This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 72:
= Don Mosebar: USC football and Los Angeles Raiders
= Jack McDowell: Anaheim Angels
= Miguel Rojas, Los Angeles Dodgers
The most interesting story for No. 72:
Bailey, the Los Angeles Kings mascot (2007 to present)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Los Angeles (Staples Center/Crypto.com Arena)
Before we take the temperature in the room …
In 2008, Bailey met Bellie, and something magic seemed to be happening.
Isabella Masenga, whose parents call her Bellie, was almost 10 years old when she asked if they could take her to a Los Angeles Kings’ hockey game at Staples Center. They didn’t even realize she knew hockey existed.
Her mom said it was “probably the best day of her life” at the time. Her dad said it was “the happiest I’ve ever seen her.”
As we wrote in a story for the Southern California News Group at the time, what made it special was that Bellie’s wish to see a Kings game could only be communicated through a special portable word processor. She had a form of autism that prevented her from verbal interaction.
A group of 12 went with her, including her two caretakers, and her twin sister Sophia. None knew how Bellie might react with all the audio and visual stimulation.
They arranged to have a suite at Staples Center, and Kings personnel made it a VIP experience.
Including having their team mascot, Bailey, pay a visit. Bellie knew who he was. They embraced.
The Kings won in a shootout that Saturday afternoon against Dallas. They also crowned a new fan. That was the goal. Assist to Bailey.
The courageous humans who squeeze into exaggerated over insulated costumes and prance around at a sporting event impersonating a team mascot – occasionally wearing a jersey with a number attached – need to be recognized.
Along with the caveat: Why do any L.A. or O.C. teams even need to cheapen themselves with this idea? Because others do it? It’s fan-friendly? It’s great PR – no matter how bizarre the figure (see: Gritty, Philadelphia).
Of all the non-primal mascots in Southern California history, perhaps the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings is likely the most identifiable. And the largest.
Bailey, the 6-foot-6 stuffed lion, sports No. 72 because …. check your thermometer. Amidst an arena chilled by the ice, the average day in L.A. is 72 degrees.
This may be the best story associated with a number in this whole project. If that’s supposed to get into the heads of the opponents, maybe it’s working.
According to team records, the one and only to ever wear 72 was right winger/ penalty minute eater Shane Churla during his one and only (partial) season in L.A. (which amounted to 11 total games in 1996, with a plus-minus of -9). Then he was purged.
There’s been discussions on the team’s Reddit feed asking if any “real” Kings players are allowed to wear No. 72.
Bailey’s name was inspired to honor Garnett “Ace” Bailey, the team’s director of pro scouting for seven seasons who died in the Sept. 11, 2011 terrorist attack. Bailey wore Nos. 14 (Boston), 12 (Detroit), 24 (St. Louis) and 9 (Washington) during his 10-year NHL career.
Bailey the lion is actually a refresh of the Kings mascot once named Kingston, a snow leopard that appeared in the 1990s and has since become the mascot of the team’s minor league affiliate in nearby Ontario.
Bailey isn’t just seen and heard banging a loud drum during games.
He’s always on team excisions to children’s hospitals and other events of that nature.
He’s also got his own Fathead.com line of decals for kids’ walls and is appreciated by many with a small, furry replica plush doll line.
He’s also inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame. His bio includes how he also attends local schools and libraries year-round in Los Angeles County reading “B is for Bailey” a LA Kings children’s book that raises funds for the KingsCare Foundation.
Multi-talented Bailey has also appeared during Lakers’ games and Rams’ games with his No. 72 as well as wearing a Dodgers’ No. 72 jersey promoting events.
Bailey will apparently promote anything you ask him to do.
What else do we got in this SoCal mascot mayhem?
A lot of furry things claiming to be No. 1.
== The Los Angeles Rams have Rampage, described on his Wikipedia page as a “an anthropmorphic ram who wears a Rams uniform” with the No. 1. He was introduced to the franchise when it was in St. Louis in 2010. The fans were allowed by vote to give it its name (instead of Rammer, Rammer and Rush). It also seems to have replaced something called “Ramster” which seemed to disappear in 1996. So now ewe’ve been told. Here’s his official bio.
== The Los Angeles Chargers don’t have an official mascot. It had something called “Boltman,” a lifelong fan who also wore No. 1 going back to its days in San Diego. Dan Jauregui retired in 2019 after 22 years. The team tried to have semi-mascots with service dogs – Bolt and Brisket have been names given. But no more.
== The Los Angeles Clippers have latched onto Chuck the Condor, wearing the unique number 213, after the city’s area code. Back in the 1980s, when the team moved to L.A. from San Diego, there was something called “Sam Dunk,” who ran around the Los Angeles Sports Arena wearing No. 1.
