Terrifying Blood Red Phillie Phanatic Returns to Haunt Your Dreams

In 2 days: Guess who’s back and RED-y for Phillies baseball? #PaintTheTownRed http://t.co/hNLrEAA3YC pic.twitter.com/Wv9p4scCWY

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 27, 2014

Baseball season is about to start, which can only mean one thing: The Phillie Phanatic has been painted a terrifying alternate red color! This is the mascot version of a really ugly alternate jersey.

The Phillies began painting the Phanatic red to kick off the season in 2006, when they dumped him in a giant paint bucket at the Philadelphia Zoo. At the time, The 700 Level noted this quote:

If the Phanatic were to reside at the zoo, where would that be? “The Phanatic has feathers on his tail, so we’ve always assumed the Phanatic is a bird, which means the Phanatic would probably live in the bird cage,” [Zoo PR person Greg] Hammell said.

Look at what the Communist Phanatic makes people do: Want to put the Phillie Phanatic in a cage. I don’t think we need to jail him, but we should be happy he’ll revert to his usual green self by at least the home opener on April 7.