Paws was hired as the Detroit Tigers mascot in 1995 making his first appearance on May 5 of that year. This Bengal tiger dresses in the Detroit jersey and cap and spends every home game having fun with the fans at Comerica Park. For years, Paws’ jersey carried the last two numbers of the year, such 95 for the year he started. This worked out fine until 2011 when the Tigers retired jersey numbers 11 and 16 to honor Hal Newhouser and Sparky Anderson. Since that time, Paws has sported number 00.
Although Paws’ standard mode of dress is a Tigers uniform, he makes the occasional exception, such as when he wears a Santa Clause costume for “Christmas in July” or on “Elvis Night” when Paws dresses up like “The King.”
When Paws is not busy as Comerica Park he attends special events in the Detroit area, visit schools, goes to the malls, and volunteers his time for worthwhile causes. He is an avid baseball card collector and has adopted the Detroit Tigers’ spring training site in Lakeland, Florida as his vacation home.
Paws is proud to represent one of original American League baseball franchises. He loves to talk about the seasons when the Tigers were division champs during the “Paws Years,” in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. And, he has the best memories of when the team took the American League Pennant in 2012.
The crown jewel of Paws’ baseball card collection is a Ty Cobb card. Cobb was one of the greatest baseball players of all time and still holds the highest lifetime batting average of .366. The “Georgia Peach” played 26 years for the Tigers during which time he batted over .400 three times, and won 12 American League batting titles, 9 in a row from 1907 to 1915.