In the early 1900s, it was not unusual for Major League Baseball teams to casually retain one or more urchins to act as mascots or batboys.

[1] On July 4, 1908, the Detroit Free Press reported that the Tigers had begun traveling with a new mascot, "Rastus," who had been "picked up by [Germany] Schaefer" during the team's recent road trip to Chicago.

[7] Harrison was dismissed as the Tigers' mascot near the end of the 1908 season, shortly before the Detroiters captured the American League pennant.

He said he was simply wearied of his absence from the town whose team he had helped to win three pennants, and that he had started early in order to be here on time.

[1] Unlike other Tigers players, Cobb did not rub Harrison's head for good luck, and ensured that he avoided detection while traveling in segregated trains and hotels.

[1][6] By 1916, Harrison was a 24-year-old married man working as chauffeur for Detroit construction mogul F. H. Goddard, a job he might have secured with Cobb's assistance.