San Diego Chicken

The original anthropomorphic baseball mascot, the San Diego Chicken (also known as "The Famous Chicken") has been portrayed by 5' 4" London, ON native Ted Giannoulas since 1974. Giannoulas is the only person to have worn the Chicken suit since the beginning.

The gig was originally a promotion by San Diego radio station KGB, and the mascot was only supposed to hand out promotional flyers. Giannoulas, who was a journalism student at San Diego State University, took the job as he thought it would get his foot in the door at the station. He turned out to be a natural comedian, and if at first he was simply supposed to just attend some Padres game and give the station some publicity by wearing its logo, he soon became a legendary figure thanks to his comedic talent, getting invitations from the team and to attend various other events. He became a nationwide sensation around 1977-1978, and fans outside San Diego probably thought the letters "KGB" on his chest were some kind of absurdist Cold War humor.

In 1979, he had a falling out with the station after he attended a college basketball game in costume but without the station's logo. He had become a valuable asset by then as his popularity had boosted the station's rating to first place in the city, and they paid him a princely salary of $50,000 per year to prevent him from seeking employment elsewhere. But they made a wrong move by firing him over his free-lancing, and he countered that by designing his own chicken costume, different enough from the station's that he was able to win a copyright infringement suit they launched against him. While he remained closely associated with the Padres, he was in effect a free agent and turned his popularity into a lucrative gig that went on for the next three decades.

In 2009 (his 35th year playing the part), Giannoulas acknowledged to an AP reporter that the season could be his last. He explained that the bumps and bruises that come with the character are not healing as quickly as they used to, and he had cut back on his schedule in recent years. Most pro sports teams now have their own mascots, and Giannoulas was scheduled to appear in the Chicken suit only 50 times during that Summer (back in his prime, he would do about 250 games a year). While he went into semi-retirement after that, he still made the occasional appearance in character as of 2019, to mark the 40th anniversary of his becoming a free agent.

Interestingly, Giannoulas made a six-figure salary for his 2009 appearances. He played the part 3 to 4 times a week from June through early September. He travelled extensively with a three-person crew to assist him as almost every performance was in a different state. He liked to arrive at the ballpark three hours before a game to prep the umpires, coaches and others for his routine. He played almost exclusively in the Minors by that point, commenting "I find that the 'boys of summer' spirit still exists in the minor leagues".

His repertoire included over 100 gags, all of which are copyrighted. The classics include harassing the umpires with an eye chart and a sandwich board that reads "Will Ump For Food".

The Chicken was also featured prominently in the 1980s kids television program "The Baseball Bunch". Johnny Bench was an early admirer, and would help him to pull pranks on teammate Pete Rose.

See also:

• Baseball clowns.

Further Reading

• Luke Meredith (Associated Press): "After 35 years, the San Diego Chicken is still clucking", Toronto Star, June 16, 2009, page S5.
• John Racanelli: "Profiles in Plumage: The San Diego Chicken", in Cecilia M. Tan, ed.: Pacific Ghosts, The National Pastime, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2019, pp. 65-69.

Sources

• Ted Giannoulas (San Diego Chicken) at the SABR Bio Project
• Home Page of the Famous San Diego Chicken