Whatever Happened To The San Diego Chicken?

Wednesday night, July 7th at Wrigley Field marks the special appearance of a baseball legend with roots in the San Diego Padres organization. It isn't Tony Gwynn, Ozzie Guillen, or Ozzie Smith. It isn't Dave Winfield or Jake Peavy. The man making a stop at Wrigley Field tomorrow night (as part of a minor league game made possible by the traveling Chicago Cubs) is actually part man, part chicken. He is none other than Ted Giannoulas--better known to baseball fans as the San Diego Chicken. 

For 36 years now, Giannoulas has been dressing up in his chicken suit and entertaining baseball fans across the country with his antics. The story, life, and times of Giannoulas, now 56 years old, is not unlike a VH-1 "Behind The Music" episode. 

Giannoulas was a college student attending San Diego State in 1974 where he agreed to wear the Chicken suit for a radio station as part of a promotional gig (handing candy out to kids at a local zoo). After the promotional stunt, Giannoulas volunteered to attend a Padre's game in Chicken costume as a team mascot. One week's worth of volunteering turned into a 3 year run of Chicken entertainment as mascot for the Padres. But it wasn't always beautiful. 

During the first 3 years, the Chicken wore a shabby costume consisting of a paper mache' head and polyester-like red cloths to represent feathers (pictured to the left) that looked very different from the Chicken suit to which he is most commonly recognized today. Some even reported that the original costume frightened young children. Working for a radio station, the Chicken's early years involved a range of publicity stunts outside of baseball such as delivering water melons to beach sites, handing out free concert tickets, and giving away record albums to people. During this era, the Chicken made stage appearances at rock concerts at the San Diego Sports Arena with artists including Paul McCartney and even Elvis. 

Giannoulas continued to develop and expand his Chicken act through the late 70's, which apparently began to create programming conflicts with his radio station employer, KGB. With tensions rising, Giannoulas was fired by KGB in 1977. The station hired a replacement Chicken for Giannoulas after his dismissal. However, many loyal fans of Giannoulas (who knew he had been fired) booed the replacement Chicken loudly. The radio station even went to court to block Giannoulas from ever working in a Chicken costume again. However, a California Supreme Court ruled in the favor of Giannoulas, which set the stage for a triumphant return. 

In June 1979, inside a giant Styrofoam egg paraded around Jack Murphy Stadium on a truck circling the warning track, Giannoulas hatched out of the egg in an updated, brightly colored Chicken suit (the same costume he still wears today) with the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme playing in the background. This appearance, which is often referred to as the "Grand Hatching", received thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the 47,000 people in attendance. 

The Chicken was back. He went on to even bigger stages, appearing in major league baseball stadiums across the country throughout the 1980's. In his hey day, he would typically make 250 appearances in a year. He once worked for a stretch of 520 consecutive Padre home games. His signature gag during the 80's at major league baseball stadiums: harassing umpires with an eye chart. From 1980 to 1983, he costarred with Johnny Bench on "The Baseball Bunch" television show. He made an appearance at Wrestle Mania XV in 2000. Giannoulas has visited 8 countries, 4 continents, and all 50 states as the Chicken. 

At the age of 56, Giannoulas' stamina as the Chicken is starting to wind down some. Ironically, the opportunities to present are not what they once were due to the Chicken's profound influence on sports team marketing. Every professional team seems to have their own version of the San Diego Chicken these days. Giannoulas now makes approximately 50 appearances a year between spring and summer. No longer performing in front of 50,000 fans in a 1970's cookie cutter baseball stadium, the Chicken now plays in front of 7 or 8,000 people at minor league baseball stadiums scattered across the country.  

Giannoulas' influence as the San Diego Chicken in American sports entertainment and marketing can never be overstated. His success paved the way for mascots throughout professional sports. Additionally, he was the first mascot to use popular recorded music (instead of just an organ) at games. He was also the first mascot to entertain fans during game breaks such as half innings. 35 years later, professional sports stadiums are bombarding their fans with music, scoreboard games, and their own mascots during what seems every moment of a play stoppage. While some of these influences have turned to excess, the brilliant innovation behind the ideas and gimmicks belongs to Giannoulas. Without the San Diego Chicken, there would be no Philly fanatic, Phoenix Gorilla, or countless other mascots in professional sports. 

So if you have a chance to get out to Wrigley Field tomorrow night, enjoy the sparse crowd and minor league prices of admission, food, and drink. But also enjoy the entertainment and  legacy of Ted Giannoulas' San Diego Chicken. 

Also, check out the "Grand Hatching" on youtube. Great stuff. I'll try to post it later. 

The following sources contributed to this post:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2009399864_chicken30.html

www.famouschicken.com/biography.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_San_Diego_Chicken

Cubs May Not Need To Look Far For a New GM

For the Chicago Cubs in 2010, things have gone from bad to worse to horrible. The team has now fallen 12 games below .500 before the halfway point of the season. And if you've watched the Cubs at all this year, it looks like they're collectively playing out the string with an entire half a season to play. They have been harshly criticized by fans and media, and deservedly so. While starting pitching has been solid through most of the season, hitting on this team has been dreadful. The Cubs enter the 4th of July weekend as the 3rd worst hitting team in the NL. The team has played more one run games than any team in baseball (30) and have won only 11 of them. Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez have been in season long slumps. Ryan Theriot has 7 extra base hits in nearly 300 at-bats. Additionally, the team continues to exhibit an abysmal display of fundamentals. Players routinely miss cut off men and fail to move runners into scoring position. Overall base running has been inept. 

