The men shimmied, skipped and sashayed. At least one danced the shopping cart. Two did the splits. Another would have completed the standing back flip, if that giant furry cat head hadn't gotten in the way.

The job title they all wanted: Dinger.

The eight candidates spent Saturday in a grueling daylong interview process in hopes of being selected as the first full-time mascot of the Sacramento River Cats baseball team, the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland A's. The giant uniform-clad feline – who looks friendlier in person than the fiercely clawed cat in the logo – has been a collection of part-time workers for the minor league club's 10 years.

Now, the team is calling up Dinger to the majors – bringing in a national consultant to lead the search and planning to send the selected candidate to the consultant's mascot boot camp in Pennsylvania later this month...


*Read more and check out pictures and videos here:

www.sacbee.com/2010/03/07/2588322/would-be-mascots-strut-their-stuff.html