Then there was Youppi! Brulotte immediately fell in love with the orange blob. It was big, it was furry. Since it was orange, you could see it from far away. It seemed perfect.
"We wanted something happy that you could hug," Brulotte said. "He's just a huge, huggable teddy bear. He's just a big Muppet something that you want to hug and kiss."
But the Muppet needed a name. They decided on Youppi!
What does it mean? Brulotte is asked.
"It's neither French nor English," he replies.
Then what is it?
"Well when you are happy you say 'yooopie!' " he said.
This, of course, translates better in Brulotte's French-Canadian accent. Yet yoopie or yippee, people in Montreal couldn't get enough of the new mascot. He danced on the dugout, he danced on the field. Where most mascots would only appear for a couple of innings a game, Youppi! would be in the stands the entire game. It exhausted the men who wore him, who were left drenched in sweat trying to breathe through a suit that originally weighed 40 pounds.
The first Youppi! was difficult to wear; the head was so big it flopped down. This blocked the view of the man inside, who used a hole in Youppi!'s neck to see. To solve the problem, the first Youppi! would slap his nose every few minutes, thus lifting the head and giving clear vision if but for a brief moment. It became the mascot's trademark, and all subsequent Youppi!s would go around slapping their nose even after the costume was streamlined to weigh only about 12 pounds.
Then there were the Expos who enjoyed playing jokes on the mascot. The worst was pitcher Bryn Smith, who crouched behind Youppi! on the field as another player pushed Youppi! from the front. Over Youppi! would go, tumbling to the ground until another Expos player would rush in at the last second and catch him. The fans loved it.
And there were incidents, too. Once Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda had him thrown out of a game after Youppi! led cheers from atop the Los Angeles dugout. The umpires later let Youppi! back in after the mascot donned pajamas and napped on the dugout roof. Another time, Expos third baseman Tim Wallach -- in the middle of a slump -- complained that Youppi! was distracting him as he tried to hit, but that also was resolved.
Mostly, Youppi! was the most beloved Expo of all.
"There are a lot of kids who grew up with Youppi! whether they had dolls or posters," said Pierre Deschesnes, who wore Youppi! from 1988 to 1992 and whose stepfather wore the mascot for the seven years before that. "He was all over Montreal. Youppi! is a Barney in Montreal."
Now he is going to be sold.
But if so much other baseball history in Montreal was dissolved when the Expos left, why not just kill Youppi! as well?
Brulotte gasps.
"Kill Youppi!," he cried. "Why would you kill Youppi! when you hurt so many young kids?"
Fortunately for the children of Montreal, the lawyers will someday finish their work and Youppi! will be unpacked from his duffel bags and the great orange mascot will live again.
Even if he's on hockey skates.
