Today in Philly Sports History: Dave Cash's Wife Beefs With Minor-League Mascot, 1990

As Phillies fans, blessed with quite arguably the greatest mascot in the history of professional sports, we'd like to believe that all are receptive to the um, occasionally aggressive style of mascotting that has come to be associated with the team and city. A notable exception to that rule would apparently by the wife of one Dave Cash, the three-time all-star second-baseman for the Phillies in the mid-1970s. He'd worked his way through the Phillies system in his post-playing years, and by 1990 had come to be the manager of the Batavia Clippers (which eventually transformed into the Batavia Muckdogs, best known to national audiences for being the team Freddie Prinze Jr. gets signed to at the end of the classic Summer Catch...or not). But as happens so often in life, life-sized cartooned nuisances got in the way, as the Batavia Clipper's involvement-cum-harrassment of Cash's wife Pamela ended up ending his tenure on the team.

``He shook his behind in my face in front of my two young children," a traumatized Pamela Cash would recall. "I thought that kind of behavior by a mascot, at what's supposed to be a family-oriented place, was totally uncalled for." While a mere isolated incident would perhaps not quite have drawn so much ire, Pamela attested to a pattern of abuse: "`This wasn't the first time he shook his butt in my face." Few, if any pictures exist of the Clipper on the internet, but he was described as a blue-feathered, yellow-beaked mascot, and was not perceived by all as quite so scandalous, as board of directors member Dwight Thornton would recall. "``You should see him, he's like Big Bird on Sesame Street," said Thornton. "It's unfortunate that the only person he offended all year was the manager's wife.'' Nonetheless, the Cashes found the situation untenable, and Dave found his way out of Batavia, being reinstated by the Phils in his previous role of being a roaming minor-league infield instructor. ``From my perspective, we experienced a lot of rudeness,'' Dave said. ``It's best that we no longer are in this situation.''

Cash fluttered around the minors for a while, eventually getting signed by the Orioles in 2006 as a first-base coach. Today, he serves as hitting coach for the Sussex Skyhawks in the CAN-AM League, whatever the hell that is (though Cash and company apparently won the League Championship in '08, which is probably a good thing). Meanwhile, in 2006, well after the Clippers turned into the Muckdogs, the Phillies ceded control of the Muckdogs to the St. Louis Cardinals--but not after such future stars as Ryan Howard and Chase Utley passed through on their way to the majors.

Comments

[Sal]

and so extreme political correctness ruled the land for many centuries to come.

[Swift aka PhiPhan5648]

Anyone else think this guy looks like Michael Irvin?

[Swift aka PhiPhan5648]

Just... without the Cocaie-Stasch.

[josh pincus is crying]

Sorry I couldn't join you. Maybe next time.
http://whodoesheplayfor.wordpress.com

[Trevor]

haha, this is hilarious. I actually work for the Skyhawks and see Cash on a daily basis. The man is carefree and will always go out of his way to have a good time. Gotta love Dave Cash.