== The Los Angeles Lakers appear to have no employed mascot, outside of Jack Nicholson. It is one of four NBA teams to go without. We’ve seen things in sportings good stores that might suggest otherwise.
== Joe Bruin wears No. 1 for UCLA. In 1996, he came out as bigger and brawnier. “We think the new Joe preserves as much of the lovable aspect of the mascot as we could, but also draws out the more aggressive, powerful and winning attitude that goes with our athletic department,” said Carol Anne Smart, chief operating officer for the Associated Students of UCLA.
== Loyola Marymount University has what appears to be its own version of Bailey, wearing No. 00. Iggy The Lion is also in the National Mascot Hall of Fame. With this blurb: According to the Oct. 5, 1923 edition of the school newspaper, the Los Angeles Loyolan, the Lion mascot was suggested by an enthusiastic fan after 1919 when St. Vincent’s College became Loyola College. Noting the Loyola football player’s fierce competitiveness, that unknown fan described the Loyola players as Lions. “What is to be the battle cry of this new scholastic year?” the paper said. “Is it to be the tawdry, age-old, Rah! Rah! Stripped of any spirit and sentiment, or are we at last about to recognize our mistreated mascot, the ‘Loyola Lion’?”
Here’s more from the 2011 issue of LMU magazine, which also points out: There’s the hazy, mythical Hollywood connection. A 2005 New York Times article reported, in passing, that Loyola adopted the lion after Louis B. Mayer, of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, allowed the school to use his aging, and real, MGM lion as mascot. But MGM was founded in April 1924, months after the Loyolan article appeared. In 2025, Iggy went through a modification.
== Some may protest and say none of this has had the impact, staying power or controversy surrounding as much as the Angels’ Rally Monkey.
But that’s just half the story.
The Rally Monkey was given the number one-half in the months after it came into existence as a video-board gimmick at Angel Stadium in 2000. It took over as a national phenomenon when the team won its one and only World Series title in 2002.
The data showed that when the Rally Monkey made a video board appearance 45 times during that ’02 season, the team came back to win 27 times. In the post-season, it had a six-out-of-seven record, capped by the sixth game of the World Series when a Scott Spiezio home run erased a five-run deficit against the San Francisco Giants and led to a seventh-game triumph.
Some 20 years later, there’s a debate if the Rally Monkey is even a “thing” any longer.
Amidst the 2005 season, the Orange County Register ran a full-page story in its news section asking” Is it time to bench the Rally Monkey?”
They went to the data again: From 2003-05, the team was just 51-91 in games the Rally Monkey threw a monkey wrench into everything. That included a 17-30 record in 2005.
In 2012, another published essay came about questioning the Rally Monkey’s effectiveness – not so much as someone who could change the course of a game, but be an actual “thing” in the stands.
The writer reasoned that it’s “nothing more within the stadium than a (video) clip (and) unable to interact with fans. … There’s true excitement to high-fiving your team’s mascot as he walks through the concourse.”
Maybe the Angels fans were just too sophisticated for that nonsense.
Word went around that the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) asked the Angels to give it a rest instead of “forcing live Capuchin monkeys to participate in photo ops and public appearances.” It suggested in a letter to Angels ownership that the team consider instead “cruelty-free options such as a human in a monkey costume or a monkey puppet with an animal rights message. Or forgo the monkey theme altogether and consider creating a costumed Angelfish mascot who would teach children about these fascinating animals.”
This is the same group that has tried to get MLB to change the name of the bullpen to the “arm barn,” so as not depict this area of a baseball field isn’t named after a place that corrals a wild volatile beast.
The Angels fans may be shaking their plush Rally Monkey toys for the cameras to capture on the giant video screen, but lately, it appears to have backed off pre-planned video presentations that would likely implore the crowd to beg for a comeback in the late innings of a game the Angels seem to be miserably trailing.
The Rally Monkey’s name, image and likeness, however, is alive and well. Especially in the team stores where plush toys are sold including an illustration for people to find the children’s related merch (including its own bobblehead, wearing No. ½).
The team never misses an opportunity as well to have a Rally Monkey-themed promotional night. In 2023, it was the plush wearing a “City Connect” uniform. Sometimes he’s in bright lime green. He has been dressed as a wookie, as Hans Solo, or as a Star Wars jedi. He once was called “Shark Rally Monkey,” inside a shark costume. In 2016, he was “Groovy” Rally Monkey, with a peace-symbol bandana and a scarf. He was a cowboy in ’14, a surfer in ’13, in Cinco de Mayo attire for ’12, and even a Chia Pet in ’11 and a soap dispenser in ’10.
For what it’s worth, the Angels could do worse. Imagine a giant cherub floating by a cable like Peter Pan swooping over the field, offering prayers. Like Doc Brown did it in the flick “Angels in the Outfield.” Or are getting our past, present and futures confused?
