Rally Monkey
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The Rally Monkey is a mascot of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Major League Baseball team. Unlike most other mascots, the Rally Monkey does not appear live; he (or in the video star's case, she) is seen hopping around on the giant Angel Stadium video screens.
The character was invented on June 6, 2000, when the Angels were trailing the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the ninth by two runs. Two video board operators, Dean Fraulino and Jason Humes, took a clip of a monkey jumping around from the 1994 Jim Carrey movie comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and superimposed the words "RALLY MONKEY!" on top of it. Needless to say, the Halos rallied and went on to win the interleague clash. This proved to be so popular, the team decided to film their own promos with a monkey with screen experience.
Enter Katie, a white-haired capuchin monkey. She played Marcel, the pet monkey of Ross (David Schwimmer) on the TV series Friends. Her new assignment: psych up the fans and the team when the Angels were behind or at a key moment in the game. When seen, she bounces to the House of Pain song "Jump Around" and sometimes holds the sign that announces that it would be "RALLY TIME!"
The peak moment for "Monkey Mania" was during the 2002 World Series when the Angels played the Giants. The Orange County ball club fell behind after the Giants put up five runs in the top of the seventh inning, but the team rallied behind their mammal for six runs in the seventh and eighth frames and won the sixth game and then went on to their first World Championship the following night. To this day, fans buy and bring stuffed versions of the monkey to Angel Stadium of Anaheim and cheer for their club.
Additional videos featuring the Rally Monkey show it edited in to popular movie clips, including The Brady Bunch Movie, Signs, Jurassic Park, and The Ring.
The Rally Monkey only appears when the Angels are tied or trailing by three runs or less in the 7th inning or later, with a runner on base.
[edit] Other notable appearances
In the stock market, when a particular stock rallies, it is common for the enthusiastic shareholders to post a link [1] to the video[citation needed], cheering themselves for the recent great performance of their holding. Investor's Hub users have now created an animated gif version of the rally monkey and they also post it regularly there.
ESPN also did a "This is Sportscenter" commercial in which it showed one of the executives having to make "budget cuts", leading to the release of the monkey. The monkey pleaded by raising the "It's Rally Time" sign. The commercial is available on NFL 2K5.
[edit] Stats
Provided by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim marketing department
- Height: Twenty-four inches (0.6 meter) plus tail.
- Weight: Fifteen ounces (425 grams)
- Jumps: A lot.
[edit] External links
- Rally Monkey, a fan tribute to the Angel simian mascot.
