Sluggerrr: The Lion, the Royals, and
a Hot Dog Cannon That Made Legal History
Kansas City, MO · Baseball
★Mascot Hall of Fame — Class of 2017
| Team / Organization | Kansas City Royals |
|---|---|
| Location | Kansas City, MO |
| League / Division | MLB |
| First Debuted | April 5, 1996 |
| Species / Type | Lion (anthropomorphic; the extra R’s are intentional) |
| Best Known For | Hot dog cannon notoriety; Royals World Series celebrations (2015); one of MLB’s most distinctive mascots |
| Year Inducted | 2017 |
Profile
Sluggerrr — with three R’s, because two just wasn’t enough king energy — debuted on April 5, 1996. A lion mascot for a baseball team named the Royals is the kind of fearless brand logic you either love immediately or spend years thinking about. His hot dog cannon gained fame after a 2009 incident that reached the Missouri Supreme Court.
Fun Facts
- Sluggerrr’s extra R’s are intentional branding — his name is a double-play on ‘slugger’ (a powerful baseball hitter) and the Royals’ royal identity, with three R’s for maximum king-level impact.
- In 2009, a fan was struck in the eye by a hot dog fired from Sluggerrr’s air-powered cannon during a between-innings promotion. The resulting lawsuit, Coomer v. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp., reached the Missouri Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the Royals.
- Sluggerrr was inducted in 2019 as part of the Mascot Hall of Fame’s ‘relaunch’ class, the first induction ceremony since 2008, coinciding with the Hall’s grand opening of its permanent museum in Whiting, Indiana.
