Alex Collins (Transcript)

Robby Incmikoski: All right, here we are with the one and only Alex Collins. So as I'm just making sure my alarm doesn't go off. Here, let me ask you this. You've spent now 11 years as the mascot for the Cubs, and you're the one and only Clark the Cub that's ever had that job. The Cubs are a franchise, a hundred and however many years old, right? What, 1914? So we're looking at—how cool is it to be the first? And now that you've done it for 11 years and counting, you're gonna be remembered forever in Cubs lore. How neat is that?

Alex Collins: Yeah, it's an awesome feeling. It's taken some time and patience for people to take on to the fact that we have a mascot. There was so much pushback in the beginning when the fans didn't want a mascot, they didn't want the video boards. But we've done a good job as an organization of slowly integrating both the mascot, the video boards, all that new stuff, so that we can modernize Wrigley Field a little bit.

To your point, like being the first ever, it's a really cool feeling knowing that someday that's gonna—not to compare myself to Ernie Banks, but for some kids, Clark might be their Ernie Banks because they never met Ernie Banks, right? And I've noticed over the course of my time, there are kids that don't know the Chicago Cubs without a mascot. So I've seen kids grow up over the course of those 11 years where they might have been three, four years old and now they're teenagers. So it's a very unique experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. And honestly, I struggled to make that decision to leave the Pirates because I had the fear that it would never be a program like other mascot programs. But I eventually got to the point where I was like, "I got to go because I will always wonder what if I don't." And now that I've been in it 11 years, more time than I was in Pittsburgh, it was easily the right decision. I don't see myself leaving to go anywhere else at this point. I would love to finish my performance career with the Cubs, leaving on my own volition because it's just time to hang up the suit.

Robby Incmikoski: It's a legendary job. People always talk about Tom Burgoyne, or Tom Burgoyne now. But for a while, it was Dave Raymond that was the Philly Phanatic for a long time, and obviously I know Tom. But when these are—here's where I want to go with this. People could look at that and I could ask you this question as a friend. People could look at that and laugh. But what I think a lot of people don't realize is just how hard it is and how much talent and skill it takes to be a mascot. You have to work really hard and you have to be really talented to do this. People say the announcers are talent. My skill happens to be asking questions and talking in front of the camera. I made my living doing it. Not everybody can be a mascot either. So what kind of skill set is required to do the job and do it well? I love it because if you're doing it at the highest level—

Alex Collins: Yeah, so the biggest thing is we've got to be able to have a conversation without words. That's probably the hardest part about my job is we have to interact without using our words, and I have to be able to convey thoughts and personality without saying anything. And so something that I tell people all the time is because you'll inevitably get the people there like, "I'm not good at charades." I'm just trying to have a regular conversation with you. So think about what you would say, but without saying it. And then if you use that filter when we're having an interaction, you will have an easier time trying to decipher what it is I'm trying to say.

Robby Incmikoski: Where do you get that skill? Where does that come from?

Alex Collins: Time and experience. The thing is with our job, you don't know until you're in it. So this is funny too because I went to the Indiana versus Northwestern football game the other day. I was trying to use my contacts to get a ticket to the game and I ended up getting a field pass through the cheerleading coach, and she wanted us to come watch their kid and see what kind of pointers we could give the kid. And I just lost where I was going with that.

Robby Incmikoski: The kid trying to get a ticket for the Indiana Northwestern game and you want to—

Alex Collins: Yeah, I think what I was trying to say probably was just something to the effect of that the kid is newer to this industry. She's been doing it for two years and she doesn't necessarily know what she doesn't know. So the more that she puts the suit on, the more that she performs, she's gonna start to understand what it is that she's doing. And so I told her, I'm like, "Film yourself so that you can see what it looks like to somebody else, not necessarily what you think you look like in your head." And so I'm trying to see where I went with that. What was the question again?

Robby Incmikoski: Kind of teaching a younger person the skill set of having a conversation without words.