On second thought, that might be more productive.
Who else wore No. 72 in SoCal sports history?
Make a case for:
Don Mosebar, USC football offensive lineman (1979 to 1982) and Los Angeles Raiders offensive lineman (1983 to 1995):
For 15 seasons, Mosebar raised the bar on longevity with this number, taking it from college to the pros and keeping it all as home games at the Coliseum. He was a four-year starter and an All-American tackle as a senior at USC, then the new L.A. Raiders’ first pick of the NFL draft, one spot ahead of Miami taking Dan Marino. But for what it’s worth, Mosebar was part of a linage of three Raiders who played the center position from 1960 to 1994 — spanning 35 years — from Hall of Famer Jim Otto, to Dave Dalby, to Mosebar. He started 156 of 173 games played over that stretch and made three Pro Bowls.
Jack McDowell, Anaheim Angels pitcher (1998 to ’99):
The story goes that McDowell wanted his usual No. 29 when he came back to Southern California — he was a graduate of Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks — but it was retired for Rod Carew. McDowell considered reversing the numbers to 92, and do so at the outset of spring training, but then decided he would take No. 72 and honor his former White Sox teammate for his first seven seasons, and future Hall of Fame catcher, Carlton Fisk. McDowell was five years removed from his 1993 Cy Young Award season with the White Sox (22-10, 3.37, four shutouts) when he came to the Angels as a free agent (with a one-year, $1 million deal in ’98, followed by a one-year, $500,000 deal in ’99). In two seasons covering 18 starts and hampered by arm injuries, he combined for a 5-7 record and an ERA of 5.68 over 95 innings and retired at age 33.
Miguel Rojas, Los Angeles Dodgers infielder (2014, 2023-to-present):
In his first incarnation as a Dodgers’ infielder wearing No. 72, Rojas happened to be the rookie starting third baseman on June 18, 2014, when teammate Clayton Kershaw pitched his one-and-only no-hitter against Colorado. In that game, Rojas, who made his MLB debut just 12 days earlier, hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning and then broke open the score in the third inning with a bases-loaded double that scored three and gave the Dodgers a 7-0 lead. But his key contribution was in the seventh inning. Rojas fielded a sharp grounder by Troy Tulowitzki down the third base line and made a difficult throw to first to get the out and preserve the no-hitter.
Returning to the Dodgers in 2023, Rojas first wore No. 11 for two seasons, but then gave that up to high-priced rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki and went back to the No. 72 he was once given in spring training his first year.
During the 2025 World Series, Rojas watched from the bench the first five games but was in the starting lineup for Game 6 as a way to shake up the offense. In Game 7, his one-out, ninth-inning solo homer against the Blue Jays tied the game at a moment when it appeared the Dodgers were down to their last gasp. Rojas had only one extra-base hit in 20 prior postseason games in his career. In the bottom of the ninth, Toronto loaded the bases with one out. The Dodgers incorporated a five-man infield. The Blue Jays’ Daulton Varsho hit a sharp grounder to the right side of the infield. Rojas, playing a drawn-in second base, gloved it, reversed his backward momentum and threw home to cut down the would-be go-ahead run by a fraction of a step. That play aggravated a rib injury for Rojas, who had been unsure if he would be available to be in the starting lineup earlier in the day and he was replaced at second by rookie Hyeseong Kim for the 11th inning.
Art Alper, UCLA men’s basketball guard (1948-49 to 1950-51): The 6-foot-3 All-City first-team and Western League player of the year guard out of Los Angeles High became a three-year starter for John Wooden’s first three teams in Westwood for the Pacific Coast Conference, at a time when starting players often wore numbers in the 70s — such as Eddie Sheldrake (75), George Stanich (73), Don Seidel (74) and captain Ron Pearson (78). Alper turned to volleyball full-time after basketball days, learning the outdoor game in Manhattan Beach and the indoor tame as a key member of the Hollywood ‘Y’ Stars, who won the U.S. National Open Championships from 1956 to 1959. Alper was an All-American on three of the four straight title teams and a starting outside hitter on U.S. National teams from 1955-1959. In 2009, Alper received the USA Volleyball ‘All-Time Great Player’ Award for his indoor career.
Kent Hill, Los Angeles Rams offensive left guard (1979 to 1986): A five-time Pro Bowl selection from 1980 to ’85, he started 95 out of 107 games for the Rams opening holes for running back Eric Dickerson.
Anyone else worth nominating?
Brent Boyd, UCLA football lineman (1975 to 1979): His story is attached to the entry for No. 62.
Al Cowlings: USC football defensive tackle (1968 to 1969): His story is attached to the entry for No. 70 with the Los Angeles Rams.
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