The first public appearance of Orbit occurred in January 1990 at Heflin Elementary School. The design for Orbit was derived from more than 10,000 children's drawings submitted to the Astros, with the final design being a composite of the various drawings submitted. Both the naming and design of the mascot were established from suggestion from Houston-area schoolchildren. Sorrentino was able to form a partnership with the FBI and its director, William Sessions to create a 'Stay in School, Stay Drug Free' to elementary schools in the Houston area. Sorrentino became instrumental in the design phase of the mascot costume as well as the design of the community outreach program. John Sorrentino was the newly appointed Director of Community Relations. The development of a team mascot for the 1990 season was viewed by the team as an important piece in its community outreach programs, specifically with children. Although Tuffy was not promoted from Tucson, Hal Katzman, who performed as Tuffy was invited by the team to serve as Orbit for the 1990 season. At the blast of a bugle, the scoreboard would light up and the audience would yell, “Charge!” The first Chester Charge was played by Steve Ross who was then an 18-year-old Senior High School student.įollowing a visit to then the AAA-Astros affiliate, the Tucson Toros in 1989, former team marketing Vice President Ted Haracz sought to bring the Toros' mascot, Tuffy to Houston to serve as the team's mascot. Chester appeared on the field at the beginning of each home game, during the seventh inning stretch and then ran around the bases at the conclusion of each win. Chester Charge was a 45-pound costume of a cartoon Texas cavalry soldier on a horse. At that time there was only one other mascot in major league baseball, which was the San Diego Chicken. In April 1977, the Astros introduced their first mascot, Chester Charge. The name Orbit pays homage to Houston's association with NASA and nickname Space City. Orbit returned on Novemat the unveiling of the Astros new look for their 2013 debut in the American League. Orbit was the team's official mascot from the 1990 through the 1999 seasons until the 2000 season, where Junction Jack was introduced as the team's mascot with the move from the Astrodome to then Enron Field. Orbit is the name given to Major League Baseball's Houston Astros mascot, a lime-green alien wearing an Astros jersey with antennae extending into baseballs. Wow look hat how big those laces are! Reminds me of an old pair of Vans I used to wear while hacky-sacking, waiting for the bus, and other ways of being cool.Orbit entertains fans at Minute Maid Park in March 2014 Not that I'm happy with the T-Mobile/MLB deal to replace them. Oh that? That's not-creepy-at-all mainstay Elf on the Shelf, posing with Orbit and something that looks like one of those phone things from old movies prior to you know.

I'll skip the remaining preamble which improbably reveals me to be a heartless fun-hater and I will instead just link some of the better pics from Orbit's page. Despite his charm, he has a Facebook page. The last family dog.īut not Orbit! Orbit is the recently-revived Houston Astros mascot and he's certainly charming if not completely out of the 'I bet this dude is probably a real creep underneath all that' department. That's not to detract from the good works that many of them do, like charities and kids events, but most of them are the stuff of nightmares and should be quietly put out back with the family dog.

I think most of them are bizarre, scary-looking excuses to drum up excitement for bad teams.

I'm not a fan of mascots, to say the least.

Orbit astros