[citation needed] U.S. Navy SEAL parachutist, Lou Langlais, dressed as Billy the Marlin, lost the costume's five-pound head to a gust of wind while parachuting towards (the then named) Pro Player Stadium on Opening Day of the 1997 season, April 1.

[3] The head was recovered in good shape, apart from a scratch to the neck, two months later by Victor Rowe and Mike Zinniger at the side of Florida's Turnpike.

[4] For the first ten years in the major leagues he was played by John Routh (who at the time also portrayed Sebastian the Ibis at Miami Hurricanes sporting events), until he was fired in 2003 as part of budget cuts.

[5] During Routh's tenure, Billy the Marlin regularly launched a tightly wadded T-shirt out of a pressurized air gun.

The man's companion at the game admitted that during a scramble for a T-shirt that landed in the row in front of them, that another fan may have hit him with an elbow.

His opponents in the professional category were Globie (Harlem Globetrotters), Hugo (New Orleans Hornets), Rocky (Denver Nuggets), and Slider (Cleveland Indians).