Remembering Dandy, the short-lived Yankees mascot

To say the Yankees are a tradition-bound organization is an understatement. Alternate jerseys? No way. Long hair or beards? Forget about it. (Even if you're Brian Wilson.) That they're one of four MLB teams (along with the Cubs and both Los Angeles teams) without a costumed mascot is no surprise. 

So it might surprise you to know that at one point the Yankees did in fact have one -- a furry, mustachioed humanoid named "Dandy." From 1979 until 1981, Dandy roamed the Yankee Stadium stands, entertaining fans with his "hat spinning, mustache curling, and soft-shoe shuffling antics," as an '81 Yankees promotional calendar put it.

The team and the mascot were probably a doomed idea from the start. Owner George Steinbrenner was reluctant to approve Dandy's birth and said, after Billy Martin angrily threw a glove at the San Diego Chicken, that mascots have no place in baseball. Ominously, that anti-mascot incident took place the same year Dandy was introduced. After three years of service, Dandy was quietly relegated to the dustbin of mascot history, and hasn't been heard from since.

h/t/ Sportslogos.net, who published a very detailed Dandy piece on Friday.