Alex Collins: Yeah, exactly. I think time and patience and energy, that's what it takes. The more you put the suit on, the better you're gonna be.

Robby Incmikoski: A lot of people don't realize how long does it take to get dressed for a game and undress?

Alex Collins: If I'm rushing, I could probably do it in five to ten minutes, but I prefer not to rush. So I usually allow 30 minutes.

Robby Incmikoski: Your ideal amount of time would be how long?

Alex Collins: I want to be in my dressing area and have 30 minutes before I need to be wherever I need to be, just because once you start rushing, then you forget a part or you forget to strap something or forget to clip one of your clips. If you're rushing, maybe you forget something, right?

Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, no, I got you. How much does the costume weigh?

Alex Collins: Probably about 12 to 15 pounds.

Robby Incmikoski: And then what is it—a lot of people wonder what it's like inside that costume. So I ask, what is it like inside that costume?

Alex Collins: So I tell people what's hot to me is really hot to you because I've just become used to it over the years. There are things that you can do. I wear a lot of the same types of clothing that players wear under their uniform to moisture wick, and even if it is a couple of degrees cooler because you're wearing dry fit and Under Armour and that kind of stuff.

Something we also wear is something on your head. Some guys use a bandana, I use a skull cap. Some guys use a T-shirt sleeve, a cut-off T-shirt sleeve, but you gotta wear something on your head so that it soaks up the sweat. So then the sweat doesn't get in your eyes because once the sweat gets in your eyes, you can't wipe them, so then your eyes go shut and then you're blind.

Robby Incmikoski: You had mentioned something about San Francisco being an ideal temperature. Can you just tell us a little bit about—and again we want you to give fans a view of this, what it's like, give us an insight or peek here where you talk about how you can be—San Francisco's an ideal temperature, whereas maybe Arizona is indoors, but Texas outdoors would not be ideal for you, or, you know what I'm saying? So tell us about temperature and why San Francisco's perfect for you.

Alex Collins: Yes, San Francisco is that perfect temperature where you need a little extra clothing if you're going to the game as a fan. But it's also the perfect temperature because the suit is gonna keep you—it's not too hot, but then the suit keeps you just like the perfect temperature because you need a little extra. The story I was getting at with that All-Star game in '07. We did an appearance, which was an hour in the ballpark during either the Futures Game or maybe it was the Home Run Derby as the gates are open or whatever. And we got done in that hour time, and it felt like it was like a 15-minute appearance. You weren't thinking about, "Man, I got to get out of this thing because I'm exhausted, I'm burning up," kind of thing. Whereas this last year's All-Star game in Texas, we did the fan fest which was in the old ballpark, so it was outdoors.

So the guy from the Rangers, he was like, "Look, I don't want you guys out for more than 10 to 15 minutes. You're not used to this kind of heat, so you do your 10 to 15 minutes, you come back in and you're done." So when you've got that many guys too, it's easy to do just a 10 to 15-minute appearance because then you can spread it out with a bunch of different guys, so then you're taking turns. But just that—I mean, that's the thing we've got to be careful about too, because at the end of the day, you are gonna know how you're feeling in the suit. Your handlers—we all have handlers, right? And the longer a handler's been with a performer, the more they can recognize when something's not right here or "Hey, get this guy out of the heat because I know he's got to be dying in there."

Robby Incmikoski: Hold on, Kyle, you have a couple minutes left. You got anything for Alex? You go ahead. I saw you made me an administrator and I'll get the recording when we're done, but go ahead.

Kyle Fager: Yeah, you got a couple of my questions. I'm wondering if there's a time when you meet celebrities, I assume when you're on the field. Is there been a time when you've been particularly starstruck by anybody?

Alex Collins: Yeah, for me, that's either the All-Star Game, the World Series in 2016. For some reason, Joe Torre asked somebody to get us into his suite. And we walk into the suite and Lady Gaga was there. And it was just like, "Okay, that was not—" I'm not a huge Lady Gaga fan, but the fact that she was there. It was funny too because he asked for us to come in there because she was in there. But then she freaked out when Joe Torre walked in because she's from New York, she's probably a Yankees fan. And so that's one example.

