Desert Companion - March 2013

Dustin Erickson Cosmo, Las Vegas 51s mascot • Six-foot-three Dustin Erickson became the googly-eyed face of the 51s thanks to his height — and a bit of happenstance. “I was there one day, just doing the normal stuff around the stadium,” he recalls. “The guy who usually played Cosmo wasn’t there, and I happened to walk in the office at the right time. They go, ‘He looks tall enough — we’ll stick him in!’ They hooked me up with the suit, told me to dance around and act goofy.” Six years later, Erickson is still goofing off for fans.

• First rule of mascothood: Never break the illusion.

That almost happened to Erickson during a kid vs.

Cosmo novelty race between innings. “They had just watered the field, and right when I went around second base, I slipped in the mud.” Faceplant. Worse: Erickson’s chinstrap came undone, and Cosmo’s head began to separate from his body. Fortunately, Erickson’s forward momentum kept his alien alter ego in one piece. “I was like, ‘Aw, man, that was close.’ That kid would’ve been traumatized if he saw that. Dreams would have been crushed. Needless to say, the kid destroyed me in the race.”

• Erickson’s advice for aspiring mascots: If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the costume. “I probably have the longest streak of being Cosmo,” he says.

“Other people who work inside all day have tried to be Cosmo and gotten heat exhaustion — they can’t handle it.” Erickson’s home-team advantage: He’s a full-time exterminator, a job that keeps him acclimated to the hot Vegas summers.

• “Cosmo is a prankster, a goofball. He likes to have a good time,” says Erickson. “One thing we have in common is that we’re both pretty terrible dancers.

People must look at him dance and go, ‘There’s definitely a white boy in there.’” — Andrew Kiraly