Just before the national anthem, Screech -- still in his eggshell, legs poking out -- toddled onto the field. An announcer told the crowd that the egg had been discovered over the past few months while the stadium was being renovated and had been taken to the National Zoo for observation, only to escape and return "home."
Team officials would not provide information about the person inside the Screech costume, or let that person be interviewed, saying they did not want to distract from Screech's personality and character. Although that person never will speak in his or her own voice from inside the costume, it is possible that the mascot will at some point learn to make some kind of screeching noise to cheer the team on, the officials said.
The Nationals are the third Washington team to use an eagle as their mascot. Screech joins Slapshot, who hatched on the ice at a Washington Capitals game in 1995, and Talon of the D.C. United soccer team, who emerged from a giant egg at RFK on April 20, 1996.
Compared with the other two eagles, Screech's head appears wider and his beak is smaller and less menacing. He spent his first few moments on the field greeting Glenda Gutierrez, 9, of the District, whose drawing of what she expected the mascot to look like was chosen by the Nationals as the one most similar to Screech.
The team had solicited contest entries from D.C. public schools, offering as a hint the information that the mascot would hatch from an egg and fly over the city.
Glenda, a fourth-grader at Powell Elementary School, said she drew an eagle because "it's strong, and it eats almost everything."
Staff writer Clarence Williams contributed to this report.