Robby Incmikoski: This was at Wrigley, right?

Alex Collins: Yeah, that was in the suite at Wrigley at the World Series in 2016. For me, I was starstruck the first time I interacted with Mark Grace because Mark Grace was one of my favorite players growing up. And that first interaction was in Pittsburgh when he was a Diamondbacks broadcaster.

And then, let's see. Who else? Celebrities. I did just get a little cameo on Hard Knocks. I caught the first pitch for Caleb Williams when he was out throwing a first pitch.

Robby Incmikoski: The football player. Great.

Alex Collins: Yeah. There's gotta be—I might have to think on that one a little bit. Mark Grace—but that's the other thing too. My family, huge Cubs fans. So anytime I've met Ryne Sandberg, my brother named my nephew—my first nephew's name is Ryan. My sister was a huge Andre Dawson fan, so I've gotten pictures with all these guys and then I've printed them out, had the guys autograph it so I can give them to my siblings, my parents. My dad, my mom wants to carry around autograph cards in her purse with her at all times. So when she runs into somebody, she knows she can be like, "Here's my son. Here's his Topps card." So yeah, there's plenty of times where I was starstruck, but also my family too is kind of like—to be able to provide some of those experiences for my family too has been just awesome.

Robby Incmikoski: Hell yes, absolutely.

Kyle Fager: And I've got one more before I got to go, and it feels like I gotta ask this question. It's a bit of a joke. How often do you hear about how you don't have any pants?

Alex Collins: A lot. Yeah, it's wild too because more than half the guys in the league don't wear pants. So that's the thing. We talk all the time about how if they made it a fantasy character, if he was this blue bear, and people would be like, "Why aren't you a brown bear? It's so dumb that you're a blue bear." But they found the one thing that they could find to pick on because they didn't want a mascot, and so that's become the joke about not wearing pants. And it's wild because I hear about it all the time, and the Chicago Bears guy doesn't wear pants. He's been around probably 20, 25 years, and they don't give him a hard time. And then like I said, that's probably the biggest reason why I get that joke.

Robby Incmikoski: That is—I swear to God, I'm not BSing you. Besides the prank of the fake plane crash with the names that they did, that might be the funniest prank ever played ever in the history of pranks.

Alex Collins: What do you think, though? I don't think it was a prank. I think it was a mistake by some production assistant kid that was told, "Hey, just create a mascot, go find us a picture." So he googles it, he finds the first picture and it was the Deadspin article that somebody had photoshopped. So I don't think it was a prank. I think it was just literally the kid—kid probably lost his job because he didn't check what he was putting on air.

Robby Incmikoski: You put up a cub with a dick. How many layers does that have to go through to make it on air? It's gonna go through four people.

Alex Collins: Yeah, there were probably a couple people that lost their job.

Robby Incmikoski: How does somebody not see that?

Kyle Fager: Okay, sorry guys, I gotta run to the airport. This is great. It's great to meet you, Alex. Keep it going and I'll check in later.

Robby Incmikoski: All right, we're going to let him go. Yeah. I got a couple more questions and I'll let you go. That is hilarious. We're still recording and we're still going, by the way. Just so you know. The funniest thing though is I just think it's the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. Besides that plane crash prank. So the pants thing—tell me something else. How many people—and dude, you're a mascot, so we can spend five hours doing this, but just do people say either crazy dumb stuff or are there any normal crazy requests that happen in the context of the day? I mean, I know the answer is yes, because I get it as a reporter every day.

Alex Collins: Yeah, I have been requested for multiple—to do appearances at multiple memorial celebrations. I mean, and obviously, because of the nature of that kind of request, it's a last-minute request. And so I've only actually been able to do one of the requested memorial services.

Robby Incmikoski: So what is it like having a mascot at a memorial? The person was a big Cubs fan evidently, right?

