The report by the Voice of San Diego this week about the goose that landed on the field in Dodger Stadium may be deflating to Padre fans.
The goose inspired replicas that appeared in the stands at Petco Park, as the goose became a good luck mascot that would propel the team to the World Series.
That didn’t happen of course and now with the news from Voice of San Diego that the goose was probably suffering from that Avian flu that’s making lots of birds sick, it may mean the goose won’t be the mascot for Padre fans next season.
Coincidentally, this news about that goose comes on the same day another famous goose is marking its 75th anniversary of also making history here in Southern California.
It was the goose that belonged to eccentric Hollywood movie producer Howard Hughes whose Hughes Aircraft Company built the Spruce Goose, a massive wooden aircraft with a wingspan longer than a football field, originally designed as a flying boat to transport soldiers during WW II.
And on this date Nov 2nd of 1947, Howard Hughes piloted his Spruce Goose, 70 feet above the water for one mile as thousands of spectators watched along Long Beach Harbor. It was his goose’s one and only flight and the giant plane never made another trip.
Let’s hope the legacy of the goose that helped the Padres make their first trip to the final step before the World Series in a quarter century helps them make history next year by getting to and winning a World Series.
(Photo Getty Images)