The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Fancy Pants makes a name for itself with Hartford Yard Goats
HARTFORD — Tim Restall needed a goat.
It was 2015, and the president of Hartford’s unnamed minor league baseball team had planned an event to announce the team’s new name from a list of five finalists.
Though the Yard Goats, a name submitted at the last minute of a fan contest that had nearly 6,000 submissions, was actually a nod to the city’s historic train lines, Restall and his team wanted an actual goat.
When the team was still the New Britain Rock Cats, staff had often worked with Ted and Mary Krogh of Circle K Farms. The Kroghs run a farm with goats, alpacas, sheep and plenty of animals that are regularly featured in movies and TV shows, so they were only a phone call away.
The Kroghs, not even sure if Yard Goats would defeat the other finalists for the team’s name, decided to bring Fancy Pants, then only a year old. At the event, the Yard Goats were announced as the winner and confetti rained down on the assembled crowd.
“Before I knew it, without cue, because no one knew the name, Ted had grabbed the goat by the leash and brought it up on stage,” Restall said. “And literally from that point ever since, they’ve been part of the family and part of the organization.”
Seven years later, Ted, Mary and Fancy Pants are a staple at Yard Goats games, with their own area near center field.
A unique mascot
The Kroghs have lived on their farm in East Hampton for 40 years. They met as paramedics in New Britain, getting married 45 years ago, and decided they wanted to move farther out of the city.
At first, it was just a few ponies, but soon it was a full-fledged farm with more and more animals. And then it was a full-on business, providing a goat or an alpaca or something that a TV show needed.
The Kroghs picked Fancy Pants on that day in 2015 because he’d just been in a movie, “Wishin’ and Hopin,’ ” and they knew he could stay calm in a stressful situation. After the name was official and the organization planned to move into their new home at Dunkin’ Donuts Park, Restall and the team enlisted Fancy Pants once again, this time for a more permanent role: Unofficial team
mascot.
There were a few kinks to work out, but soon it was up and running: The Kroghs show up about an hour before games start, bringing Fancy Pants and a rotating cast of other goats. There’s a small hole in the center field fence, and Mary sometimes watches the game. There’s a constant flow of people asking about the goats. What are their names? Can I pet them? A city ordinance, however, prohibits the animals from being touched. Will you be at the next game? But that answer is always “yes.”
The Kroghs make the 25-minute journey to every
game, and they don’t plan on stopping any time soon. They don’t feel like there’s anyone else who could take care of their animals the way they do, and that’s part of the reason they’ve never taken a vacation together in all their years on the farm. No matter what, at least one of them has been there each and every night, in case the animals need them.
Fancy Pants, for his part, is also irreplaceable. The Kroghs have begun to breed smaller goats, so Fancy Pants is the biggest one they have. Goats have an average life span of about 12 years, and Fancy Pants, 8, is still in his prime.
But there are also no other goats that even look like him, to say nothing of his temperament and general attitude.
“UConn’s got it easy with Jonathan,” Ted Krogh said. “You walk down the street and there are huskies everywhere. There aren’t any goats like Fancy Pants.”
During the games, Fancy Pants either rests in a corner or stands on a table in the middle of his enclosure, often because he sees Mary Krogh grabbing some food. Ted Krogh sometimes gives him a sip of a Coke, which means any time Fancy Pants sees him walking around the corner with a soda bottle in his hand, he immediately gets excited and runs over to the fence.
He doesn’t miss games either, except during Bark in the Park games, when fans are invited to bring their dogs to the game. Fancy Pants actually gets along well with other animals, as evidenced by his charity, Fancy Pants cares. Ted Krogh talks about the charity as if Fancy Pants is literally in charge, saying things like “he donated” or “then he decided to.” It’s under the Yard Goats Foundation Umbrella and works on animal-based causes throughout the area, often donating equipment to police or fire dogs.
‘So many friends’
Fancy Pants is a superstar in Hartford, but on the farm in East Hampton, he’s just another animal.
“At home, he’s a goat,” Mary Krogh said. “He’s a goat.”
He often hangs out with Marshmallow, a younger goat and probably his best friend. He’s done petting zoos and movies and never loses his cool. But when The Kroghs start to get ready for the drive to Hartford on a Yard Goats game night, he starts to get excited.
“He knows,” Mary Krogh said.
The section right above Fancy Pants’ zone has become a favorite recently. Kids often watch Fancy Pants while parents watch the games, and Mary Krogh is already lobbying Restall to name the section after Fancy Pants.
It’s easy to walk in a circle around the entire stadium, and people often pass by Fancy Pants multiple times during a game.
“We’ve made so many friends here,” Mary Krogh said. “Half of them, we don’t even know their names.”