As the Cubs' arrow continues to point down, there are others besides players in the organization to blame for this mess. Lou Piniella, historically a very good manager, did an excellent job in his first two seasons with the cubs--leading the team to back to back National League division central titles in 2007 and 2008. However, he now appears lethargic and weathered by the awesome responsibility of trying to lead the cubs to a pennant. He says so much when interviewed by the media. His growing passiveness combined with a tendency over the last two years to unconditionally play slumping veterans over younger players has created a sagging, pulseless feeling on this team. Who ever thought that fiery Lou, the man with years of experience both as a player and manager handling the relentless media and pressures of New York, would succumb to the pressure of running the Cubs? 

Current Cubs general manager, Jim Hendry, may be the person who holds the greatest responsibility in the team's downward spiral. It is beyond the scope of this blog entry to detail all of Hendry's blunders throughout the last decade. In summary, Hendry's greatest failures include terrible organization scouting and player development from 2002 through 2006, bad contracts to free agents with back loaded money and no trade clauses, and questionable free agent signings. The Milton Bradley, Alfonso Soriano, and Kosuke Fukedome signings were colossal mistakes with reeling team payroll implications for 2011 and beyond. Jim Hendry deserves some credit for helping lead the team to 3 division championships over the last decade. And when it comes to trading marginal prospects to a vulnerable team with horrible payroll issues to get good players in return (i.e. Aramis Ramirez, Rich Harden), Jim has been pretty good at that. What general manager wouldn't be? But overall, Hendry has been given too much time and too much money to make this team better. And things have just gotten worse. 

Tom Ricketts, the new owner of the Cubs, has done a lot of things in his first year of ownership that most would consider to be pretty fun. He has handed out hot chocolate to fans standing outside of Wrigley Field in February waiting to purchase tickets for the upcoming season. He has given fans free beer at bars nearby Wrigley Field on opening day hours before the game. He's tinkered with Wrigley Field, built a shiny new Toyota sign in the left field bleachers, and has held negotiation wars with the cowboys out in Mesa, Arizona about a new extravagant "Wrigley West" spring training facility with the threat of bolting for pink flamingo grapefruit baseball in Florida (yuck). Now it's time for Ricketts to get down to business--baseball business. Fire Jim Hendry and get a new general manager. 

If Ricketts and the rest of the Cub brass decide to bring in another general manager, they may not have to look too far outside the organization. Tim Wilken, current Cubs' director of scouting (pictured above at the top) may be just the right man for the job. Wilken, who was named director of scouting in 2006, has a long, impressive history of scouting and developing major league players going back some 30 years. He spent 27 years in the Toronto Blue Jays' front office rising up the ranks. During his time in Toronto, he was associated with having drafted a host of stand out major league players including Derek Bell, Chris Carpenter, Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green, Roy Halladay, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, and Michael Young. While with the Blue Jays, he contributed to the team's string of 11 consecutive first round draft picks reaching the major leagues. This is an incredible John Wooden-like streak. After a long run in Toronto, Wilken spent a few years working in the Tampa Bay Rays' front office as a special assistant to the general manager. During this time he helped the team make several key player acquisitions such as stealing away starting pitcher Scott Kazmir from the Mets. After a brief stint in Tampa Bay, the Cubs were fortunate to lure Wilken in early 2006 to become director of team scouting. 

Since taking over the Cubs' scouting and drafting responsibilities in 2006, Wilken's early results look promising. In his first 4 drafts with the cubs, he has selected outfielder Tyler Colvin, infielder Josh Vitters, pitcher Andrew Cashner, and outfielder Brett Jackson. Both Colvin and Cashner are currently playing for the Cubs and appear to be legitimate major league players. Outfielder Brett Jackson (pictured below) is now considered by team insiders as the fastest rising prospect in the organization. Wilken was also responsible for acquiring current Cub shortstop Starlin Castro as a free agent. Castro is doing a lot of learning on the job. But at the tender age of 20, he appears to be another at least quality-level major league player. So already in 4 years, the Cubs are seeing players drafted or acquired by Wilken climb up the ranks to the major league level. Compare these select players to the highly touted draft picks of the Cubs as directed by Jim Hendry from 2002-2006: Bobby Brownlie, Ryan Harvey, Grant Johson, and Mark Pawlek. These guys are no where to be found at the Cubs' major league level 5 to 8 years after being drafted. 

At heart, Wilken is a baseball lifer, an old scout--a guy who has a proven history of drafting and developing players at the major league level. Some critics look at his short time in Tampa and suggest that he is not ready nor will ever be ready to take on a role as general manager of a major league team. But Wilken's profile might be the perfect match for running the Cubs as a general manager given the economic dynamics of major league baseball (and the Chicago Cubs) in 2010 and years to come. It's clear that owner Tom Ricketts is focusing much of his efforts in his first year on squeezing out as much revenue for the team as possible. Nothing hurts the Cubs' payroll and revenue more than Jim Hendry consistently fouling up some horrible free agent contracts (i.e. Milton Bradley). Ricketts knows fundamentally and economically that the development of talent from within the organization is a vital component of eventual success. Look at current small market teams like the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins and even big payroll teams like the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. The next general manager of the Cubs will need to think like a small market team even if there is some money to throw around on free agents. 

Jim Hendry has had his time in Chicago as Cubs general manager. The team got 5 outs away from a world series in 2003 during his regime. They won 3 NL central division championships in 6 seasons. But now it's time for new owner Tom Ricketts to blow this team up and build it the right way without spending/wasting a fortune. Tim Wilken, the old crusty baseball life scout with a proven history of major league player evaluation and development going back to the late 70's, may be the perfect fit. 

The following sources contributed to this post:

http://www.toweldrills.com/2008/06/tim-wilken-director-of-scouting.html

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/messages/chrono/21009161

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/2361674,CST-SPT-cub07.article