Mudonna is a huggable pig AND a record-setter

Some mascots are good for a laugh. Some get you amped up. Some make you feel warm and fuzzy.

Mudonna T. Pig -- a neon-pink porcine cheerleader nicknamed "the divine swine" and "the dutchess of pork" who has been entertaining St. Paul Saints fans for over 20 years -- was all of that and more on Saturday night.

In the second game of the Saints' doubleheader against the Rochester Red Wings, Mudonna hugged 90 people in 60 seconds, breaking the world record for hugs by a mascot in a minute. The previous record of 89 was set by a red M&M in Shanghai, China, in June 2019, which broke a record of 85 set by Virginia Tech's HokieBird in 2015.

After Mudonna tried and failed to break this record last year -- hugging a mere 84 fans in the allotted time -- the Twins' Triple-A affiliate made serious adjustments for the 2024 attempt.

“We had a huge strategy this year, knowing what we knew," said Saints vice president and assistant GM Sierra Bailey. "Last year, we had anybody get in line if they wanted to do it, but people had stuff in their arms, so they’d take an extra second, or if little, little kids were there, Mudonna had to bend over, and that takes extra time.”

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Minor League mascots, of course, are not generally conditioned to snub small children who are seeking hugs, but it had to be done for the sake of the record. Mudonna's helpers organized a line made up exclusively of elite-speed huggers, and still locked in embrace No. 90 with barely a half second on the clock. The team is preparing to submit the necessary documentation to the notaries at Guinness World Records.

When the title was secured, Mudonna was thrilled to hug any remaining fans at any tempo and for any duration they pleased.

"We told people who didn't make the line, 'You can absolutely hug the mascot, just not at this moment,'" Bailey said.

All told, the team estimates that the big pig hugged about 200 people over the course of the game.

On the field, things did not go quite so well for St. Paul. The Nationals-affiliated Red Wings swept the twin bill, 3-2 and 8-7.

The hugging sesh made for the first time Mudonna has been involved in a world record, but this was not the Saints' first rodeo in that realm. In 2016, the club -- then independent -- posted marks for most people squatting for 60 seconds at once, and for the biggest pillow fight.

"We gave 8,000 pillows to fans and had them go wild," Bailey said.

That record has since been eclipsed. The team has also put together an 8,000-person food fight and a game of Twister involving 56,000 thousand dots painted on the outfield grass.