MiLB and MLBAM announced Tuesday that Orbit, the fuzzy orange alien that appears during Triple-A Pacific Coast League Albuquerque Isotopes’ games, defeated Ike the Spike from the Single-A New York-Penn League State College Spikes (short-season) as the most popular mascot in the inaugural Mascot Mania, an online contest that invited fans to vote for their favorite gameday entertainer. Overall, 64 mascots were chosen by MLBAM from the 160 U.S.- and Canada-based clubs affiliated with MLB teams. A total of 410,000 votes were cast during the month-long tournament, according to MLBAM. MiLB.com attracted 14.8 million unique visitors in May, the most traffic in any single month ever for the site. Orbit debuted in ‘03 along with the Isotopes and the costume was designed and maintained by mascot company Raymond Entertainment. While Orbit merchandise accounts for about 5% of the Isotopes’ total merchandise sales, he accounts for about 75% of the kids merchandise. “Along with our name and our logo and our stadium, Orbit is one of the consistent and constant entities that we promote,” said Isotopes’ GM John Traub. To help promote Orbit’s bid, the Dodgers' affiliate sent an e-mail blast to its database of 30,000 fans encouraging them to vote, and produced a video for the team site that incorporated players singing his praises. Orbit will receive a custom-made championship belt later in the season, and will not be allowed to compete in future Mascot Mania tournaments.
MASCOT MISCELLANEA: Runner-up Ike debuted during the State College Spikes inaugural ‘06 season. The mascot was designed by Brandiose (formerly Plan B), which handled all brand development for the franchise. Alinco manufactured the actual costume. The contest was open to U.S. residents 18 years of age or older and offered a grand prize of a subscription to MLB.TV and MiLB.TV for the ‘12 season and one Mascot Prize Pack. The Cardinals were the only club that did not have an affiliate in the competition. None of the final four clubs whose mascots appeared in competition were among MiLB’s Top 25 merchandise sellers in '11. The D'Backs had four mascots in the contest, the most of any MLB parent club.
