twins. The "T.C." stands for the "Twin Cities," Minneapolis and St. Paul.

No. 17: Celebrity Fans (New York Yankees)

It’s the MLB version of the LA Lakers. It’s cool to be a Yankees fan.

While you have your staples—Rudy Giuliani, Spike Lee, and LeBron James, to name a few—how many times have you seen the hottest celebrity donning a Yankees cap at Yankee Stadium during Sunday Night Baseball (everyone watches Sunday Night Baseball!).

No. 16: Southpaw (Chicago White Sox)

Southpaw is the mascot of the Chicago White Sox. His name is a reference to a left-handed pitcher and is also a reference to Chicago’s South Side, where the team plays.

He was on a float for Illinois at Barack Obama's inauguration, along with the Washington Nationals' racing president representation of Abraham Lincoln.

No. 15: Fredbird (St. Louis)

Fredbird is the official mascot for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is an anthropomorphic cardinal wearing the team's uniform.

A person dressed up as Fredbird can often be found entertaining young children during baseball games at Busch Stadium.

His name is derived from "Redbird," a synonym for the cardinal bird and for the Cardinals themselves.

He is one of baseball's best-known mascots, and he makes hundreds of appearances year-round in the St. Louis area.

No. 14: Lou Seal (San Francisco)

Lou Seal is the official mascot of the San Francisco Giants.

"Born" on July 25, 1996 as Luigi Francisco Seal, Lou Seal's name is a play on the name "Lucille." It also refers to the San Francisco Seals, the baseball club that was a mainstay of the Pacific Coast League from 1903 until 1957.

No. 13: Raymond (Tampa Bay)

Raymond is the mascot of the Tampa Bay Rays. Raymond is a furry blue creature wearing a large pair of sneakers and a backwards baseball cap, completed with a Rays jersey. He is described officially as a "seadog."

Raymond was awarded an honorable mention in the GameOps.com Best Mascot contest for 2006.

No. 12: Mannywood (Los Angeles Dodgers)

How is Manny Ramirez not the official mascot?

The best pure hitter in baseball of his time, Mannywood joined the Dodgers halfway through 2008 and threw the club on his back and led them into the playoffs.

He quickly became the face of the team after that and still is with his comments, his eccentric nature, and his bold personality.

No. 11: Mariner Moose (Seattle)

The Mariner Moose is the mascot of the Seattle Mariners. The Moose made his debut on April 13, 1990 dancing on the field at the Kingdome.

During the 1995 American League Division Series between the M's and the New York Yankees, the Moose gained national attention when he broke his ankle crashing into the outfield wall at the Kingdome while being towed on inline skates behind an ATV in the outfield.

No. 10: Homer (Atlanta)

Homer is the mascot of the Atlanta Braves. He has a baseball-shaped head and looks a little like Mr. Met. Before having the baseball head, however, Homer was the personification of the old "Screaming Warrior" logo the Braves used before dropping it in 1988.

Homer's full name is Homer the Brave. This is meant to sound like "home of the brave," the last words of the national anthem.

No. 9: The Bird (Baltimore)

The Oriole is the official mascot of the Baltimore Orioles and is a cartoon version of the bird of the same name. The Bird was "hatched" on April 6, 1979 out of a giant egg at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

The Bird has been made famous in Baltimore from his dances atop the dugouts and his taunting of the visiting team. According to Orioles.com, the Bird's favorite foods are bird seed and the Maryland Crab Cake.

No. 8: Screech (Washington) and the Presidents

Screech is the mascot of the Washington Nationals.

He is a bald eagle who wears the home cap and jersey of the team. He was "hatched" on April 17, 2005 at the "Kids Opening Day" promotion at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. A new "matured" edition of the mascot was unveiled March 2, 2009.

The Washington Nationals have Presidential races during their games.

The four Presidents are the ones on Mount Rushmore: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.

They have became an instant success and make multiple public appearances, notably Abe Lincoln on the Illinois float for President Obama's inauguration parade.

A running gag with the Presidents is that Teddy Roosevelt can never win a race.

No. 7: Stomper (Oakland)

Stomper is the mascot of the Oakland Athletics.

He is an elephant adorned with an A's uniform of the No. 00. Before each game, he rides around the field in a little red car while the song "Jungle Boogie" by Kool and the Gang is played.