Alex Collins: Yeah, this lady was in her mid to late 90s. I think she was a huge Cubs fan. All of the grandkids who were obviously probably in their 50s and late 50s and 60s, probably, they wanted to make it a celebration because she wanted to make it a celebration. So because she was a huge Cubs fan, they're like, "What can we do?" But also, this is a celebration and there's gonna be a lot of great-great-grandchildren. Maybe what can we do? So they had me there, and I just played with the great-grandkids for the whole time. And it was just a party. It was like any other family get-together you can think of. It was just like that. It was their way to honor her.

But I will say this, it was very humbling moment because you think that at one of the toughest things to go through, because of what I do, I can help you guys get through that toughest stage of life. That's the most humbling request I've ever had, honestly.

Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, no doubt about it. Is there a common thing that people—I'm just trying to think of what—there'll be a fan sitting at home reading this book and they might think, do people want to say anything crazy? I mean, without getting too ridiculous, but do people say—hey, or people try to either touch you? Does it get exhausting at times?

Alex Collins: Yeah, I mean that's the thing. At the end of the day, if you're doing a good job at your job, people forget that there's a human inside the suit because they look at the character as a living, breathing being. And so it's kind of a catch-22 that if you're doing a good job, people forget that. And so then that's when they're like, "Let me just go run up and punch that guy because it's gonna be funny." Which is also kind of weird because if you saw a bear in the woods, you wouldn't go up and punch the bear. You'd probably run for your life, right?

Robby Incmikoski: Right. Yeah, that's what I was always wondering. People say, "Man, what would you say?" And think about this. I'm gonna let you go after this. But on an average day, the Cubs are pretty much sold out when you're there. How many pictures do you think you get asked to take in a day?

Alex Collins: Yeah, it's honestly—

Robby Incmikoski: If I figure every half inning, I'm gonna say you're asked five times every half inning.

Alex Collins: It's more than that. I get—I bet you—here's the other thing, we do two sessions where we go take pictures with fans, and to get to those places, you can't walk anywhere without getting asked. So it's especially now because everybody has their own cell phone cameras like—I would guess it's in the thousands per game.

Robby Incmikoski: Really? I had it—I was figuring if you get asked ten times every half inning, that's a hundred and eighty times plus pregame plus—

Alex Collins: Here's the thing. I guess maybe—so in my mind when you asked it, when you ask that question, my head went to the times where we are stationed at spots where people can come take pictures, and there's a lineup. It's not in the thousands that people line up, but I guarantee my handler is trained to take a bunch of pictures so that then maybe there's at least one that these people like. Something like he's not looking.

Robby Incmikoski: Of course. Yeah, I meant how many times are you just—"Hey, can I take a picture?" That's what I mean. For me during baseball season, usually two, three times a day I get asked when I'm roaming the stadium in Pittsburgh, not Texas. Nobody knew who I was, but I'm talking about when people know who you are. For me, it was maybe two, three times a day I get asked, right? For a mascot—

Alex Collins: Yeah, it's probably two or three hundred. Yeah, exactly. Probably two or three hundred.

Robby Incmikoski: Because I figure five to ten times a half inning, 18 of those. So that puts us at a hundred to two hundred. Somewhere between 100 and 200 just during play, and you figure you get at least double that between pregame stuff, roaming the field and working your way through. I mean, when I take my niece, I mean, it's just part of the gig. What it is is you just have to accept that.

Alex Collins: Yeah. So that's the thing. The mascot game in general has changed over the years because of the cell phone. Guys in the NBA back in the day, they were doing all this wild stuff because they could work the stands. It's hard to work the stands now because everybody has a cell phone, and as soon as somebody stops to take a picture, then people just swarm. So it's so much more difficult to do crowd work because everybody is trying to get a picture on their camera when they want to get to you to get that picture.

Robby Incmikoski: Right. That makes sense. Yeah, that's great. All right, I got nothing else.