Meet Blinky, the one-eyed alligator and unofficial mascot of the Tigers' spring home
The Tigers share Lakeland with this one-eyed gator
Take a drive around Lakeland, Fla., and you'll find a history that goes beyond its nearly 80 years as the Spring Training home of the Detroit Tigers. Tigertown was built on the site of a flight academy for the U.S. Army Air Corps. Just a few miles away, Florida Southern College features several buildings designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, more than any other site in the country.
And then there's the statue of Blinky, the one-eyed alligator that used to befriend onlookers in downtown Lakeland in the 1970s. And no, it's not the one that got Chubbs' hand in "Happy Gilmore."
According to a 2003 story in the Lakeland Ledger, Blinky was not only missing an eye, but a foot. At some point, Blinky also lost an alligator's traditional fear of humans as residents began to feed him along the shores of Lake Mirror.
"He was saluted as the town's unofficial mascot," the report read, "and heralded as a tourist attraction: Children often tried to pet him, and one man was even known to kiss him on the snout now and then." Which is a crazy thing to do -- even if Torii Hunter once did the same thing with a different gator while in Lakeland last year.
After a while, legend has it, the gator could be found wandering up Main Street towards downtown.
"It eventually got too friendly," Lakeland Parks and Recreation director Bob Donahay said Monday. "Anytime it saw people, it would come out on shore like a pet dog."
Blinky became an attraction to locals, but some officials feared he was an accident waiting to happen, which led to Blinky being removed from Lake Mirror. The state's fish and game department moved Blinky to Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. According to the Ledger, Blinky ran into a larger, healthier crocodile named Jake and fell on the losing end of a fight.
"Jake just couldn't take it anymore," former Homosassa Springs attractions manager J.P. Garner told the paper. "There wasn't much of a matchup."
Years later, the city decided to remember Blinky with a statue across the street from his old home. It's an interpretive sculpture, to say the least, and there's no plaque to note the inspiration. Still, it's a unique piece of art for a unique story in a unique Spring Training town.