Li'l Rastus
Ulysses Samuel Harrison (March 16, 1892 – September 17, 1944), known as Li'l Rastus and Rastus Simon, was an African American teenager who served as a mascot of the Detroit Tigers baseball team from 1908 to 1910. Biography. In the early 1900s, it was not unusual for Major League Baseball teams to casually retain one or more urchins to act as mascots or batboys. Their employment might only last as long as a team's winning streak, and often their only wages were food and shelter. On July 4, 1908, the "Detroit Free Press" reported that the Tigers had  begun traveling with a new mascot, "Rastus," who had been "picked up by [Germany] Schaefer" during the team's recent road trip to Chicago. "He will have a home as long as the present streak lasts," the report added. Rastus served as a good luck charm for the next three months for the pennant-winning Tigers—Ty Cobb in particular, who would rub the youth's head for good luck—and traveled with team, even warming up Tigers pitchers from time to time. Rastus was dismissed as the Tigers' mascot near the end of the 1908 season, shortly before the  Detroiters captured the American League pennant. "Rastus, the negro mascot, has been chased again," wrote the "Detroit Free Press". "[Manager Hughie] Jennings let him out today and they got a world's series decision. It looks as if Rastus is gone for good." Rastus's services were quickly enlisted by the National League champion Chicago Cubs, the Tigers' World Series opponent, who went on to win the series four game to one. Despite his firing, the Tigers brought Rastus back for another pennant-winning season in 1909. By the start of the World Series, Rastus numbered among a half dozen  Tigers mascots, including two other boys, one white and one black, who acted as chief mascots. At season's end, Rastus returned home to St. Louis. Before the start of the 1910 season, the "Detroit Free Press" commented on his itinerant life: Rastus was relieved of his duties as mascot for the second and final time in June 1910. After his "unconditional release", he worked briefly for an ash hauling company.