Webbly,Webbly, One Cool Frog
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ATY1205p010-019 10/21/05 3:31 PM Page 11 [ Logo/Mascot Profile ] FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COMES WEBBLY,WEBBLY, ONE COOL FROG IN THE WORLD OF MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, there are few team names more inexplicable and quirky than the Everett AquaSox. Albeit Everett’s nationwide popularity is yet to rival clubs such as the Durham Bulls and Toledo Mud Hens, almost any baseball fan that has seen the AquaSox logo, let alone heard the nickname, finds it impossible to forget. So what exactly is the intangible allure the Everett AquaSox possess that continues to make them one of the most popular minor league clubs year in and year out? Certainly the nickname’s peculiarity and uniqueness is one of the major factors to the team’s appeal. There are plenty of other teams that boast zani- er, funnier, or stranger nicknames; yet, the reasoning for most of these names can be easily and readily explained with a quick glance at a dictionary or by having a limited knowledge of the team’s home city. With the AquaSox, this is not the case. From their exhibition season in 1984 until 1995, Everett had always shared a title with their parent team, the San Francisco Giants. The AquaSox materialized after eleven seasons when a shift in affiliation to the Seattle Mariners inspired management to choose a new identity. The unconvention- al means by which the ‘AquaSox’ was created are almost as unique as the nickname itself. Photographs Courtesy of the Everett AquaSox AT THE YARD | December 2005 11 ATY1205p010-019 10/21/05 3:32 PM Page 12 [ Logo/Mascot Profile ] “ It is a cross between a Pacific tree frog and a Central American red-eyed tree frog. It’s not | HATS OFF | really a specific frog to the area, but they went with a frog to pay homage to the wet, rainy envi- ronment of the Pacific Northwest. They also wanted to do an animal to pay homage to the area’s sensitivity to the environment. –Brad Baxter, Director of Special Projects “ | HOME | | ROAD | THE LINEUP: Webbly takes a break from tree-jumping to pose with AquaSox fans. Explains Brad Baxter, director of original: a lime green frog with tropi- special projects for the team: “Our cal red legs sprawled out on a splash- owners at the time were looking to ing water droplet, donning a teal cap make a change to a more individual- with an ‘E’ and catching a baseball ized name. They ran some contests, with its out-stretched tongue. The and first came up with the Frogs. logo is classically comical. Coupled From that, they went with the with the AquaSox nickname, it is no AquaSox; the Sox part of it being the wonder that the silly cartoon frog tradition of baseball, like the Red Sox with huge, goony eyes is unforget- and White Sox, and the Aqua part table—a perennial fan favorite. being the habitat for frogs.” “It is a cross between a Pacific | BP PRACTICE | “It was a two-fold process: they tree frog and a Central American red- came up with the Frog first and then eyed tree frog,” says Baxter of the they came up with a name to go along Frog. “It’s not really a specific frog to with the Frog.” the area, but they went with a frog to This Frog that Baxter speaks of pay homage to the wet, rainy environ- remains the centerpiece of the ment of the Pacific Northwest. They AquaSox identity. Appearing on every also wanted to do an animal to pay piece of team merchandise, the Frog homage to the area’s sensitivity to the representation, used in today’s pri- environment.” mary logo, remains identical to the ’95 In addition to being the AquaSox 12 AT THE YARD | Dedicated to the Minor Leagues ATY1205p010-019 10/21/05 3:32 PM Page 14 [ Logo/Mascot Profile ] GET ME OUT OF HERE: Webbly and mascot friend Frank COMING DOWN THE STRETCH: It’s down to the wire, but Webbly loses another between N. Furter join in on the ballpark races. innings mascot race. Maybe it’s the webfeet that slow Webbly down? primary logo, the Frog is also the everywhere. Considering he has teeth talking puppet. “Pop” looks as if he team’s mascot. When he “hopped” on and always wears his AquaSox uni- just wandered off Sesame Street: the scene at Everett Memorial form, cap and gigantic sunglasses, he round yellow head, bald on top with Stadium in 1996, Webbly the Frog might not actually be that tasty after brown sideburns, orange oval nose, instantly earned the hearts of all all! While the unusually long frank- pink eyelids and, of course, an AquaSox fans. He comes dressed in furter may not be able to satiate a AquaSox jersey. his favorite team’s uniform—still fan’s appetite, he has been masterful Pop Fly’s aqua puppet house is a wearing the teal ‘E’ hat—to every in rallying the crowd behind his compelling contraption in its own home game, but is yet to earn any favorite team for almost twenty years. right. The aqua puppet house comes playing time. Although Webbly has “[Webbly and Frank] are a two- out of a backpack that the puppeteer perfected the art of snagging pop flies some. There are a lot of promotions, wears. As “Pop” is visible to the with his tongue, he still struggles with like Race the Mascot, in which they crowd, the invisible puppeteer looks catching the ball with his bulky both will be involved. They do a tag- out behind a fine black cloth—the orange-red—and ironically un- team, where Frank will start and run backdrop to the puppet stage. The webbed—fingers. from first base to second base, and theater’s design enables mobility for Webbly is only half of a dynamic then Webbly runs from second to the puppeteer as he performs his act. mascot duo for the AquaSox. His home plate…They both do visits to “He does a T-shirt giveaway every partner, Frank N. Furter, originally local schools for our reading pro- night, and then just kind of cracks served as the Everett Giants mascot grams here in Everett,” says Baxter of jokes,” says Baxter of the AquaSox in 1986, and represents one of the few the mascot twosome. favorite puppet since 1998. links between the two eras of Everett Webbly and Frank may be the Despite improving to eight games baseball—not counting the Everett prominent mascots, but Everett also over .500, the AquaSox took a hop Smokestackers one-season stint in boasts one of the most compelling backward in the standings from sec- 1905. and odd non-human cheerleaders in ond to third this past season. As they Despite being a six-foot tall hot- all of sports. hibernate in the rainy Washington dog smothered in ketchup and mus- Unlike most mascots that are winter, the Frogs remain hopeful they tard, Frank remains inedible—much dressed in costumes and have vowed can leap to the top of the Northwest to the chagrin of hungry baseball fans silence, Pop Fly is literally a walking, League in 2006. [] Eric Karlan 14 AT THE YARD | Dedicated to the Minor Leagues.