Mouton the monkey has an uncertain past, but his future has a place in Alex Box Stadium.
The stuffed purple and gold primate has become a mainstay with the LSU baseball team. With a knack for helping the Tigers pull out close games, many players on the LSU baseball team point toward Mouton for their success at this point in the season, even though he can’t move or talk.
“That’s our boy. That’s our rally monkey,” said junior pitcher Nick Goody. “He usually lays low in the dugout, but he comes out in the later innings and really gets after it.”
Mouton’s formative years are a mystery, but his path in life led him to a gas station in Auburn, Ala. LSU was coming off losses to Auburn in the March series’s first two games, and the players were looking for something to do.
In search of snacks and ice cream, junior pitchers Kevin Berry and Joey Bourgeois stumbled upon Mouton and couldn’t help but bring the little guy into loving Tiger arms.
“It was purple and gold, and we were like, ‘We have to buy this thing,'” Berry said. “So we bought it, and we won the next day. We named it Mouton, and he’s been on a roll ever since.” And how did they come up with the name?
“We looked up Cajun names on the way back from Auburn,” Berry said. “We were trying to find one that started with an M to go along with monkey, and we found Mouton.”
Though they probably didn’t know it at the time, Mouton may just have some magical powers. Since the monkey’s adoption, LSU has won 19 of 23 games, nine by one run. Baseball players are particularly known for their superstitions, and Berry won’t hesitate to lend some credit to Mouton.
“I don’t think it is a coincidence that we have been playing pretty good with him,” Berry said. “If we start to lose, we will have to discipline him a little bit. But right now he is doing pretty well.”
Though LSU coach Paul Mainieri would rather credit the success to the team’s play on the field, he won’t discourage the players from believing in a little extra luck from the team’s new mascot.
“I don’t know where that started. I’m not even sure when it started,” Mainieri said. “But one day I said, ‘What in the world is this?’ And they said, ‘It’s Mouton the monkey, our rally monkey.’ I figured if the guys believe he helps us, then great.”
Since moving to Baton Rouge, Mouton has become a full-fledged Tiger, though he still resembles a monkey. He spends most of his time in the locker room, hanging out with players before and after practices and games.
When the team lifts weights, Mouton joins. When the team takes the field for added work on an off day, Mouton joins. When the team boards a plane for a road series, Mouton joins.
“Whatever we do, he does,” Bourgeois said. “We feed him bananas before and after every game. He is part of the team.”
 
—- Contact Hunter Paniagua at [email protected]