Monkey madness

by Omar Khan

 The Anaheim Angels’ Rally Monkey is one of the most recognized and inspiring mascot s in baseball today.  Sure, the Phillies have the Phanatic, but what has the bird done for the Phillies’ win column?  Let’s just say that the Phillies didn’t even get a whiff of the playoffs this year.   It’s not often that a mascot’s appearance is limited to specific guidelines, but Angels fans have done their best to ensure that the Rally Monkey’s presence is felt from the first pitch of the game.  The Angels’ success in reaching the World Series in 2002 has thrust the Rally Monkey into the national spotlight giving credence to the monkey’ s mystical powers of rallying his team.  To put it plainly, Angels fans are suffering from monkey madness this year.

 Leave it to Southern Californians to introduce a  white-faced capuchin monkey adorned in a tiny Angels jersey to lead ra llies for their baseball team.  Honestly, where’s the real correlation between angels and monkeys?  I can only propose that the obtuse correlation between team and mascot has contributed to the Rally Monkey’s appeal.  Opposing teams have been greeted by raucous Angels fans either holding or wearing inanimate monkeys.  However, there is no substitute for the real Rally Monkey, whose appearance on Edison Field’s JumboTron has been relegated to the seventh inning or later.  Furthermore, RM is only shown when the Angels have fallen behind or are tied in the game after the top of the seventh inning.  It should also be noted that the Rally Monkey can only appear when the Angels are at bat.

 Let’s take a step back in time.  It’s the 2002 MLB playoffs, and the wild-card Angels are facing the daunting task of defeating baseball’s most prolific champion, the New York Yankees.  On paper the contest seems like a mismatch.  The Angels, however, lend deaf ears to critics and escape  from New York’s Yankee Stadium  with a 1-1 split.  The series shifts back to Anaheim where the Rally Monkey awaits.  The Yankees are swallowed in a sea of red as they take the field in jam-packed Edison.  Rally Monkey dolls are being waved in the air and worn by fans in every direction.  The Yankees jump out to a 6-1 lead by the top of the third inning, but fans remain persistent in their support for the Angels.  They’ve placed their trust in the Rally Monkey.   After chipping away, the Angels find themselves within one run by the seventh inning.  Enter the Rally Monkey, and the Angels fans go nuts as  the indomitable monkey dances across the JumboTron.  The seventh inning sees the Angels tie the game.  Rally’s not done yet; the Angels demoralize the Yankees with three more runs in the bottom of the eighth en route to an ALDS victory.  Who needs Yankee mystique when you’ve got a Rally Monkey?

 In fairness, Game 3 of the ALDS is but one example of the mystical Rally Monkey’s influence over late game dramatics.  The Angels have an eye-popping 22-7 advantage in runs scored from the seventh inning or later in home games during their two playoff series.  That advantage represents five home games which the Angels won, four of which saw the Angels break a tie or come from behind.   We’re talking about the Yankees and a talented Minnesota Twins team that the  Angels crushed at home.  Over the course of the year, the Angels are 27-11 when the Rally Monkey makes an appearance.  Since the Rally Monkey’s first sighting nearly 2½ years ago, the Angels ’ record is 57-41.  What do all these statistics really mean?  The stats indicate that the Rally Monkey has become an  integral force in electrifying Angels fans as they lift their team in rallying from behind.

 All these stats may represent the motivational capacity of the Monkey, but where did the idea of RM come from?  Apparently,  two scoreboard operators were looking for a way to enliven quiet fans in the late innings of an Angels game in 2000.  The operators threw a clip of a dancing monkey from the 1994 film, “ Ace Ventura, Pet Detective,” onto the JumboTron and superimposed “Rally Monkey”  above the primate.  The clip brought the house down and the Angels went on to rally for the win.  The rest is history.  The Rally Monkey can now be seen regularly on “SportsCenter” and has frequently been sighted during station breaks of the baseball playoffs.  RM’s broad appeal has made the “Cinderella” Angels an even more lovable bunch of players to root for.

 The 2002 Anaheim Angels now sit at the cusp of baseball immortality.  The team has never reached the World Series in its 40+ year history.  It might be said that too much credit is given to management or the skipper for a team’s success, when neither party cranks out hits, steals bases, or strikes out the side.  However, it would be foolish to believe that the Angels’ success would have been possible without personnel acquisitions, guidance, or the excitement of the Rally Monkey,  for that matter.  There is a bit of irony in the Rally Monkey’s first appearance in that game in 2000.  The Angels were playing the  San Francisco Giants in an interleague match.  Fast forward to 2002, and the Angels are challenging the Giants in the World Series.

 Giants catcher Benito Santiago put it best when he said, “ I wanna put that monkey in a cage” following the Giants’ NLCS victory against the St. Louis Cardinals.  For the Giants sake, they’d better do just that in at least one of the World Series games  at Anaheim’s Edison Field.  Otherwise, the Rally Monkey will be enjoying champagne with Cinderella.