Fredbird is the official

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

major league baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

team. He is an anthropomorphic cardinal wearing the team's uniform. Fredbird can always be found entertaining young children during baseball games at

Busch Stadium Busch Stadium (also referred to informally as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III") is a baseball stadium located in St. Louis, Missouri. The stadium serves as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals, the city's Major League Baseball (M ...

. His name is derived from "Redbird", a synonym for the cardinal bird and for the Cardinals themselves. Fredbird was introduced on April 6, 1979, by the Cardinals, then owned by

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

, to entertain younger fans at the games. Fredbirdwiki cycle

He quickly became popular with fans for his dancing, habit of "beaking" the heads of supporters, and for throwing

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

s into the stands. In later years, he has been joined by "Team Fredbird", a group of young women employed by the club who help him with his T-shirt toss and occasionally in other duties. He can also be seen rallying the crowd regularly during pregame on-field ceremonies, and, occasionally, he finds time to sit behind (or on top of) the dugout to get the crowd going. After every Cardinal home victory, Fredbird takes a flag with the team's logo onto the field and waves it around. He is one of baseball's best-known mascots, and he makes hundreds of appearances year-round in the St. Louis area. Fredbird can also be seen on television once a week on the Cardinal's Kids TV show with former Cardinal Brad Thompson. He came under slight controversy in 2015 when he was seen holding a sign saying "Police Lives Matter" when the Cardinals said that Fredbird was not involved in any sort of political activity. However, a man and a woman asking for a quick photo with Fredbird said that he was unaware of the sign. Eventually, the Cardinals asked the police association that had the sign to take the sign down.

Fredbird store at the ballpark

References

External links

Cardinals official website
{{St. Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball team mascots Bird mascots St. Louis Cardinals Mascots introduced in 1979 Culture of St. Louis

Fredbird store at the ballpark

See also

References

External links