The Rally Monkey is a mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

 for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...

 Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 team.

Introduction

The character debuted on June 6, 2000, when the Angels were trailing the San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....

 5–4 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Two video board operators, Dean Fraulino and Jaysen Humes, took a clip of a monkey jumping around from the 1994 Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey

James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...

 movie comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and starring Jim Carrey. It co-stars Courteney Cox, Tone Loc, Sean Young and former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino....

, and superimposed the words "RALLY MONKEY!" on top of it. The Angels scored two runs and won the game.

Growing popularity

The video clip proved to be so popular that the team hired Katie, a white-haired capuchin monkey

Capuchin monkey

The capuchins are New World monkeys of the genus Cebus. The range of capuchin monkeys includes Central America and South America as far south as northern Argentina...

, to star in original clips for later games. When seen, she bounces to the House of Pain

House of Pain

House of Pain is an American hip hop group who released three albums in the 1990s before lead rapper Everlast left to pursue his solo career again. The group's name is a reference to the H.G. Wells novel The Island of Dr...

 song "Jump Around

Jump Around

"Jump Around" is the title of a song by the band House of Pain, produced by DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill. This song became a hit in 1992, reaching Number 3 in the USA. A 1993 re-release of the song in the UK, where the original had been a minor hit, peaked at Number 8. On VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of...

" and sometimes holds a sign proclaiming that it is "RALLY TIME!"

The rally monkey came to national and world-wide attention during the Angels' appearance in the 2002 World Series, again against the San Francisco Giants. In the 6th game, the Angels were playing at home, but were trailing the series 3-2 and facing elimination. They were down 5-0 as the game entered the bottom of the 7th inning. Amid fervid rally-monkey themed fan support, the Angels proceeded to score 6 unanswered runs over the next two innings, winning the game and turning the momentum of the series for good (they went on to clinch the championship in game 7).

In 2009, the Angels once again reached the post-season, sparking a renewal of the rally monkey's popularity.

Cultural references

Additional videos featuring the Rally Monkey show her edited into popular films and TV shows such as Gilligan's Island

Gilligan's Island

Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...

, Shrek

Shrek

Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...

, Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 American teen coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by John Hughes.The film follows high school senior Ferris Bueller , who decides to skip school and spend the day in downtown Chicago...

, The Brady Bunch Movie

The Brady Bunch Movie

The Brady Bunch Movie is a 1995 American comedy film based on the 1969–1974 television series The Brady Bunch.The film features all the original regular characters, all played by new actors...

, Signs

Signs (film)

Signs is a 2002 American science fiction horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It was adapted from a screenplay also written by Shyamalan. Executive producers for the film comprised Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Sam Mercer. The story focuses on a former preacher named Graham...

, Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park (film)

Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...

, The Price is Right

The Price Is Right

The Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed...

, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...

, Scream

Scream (film)

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette...

, Dumb and Dumber, National Lampoon's Vacation

National Lampoon's Vacation

Vacation, sometimes referred as National Lampoon's Vacation, is a 1983 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall...

, Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum is a 2006 fantasy adventure-comedy film based on the 1993 children's book The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny...

, The Natural

The Natural (film)

The Natural is a 1984 film adaptation of Bernard Malamud's 1952 baseball novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close and Robert Duvall...

, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 American science fiction/action-comedy film and the first film of the Austin Powers series. It was directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers who also stars in the title role. Myers also plays Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' arch-enemy...

, Spaceballs

Spaceballs

Spaceballs is a 1987 American science fiction comedy parody film co-written by, directed by, Mel Brooks and starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Mel Brooks & Rick Moranis. It also features, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and the voice of Joan Rivers. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on...

, Poltergeist

Poltergeist (film series)

The Poltergeist movies are a trilogy of American horror films distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the 1980s. The films revolve around the members of the Freeling family, who are stalked and terrorized by a group of ancient ghosts that are attracted to the youngest daughter, Carol Anne. The...

, Borat

Borat

Borat Sagdiyev is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen...

, The Sandlot

The Sandlot

The Sandlot is a 1993 American comedy-drama sports film about a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962. The film was filmed in Utah and directed by David M. Evans...

, Jaws

Jaws (film)

Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...

 and The Ring. The Angels started selling plush monkeys that fans bring to games.

ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 did a "SportsCenter

SportsCenter

SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...

" commercial

This is SportsCenter

This is SportsCenter is the name of a series of comical television commercials run by ESPN to promote their SportsCenter sports news show. The ads are presented in a deadpan mockumentary style, lampooning various aspects of sports, and sports broadcasting. The commercials debuted in 1994...

 in which it showed one of the executives having to make "budget cuts," leading to the release of the monkey. The monkey pleaded by raising the "It's Rally Time" sign. The commercial is available on NFL 2K5.

In one installment of the popular comic strip Get Fuzzy

Get Fuzzy

Get Fuzzy is an American daily comic strip written and drawn by Darby Conley. The strip features the adventures of Boston advertising executive Rob Wilco and his two anthropomorphic pets: dog Satchel Pooch and cat Bucky Katt. Get Fuzzy has been published by United Feature Syndicate since September...

, the strip's protagonist, Bucky Katt, attempts to travel to Anaheim to eat the Rally Monkey after seeing it on television, as part of a running gag focused on Katt's irrational desire to eat a monkey.