The Anti-Mascot

1984 was a grim year for the San Francisco Giants. The team finished dead last, losing 96 games. But no one -- not the players, not the front office, not even the fans -- had as nightmarish a time as Wayne Doba. That season, the 33-year-old actor was selected to play the club's first mascot. The "Crazy Crab" was conceived as an anti- mascot. The Giants wanted to satire the late 1970s mascot craze, which had introduced now-iconic characters like the Philly Phanatic. So the Giants gave their Crab an intentionally shabby foam costume which looked like a hamburger with arms; during spring training, TV ads showed manager Frank Robinson attempting to strangle the Crab; at games, announcers would encourage fans to boo whenever the Crab took the field. It was an experiment unlike anything in professional sports. Doba became the Andy Kaufman of baseball. He mooned the crowd. He taunted his own players. The concept worked -- all too well. Fans did more than boo. They pelted Doba with everything from beer bottles and peanuts to golf balls, batteries, carrots and water- balloons filled with human poop. The Crazy Crab's career was short-lived. The character was unceremoniously axed in 1985. But Doba and his anti-mascot left such a lasting impression, it would be 17 years before the Giants would try introducing another mascot.