Rally monkey

Posted by Brian from Shawnee on February 25, 2004

In Reply to: Rally monkey posted by ESC on February 25, 2004

: I thought this was an interesting term.

: RALLY MONKEY - Ben Chandler (grandson of the late Albert "Happy" Chandler, Kentucky governor, U.S. senator, and baseball commissioner) lost the race for governor to Ernie Fletcher, a Congressman. Chandler ran for the office Fletcher left vacant. Today's paper says: "If the boisterous swearing-in was any measure, Chandler already enjoys special status among his Democratic colleagues. 'Ben could almost be a rally monkey for the Democrats,' said Morris Reid, a Washington Democratic strategist and former Clinton administration official. 'He could run around the country and say, 'If I could do it in Kentucky, you can do it wherever else.'" From "With pomp, Chandler is sworn in/ Democrats greet House freshman as conqueror" by James R. Carroll, The Courier Journal, Louisville, Ky., February 25, 2004. Online at [Dead link removed - ed]

For those unfamiliar with (North American) Major League Baseball, the Rally Monkey originated with the Anaheim Angels baseball team in the middle of the 2000 season. He became a popular mascot, and gained worldwide fame and recognition when the Angels won the World Series in 2002. I couldn't find anything on the official Angels website about his origin, but I dug up this from a Toronto sports site:

"He was born by accident on June 6, 2000 at Edison Field during a game against the Giants. When the Angels trailed by six runs in the sixth inning, the video board operators showed a clip of a monkey jumping up and down with the words "Rally Monkey."

The Angels rallied to win the game, fans went nuts and the Rally Monkey became a regular visitor to Edison Field. "