Baseball and BBQ Episode #113: Ted Giannoulas, AKA World Famous Sports Mascot, The San Diego Chicken and Randall Thompson, President and Founder of Dugout Mugs, and BBQ Gift Ideas

Baseball and BBQ

Episode #113 features Ted Giannoulas, AKA World Famous Sports Mascot, The San Diego Chicken and Randall Thompson, President and Founder of Dugout Mugs, and BBQ Gift Ideas

Ted Giannoulas dressed in his first chicken costume in 1974 when he was a 20-year-old college journalism major and from those humble beginnings he became one of the world's most famous sports mascots, known as the San Diego Chicken. Since then has made more than 5,000 appearances in over 900 different facilities, 50 states, and eight countries while wearing out more than 100 chicken suits. The San Diego Chicken has been featured on magazine covers, music video's, movies, television shows and commercials, and even made an appearance with President Ronald Reagan. In 1981 the San Diego Chicken co-starred on the Saturday morning children's television series, The Baseball Bunch with his fellow co-stars, Johnny Bench and Tommy Lasorda. The hit show ran for five seasons and featured tons of exceptional MLB players offering their baseball advice and playing tips. The success of the San Diego Chicken helped lead to mascots becoming widespread throughout professional sports. The Chicken was named one of the 100 most powerful people in sports for the 20th century by The Sporting News. The New York Times called him "perhaps the most influential mascot in sports history."

Randall Thompson is the president and founder of Dugout Mugs. The idea for these drinking mugs which are made from baseball bats started in 2014 when Thompson was coaching at Florida Tech and the hitting coach was telling the players to, "Focus on the hands." To emphasize the point, the coach cut off the top of a baseball bat and left the barrel sitting on the bench. Thompson saw this tossed away piece of wood as a chance to create a drinking cup. Thankfully his creative skills were better than his baseball skills as he started the company after being released by a minor league affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. As he reflects upon in the interview, the Blue Jays may have released him too soon, but rather than languishing in the minors, he founded a company and a team of employees that are quite special. There are many items which will make excellent gifts. Go to https://dugoutmugs.com/ to learn more.

In between the interviews, Jeff and Len offer ideas for the many gifts available for barbecue and even baseball lovers, as we are in the season of giving.

We conclude the show with the beautiful song, "Ace and Bobo" from the musician, Dave Dresser and the poet, Shel Krakofsky.

We recommend you go to Fifth & Cherry, https://fifthandcherry.com for wonderful cutting boards and http://www.baseballbbq.com for grill tools and clothing for barbecue and baseball fans and the Pandemic Baseball Book Club, https://www.pbbclub.com to find many of the wonderful books we have featured as well as some additional swag.

We truly appreciate our listeners and hope that all of you are staying safe.

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