The Cincinnati Reds mascot, Mr. Red has come and gone and come back over the years. His image was on the Cincinnati Reds uniform as far back as 1954. However, the human-sized Mr. Red (The Running Man) in a Reds uniform with an oversized-baseball for a head only arrived in the early 1980s. He disappeared (perhaps sent down to the Reds farm system) a few years later but was brought back up in 1997. He appears to have been retired in 2007, however, only to return at the Redsfest in 2012. Today, Mr. Red has help entertaining and greeting fans from Mr. Redlegs, Gapper, and Rosie Red.
Mr. Redlegs had also come and gone from the Reds lineup over the years but returned to replace Mr. Red in 2007. Mr. Redlegs has been known to be a bit more physical in his crowd-pleasing antics. In 2008 he fell off of an ATV while playing around during the pre-game warmups. He quickly returned to action wearing a neck brace (for a joke)!
Gapper is the furry member of the Cincinnati Reds mascot foursome. He joined the Reds franchise during the winter of 2002. His name comes from the term used for a baseball that rolls up the alley between left and center field or center field and right field and all the way to the outfield fence. Like the others, Gapper loves his job, the fans, and the Reds.
Rosie Red is the female member of the Reds mascot team. She joined the Reds organization 2008 after Mr. Red’s retirement and before he came back. Her name is a tribute to Rosie Janis who was an avid fan in the 1940s and for a group organized in 1963 to keep the Reds for moving away from Cincinnati (Rooters Organized to Stimulate Interest and Enthusiasm in the Cincinnati Reds).