A's bring back baseball-delivering rabbit for 50th anniversary in Oakland

One of the Oakland Athletics' most famous - or rather, infamous - innovations is coming back for the franchise's 50th anniversary in the East Bay.

Harvey the Rabbit, a mechanical Leporidae who once emerged from a hole in the ground with fresh baseballs during the team's early days in Oakland, will return to active duty this year at the Oakland Coliseum.

Harvey 2.0 will still deliver baseballs to umpires before the first pitch. But instead of emerging from below the playing field, he's now a robotic rabbit operating on a scooter, and he won't be on the field once the games begin, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The original Harvey was the brainchild of maverick former A's owner Charlie Finley in the early 1960s, when the team still played in Kansas City. Harvey would pop out of the ground behind home plate - first at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium, then later at the Coliseum - with a basket of fresh baseballs for umpires. He'd even show up in the middle of an inning if required.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original Harvey became a nuisance that often broke down, and the A's got rid of him after a player took his frustrations out on the machine with a bat. Athletics president Dave Kaval told Slusser that Finley buried that Harvey beneath the Coliseum, in an area now occupied by outfield seating.

The new Harvey was designed by a robotics company, Kaval explained, and Finley's niece Nancy was consulted to help replicate the rabbit's original design.

Since he'll now only deliver baseballs before first pitch, the A's will now have Harvey serve as a de facto mascot during home games, roaming the Coliseum on his brand-new cart.

"He can get up there in speed, no joke," Kaval said. "This thing has some power to it. As long as it doesn't run out of batteries."