Project Introduction Brother's Mascot: Ting Liu
The object I have chosen is the mascot of “Brothers Elephant” named Jimmy from 1999 to 2015, creating by Ji-Tai, Feng in the Brothers Hotel. In the history of the mascot, the elephant symbolizes the image of family bonds and unity, matching with the spirit of “We Are Family” that the designer wants to express the significance to all of the Brothers fans. Jimmy’s yellow clothes establish the meaning of this tradition but also sharing the positive attitude; Jimmy’s birthday is November 11th, 1999, illustrating the number “1111” as a figure of surviving at the top and adhering the spirit of “We Are Family”.
Jimmy, the Brothers Elephant, acted as a critical mascot for both fans of Brothers and CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League). Whenever the baseball team encountered trouble during a game, Jimmy’s job was leading the warm atmosphere and cheering up for baseball players of Brothers, stimulating the excited attitude to all of the Brothers fans. In addition, Jimmy is a character that brings energetic behavior in the baseball stadium. For instance, the mascot was always working hard to dance the exclusive performance for each baseball player, demonstrating the enthusiasm for the supporting team and baseball players. There are several actions of Jimmy representing the wonderful attitude and behavior to share with the fans of Brothers.
In terms of the historic significance of Jimmy, the mascot was no longer available. In 2015, Brothers Hotel, the original company of Brothers Elephant, was selling the management right to CTBC Brothers because of the economic issues. In the beginning, Brothers Hotel was the small enterprise in Taiwan, and it was extremely difficult running with the whole baseball team, including the salaries of baseball players, coaches, and cheering teams; moreover, the company needed to provide the sufficient resources such as the equipment, dormitories, and healthy food for all of the baseball players. When the Brothers Hotel sold the team to CTBC Brothers, most of the fans thought that it was the positive influences for both baseball players and the original company because not only the Brothers Hotel can solve the financial problems for their running, but also the baseball players can have much more enough resources to practice.
Although there were scandal events that negatively affected the whole CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League), the fans still accompanied by the Brothers Elephant to CTBC Brothers. There were plenty of fans who stayed even if their favorite baseball changed tremendously. Basically, the main reason that they want to keep continuously supporting the team is that the spirit of the baseball players. Furthermore, when they were playing with international competitions, all of the fans focused on the same goal to win the games. At that time, all of the mascots cheered up with the fans and the baseball players. To sum up, Jimmy, the mascot of the Brothers Team is particularly important for all of the fans of Brothers and CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League).