Before the Phanatic: The Story of the Phillies First World Series Mascot, Raoul Naughton

Phillies' Mascot Raoul Naughton, 1915

One of the great pleasures of watching the Phillies run to the World Series this year, was the national exposure the television coverage provided the Phillie Phanatic. Fox Sports announcer and former Phanatic target, retired Atlanta Braves pitcher, John Smoltz was over the moon in his praise of the Phanatic, calling him the best and funniest of all the team mascots. Of course, in Philadelphia we have known this for a long time, but it is always great to see a local treasure get deserved praise on a national level. 

What even the most diehard Phillies fan may not know is that the very first Phillies World Series team, the 1915 bunch, managed by Pat Moran and led by Grover Cleveland (Pete) Alexander, also had a team mascot. He was a 17-year-old Philadelphia native with the exotic name of Raoul Naughton.

Young Mr. Naughton was afflicted with kyphosis, a curvature of the spine that is commonly known as hunchback. Naughton's condition may have been caused by a birth defect or by Scheuerman's disease which causes an abnormal curvature during a child's growth spurt. Whatever the cause, Raoul's condition could not be corrected by any then available medical procedures. 

Raoul was a huge baseball fan who liked to hang around the Phillies home park, The Baker Bowl at Broad Street and Lehigh Avenue, when the Phillies were in town. One day in August of 1914, he noticed that the Phillies then mascot, Eddie Miller, was not around. While Naughton didn't know it, Miller had died. Hanging out by the fence surrounding the field, Naughton asked Phillies outfielder, Beals Becker, about it. Naughton told Philadelphia Evening Standard reporter M'Liss, "And I say, what about this mascot business. How can you ever expect to win a World Series when you haven't got a mascot?" Becker said he didn't know and promised to ask manager Moran about it. Becker, who Naughton described as "a mighty fine chap", kept his word and after Moran met with Raoul, he hired him to be the team's mascot.

The Evening Standard reporter speculated that Naughton may have gotten the job because of his physical disability, but it may also have been because he was in the right place at the right time. The job involved the duties we would nowadays attribute to a bat boy, retrieving bats from the field and chasing down errant balls and the like. Naughton received no pay for the job, but the players grew so fond of Naughton, that they chipped in at the end of each month to make sure he took home a substantial sum. Naughton said, "Of course, if I had the money and they would take it, I would pay to be the mascot of a team like the Phillies."

When the Phillies broke out of the gate in 1915 with a 12-3 record, Raoul Naughton got some of the credit for bringing the team good fortune. The Phillies rode the good luck of what reporters began to call "Moran's Lucky Piece" to the National League Pennant with a 90-62 record, seven games ahead of the Boston Braves. The Phillies earned the right to face the powerhouse of the American League, the Boston Red Sox, who had compiled a 101-50 record. With the "Great Alexander" on the mound, the Phillies beat Boston ace Ernie Shore, 3-1 in Game 1 played in Philadelphia.

The sight of "Raoul, the Real Rooter", as the Evening Standard dubbed him, retrieving bats and balls on the field during that game inspired one attendee, the poet and baseball fan, Berton Brayel, to pen this ode to Mr. Naughton and the Phillies team.

You won't find Raoul Naughton on the scorecard any place.
He's never sent a homer soaring proudly into space,
He's never scooped a grounder and he's never caught a fly
As it hurtled swiftly earthward from a clear and azure sky.
He's never in the coaching box to yammer and to howl -
In fact, that young Raoul Naughton ain't a player-guy at all.
But that gentle Raoul Naughton if you take him, by and large,
Has the fortunes of the Phillies almost wholly in his charge.
He's the little hump backed mascot of the Quaker City team
And he surely "put it over" with a bit of vim and steam.
For in this initial contest, he was on the job for fair - 
When it comes to lucky mascots, Raoul certainly was there.
As he scares away the jinxes with a horseshoe in each hand.

Brayel goes on for several more doggerel verses to expand on his theory that the Phillies were lucky to win the game. Indeed, they probably were. The Phillies scored their three runs on just five hits, four of which were infield hits or bloopers, while the Red Sox banged out eight hits on the mighty Alexander, who managed to hold them off despite not having his best stuff. 

Brayel's poem, written for the United Press, was published in newspapers from Pittston to Pomona and gave the mascot Raoul Naughton his fifteen minutes of fame. Alas, the luck did not last as the Phillies dropped the next four games to the Bosox, in mostly low scoring affairs all decided by just one run. The Phillies would not return to the World Series for 35 years and would not win another World Series game until 1980.

After his mascot days were over, Naughton had a successful career in the restaurant business. For 15 years, he managed the old Horn & Hardart Restaurant at 1601 Chestnut Street. Keeping his hand in the game he loved, he also managed the Horn & Hardart Baking Company baseball team for a number of years. He married and, with his wife Margaret, raised his three children, Raoul, Jr., Harry, and Dian, at his home on Syndenham Street in the Logan section of Philadelphia. Raoul Naughton died of a heart attack in 1941 at the age of 44.