Terrifying Blood Red Phillie Phanatic Returns to Haunt Your Dreams

The Phillie Phanatic gets painted red to kick off the baseball season once again.

Baseball season is about to start, which can only mean one thing: The Phillie Phanatic has been painted a terrifying alternate red color! This is the mascot version of a really ugly alternate jersey.

The Phillies began painting the Phanatic red to kick off the season in 2006, when they dumped him in a giant paint bucket at the Philadelphia Zoo. At the time, The 700 Level noted this quote:

If the Phanatic were to reside at the zoo, where would that be? “The Phanatic has feathers on his tail, so we’ve always assumed the Phanatic is a bird, which means the Phanatic would probably live in the bird cage,” [Zoo PR person Greg] Hammell said.

Look at what the Communist Phanatic makes people do: Want to put the Phillie Phanatic in a cage. I don’t think we need to jail him, but we should be happy he’ll revert to his usual green self by at least the home opener on April 7.