Philly Plain Dealer

Born in the bowels of Veterans Stadium and raised on hoagies and heartbreak¹, The Phillie Phanatic is Philadelphia’s patron saint of tomfoolery. A hirsute, Muppet-like embodiment of chaos and civic pride, the Phanatic consistently tops the “Best Mascot in Sports” rankings, and for good reason. Since his inception in 1978, the Phanatic’s influence has echoed far and wide in the mascot multiverse. Over the years, we’ve been introduced to the Phanatic’s mother, Phoebe; his younger cousin, Phred; and his girlfriend, Phiona (Just how many of these things are there?!). 

But what if I told you that the Phanatic had a little-known, possibly apocryphal half-Japanese brother?

That’s right. Slyly, mascot of NPB’s Hiroshima Carp², is the half-Japanese brother of our beloved Phanatic (supposedly). In reality, both were cooked up by Harrison/Erickson, Inc.³, the same American design firm behind some of the original Muppets. They’re not technically half-brothers in any canonical sense, but an extremely suspect mascot wiki floated the theory, and frankly, it’s too good not to run with.

Slyly made his debut for Hiroshima Carp in 1995 and quickly took on the role of mischievous-yet-lovable mascot creature. His popularity is palpable: since launching in early 2025, Slyly’s Instagram has already amassed 57,000 followers.

So who is he? Picture a blue, dual-mouthed, pink-mohawked version of our familiar mascot, sporting a Hiroshima Carp Jersey with the number “!”, which is not technically a number. But if the Phanatic can get away with wearing a star as a jersey number, Slyly can wear an exclamation point. One peculiar thing that separates Slyly from the Phanatic is that his eyes are mutable: he can flash hearts, fire, or a wide-eyed grin depending on his mood. He’s often lovestruck by some of the Hiroshima Carp’s star players.

Since 2002, Slyly has had a mutant form known as “Happy Slyly”, a pink version of himself that emerges during moments of jubilation—usually after big wins or high scoring games. It’s not a separate character; it’s still Slyly, but transformed. A kind of erumpent ecstasy, if you will. If the Phanatic had this mutational ability, I fear what may emerge from the other side, likely some sort of fulvous maniac hellbent on destruction.  

Unlike his American half-brother, who rides an ATV, Slyly is often seen speeding around the field on a Segway. This Segway, it seems, has gotten him into more than enough trouble: In 2011 Slyly ran over a female member of the grounds crew, causing her to be hospitalized for a week⁴! Just one of several, let’s say, questionable moments.

These moments are hilariously referred to as “episodes” on Slyly’s Japanese Wikipedia page, which make him sound like some deranged psychopath in a fur suit, prone to the occasional televised meltdown. The effect is heightened by the fact that he is trailed everywhere by a silent entourage of men in black executioner hoods, handlers who make the whole scene feel equal parts absurd and vaguely sinister. At times, Slyly’s presence resembles a medieval procession for some fallen deity of chaos. I have tried, at length, to unearth an explanation for these hooded figures, but for the life of me I can’t. A man can only sift through so much of the Japanese-mascot webspace before he starts to lose his mind.

Want more? Slyly has his own YouTube series on the Hiroshima Carp’s channel. Here’s a video of Slyly playing cards with the aforementioned guys in executioner outfits for reasons unclear to anyone but Slyly himself. It’s a video so bizarre that I thought it was performance art of some kind, and honestly, I’m still not convinced it isn’t. 

Slyly may seem outlandish, but Japan’s mascot game is an entirely different beast, a world where absurdity and earnestness collide, and even the most bizarre characters are treated with genuine fan devotion. Japan has an entire subculture of mascots known as yuru-chara, which are typically cute, strange, and often regionally specific. These mascots, ranging from Kumamon (a bear who represents Kumamoto Prefecture), to Chiitan (an unofficial otter mascot prone to violence in viral videos) are used to promote everything from local governments to small businesses. The genre thrives on intentional weirdness and emotional ambiguity, making characters like Slyly feel right at home. 

At times, Slyly’s presence borders on surreal. What’s even more surreal, however, is how seamlessly this brand of mascotry has translated across the pacific—how did a creature born from South Philadelphia’s deranged baseball subconscious find an equally enthusiastic home in Hiroshima? Two cities with little in common have both embraced a woolen agent of chaos as a core part of their civic identity.

So, what do we make of Slyly, this lesser-known, Segway-riding, turquoise emissary from the Far East? A cheap, ersatz Phanatic? A long-lost sibling? Déjà vu personified? Maybe he’s all of the above.

Or are we thinking about him the wrong way? 

Admittedly, there’s something undeniably admirable about him. Like the Phanatic, Slyly isn’t some half-baked animal mascot, he’s an ambiguous, ill-defined entity onto which we can assign our own dreams, fears, and baseball-fueled mania. He acts as a vessel for both child-like whimsy and obsessive fandom, a walking contradiction in fuzzy, teal form. Personally, I love him.

In the end, Slyly reminds us that while the Phanatic may be the original, his spirit of joyous mayhem and mischief has rippled far beyond Broad Street. There’s something oddly comforting in the fact that the appreciation of this sort of nonsense is a seemingly universal part of the human condition, something that transcends borders, both cartographical and anthropological. Even halfway across the world, you can still catch a glimpse of that familiar, deranged glint in a mascot’s eye. 

Just don’t stand in front of his Segway. 

Footnotes:

1. Actually, the lore says the Phanatic was born in Galapagos Islands. He probably wasn’t raised on hoagies either.  ↩︎
2. Nippon Professional Baseball, or NPB for short, is Japan’s top professional league. A highly regarded league, it is second only to MLB in revenue. Ichiro, Shohei Ohtani, and Yu Darvish, among countless others, all got their start in the NPB. The Hiroshima Carp are one of 12 teams in the NPB, and though they haven’t had much success lately, they retain a large (and passionate) fanbase. ↩︎
3. Harrison/Erickson infamously sued the Phillies after revoking the rights to the Phanatic and demanding millions for continued use of his design. In response, the Phillies rolled out a “remixed” Phanatic during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, featuring slight alterations (longer tail, different shoes, redesigned eyes). Eventually, the two sides reached a settlement, and the original Phanatic was allowed to return. Thank goodness. ↩︎
4. This is sourced from the Japanese Wikipedia page about Slyly (スラィリー). Unfortunately, it’s entirely in Japanese, which I do not speak or understand. Just know that I am putting a lot of faith into google translate here. See for yourself: Slyly’s Wikipedia Page  ↩︎