The use of an elephant to symbolize the Athletics dates from the early years of the franchise, when a group of Philadelphia businessmen became the team's first owners. When asked to comment, John McGraw, manager of the New York Giants of the rival National League, said something to the effect that "Benjamin Shibe had bought himself a white elephant."

In response, A's manager (and future owner) Connie Mack selected the elephant as the team symbol and mascot.

No. 6: The Goat (Chicago Cubs)

It’s as unofficial as unofficial gets, but there is no doubt that the Goat is a fixture in the world of the Chicago Cubs. The only way to debunk this figure? Win the World Series, Cubbies!

The instigator was Billy Sianis, who took his goat to Wrigley Field for Game Four of the 1945 World Series against the Detroit Tigers.

According to legend, after Sianis and his goat were ejected, he placed a curse on the Cubs that they would never win another pennant or play in a World Series at Wrigley Field. The Cubs haven't won a pennant since.

No. 5: Wally the Green Monster (Boston)

Wally the Green Monster is the official mascot for the Boston Red Sox. His name is derived from the Green Monster nickname of the 37-foot wall in left field at Fenway Park.

Wally debuted in 1997 to the chagrin of many older Red Sox fans. Although he was a hit with children, the older fans did not immediately adopt him as part of the franchise.

Lefty and Righty are each a large, red sock with arms and are the alternate mascot characters for the Boston Red Sox.

According to the Red Sox promotions department, Wally was a huge Red Sox fan who decided to move inside the left field wall of Fenway Park since it "eats up" hits that would easily be home runs at other parks in 1947.

Apparently, he was very shy and lived the life of a hermit for 50 years. On the 50th anniversary of the Green Monster in 1997, he came out of the manual scoreboard and has been interacting with players and fans ever since.

No. 4: Swinging Friar (San Diego)

The Swinging Friar is the mascot of the San Diego Padres.

The Swinging Friar has been a mascot with the team since as early as 1958, when the Padres were still a member of the Pacific Coast League, a minor league baseball organization.

The Padres joined Major League Baseball in 1969 and kept the popular mascot.

The Swinging Friar is a cartoon-like character, pudgy, balding, and always smiling. He is dressed as a friar with a tonsure, sandals, a dark hooded cloak, and a rope around the waist.

He swings a baseball bat, but reportedly, in some years he swings left-handed, while in other years he swings right-handed. He may be ambidextrous, or even a switch hitter.

Some in the past have confused the Famous Chicken as the mascot of the Padres. Although he does make appearances occasionally at San Diego sporting events, he has never been the official mascot of any San Diego sports team.

No. 3: Mr. Met (New York Mets)

Mr. Met is the official mascot of the New York Mets.

He is a baseball-headed humanoid being who wears a Mets cap and uniform. He can be seen at Citi Field (and previously at Shea Stadium) during Mets home games.

He also has appeared in several commercials as part of ESPN's “This is SportsCenter” campaign, and was selected in 2007 for the Mascot Hall of Fame.

No. 2: Phillie Phanatic (Philadelphia)

Phillie Phanatic is the official mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The fat, furry, green creature with a cylindrical beak containing a tongue that sticks out was created when the team thought it needed a mascot similar to the original San Diego Chicken.

The Phillie Phanatic is named for the fanatical fans of the team and, according to current owner and former team vice president, Bill Giles, was to bring more families to Veterans Stadium, the Phillies ballpark at the time.

No. 1: Bernie Brewer (Milwaukee) (and don’t forget those sausages!)

Bernie is the official mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Bernie Brewer character became the team's mascot in 1973, appearing as a cheerful man with a big mustache.

A beer-barreled chalet was built for him inside the stadium where, following each home run and every victory by the Brewers, he would slide down and plunge himself into a huge beer mug in celebration.

He is now seen in a full-body costume of a man, including large foam head.

The chalet was rebuilt in 1993 and set above the left-center field bleachers. The original beer mug that Bernie used to slide into is still in Milwaukee as part of the Lakefront Brewery, Inc. tour.

The sausages are unofficial mascots of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are stylized in the appearance of sausages from around the world. When they were first debuted in the mid '80s, there were only three: the German Bratwurst, the Polish Kielbasa, and the Italian Sausage.

In the mid '90s the Hot Dog became a racer. In 2006 a fifth sausage was debuted, the Spanish Chorizo. They are a favorite of fans and make sports highlights reels occasionally.