You may know that Rusty was adopted as the RailCats official mascot in May of 2002. You may not know the story of Rusty's journey all over the Midwest before he found a home here in Gary. Rusty's story begins in an abandoned railcar at the Gary Metro Station where he lived at the time. One day he decided that he was going to find a permanent home with a baseball team instead of wandering from train to train for the rest of his life. After riding the SouthShore Line back and forth between Chicago and South Bend, Rusty knew he wanted to stay close to his home in Gary. However, at the time, Rusty didn't have many options locally so he expanded his investigation all over the Midwest pouncing from rail line to rail line hoping to find a place he could call home. Just when he was about to give up after a long, perilous journey, Rusty landed on his feet (as all cats do) when the Gary SouthShore RailCats were founded. Rusty was so excited to finally have a real home that he comes to every game and shares that excitement with as many fans at U. S. Steel Yard as possible.

Rascal, Rusty's little brother, was a still a baby when Rusty first joined the Gary SouthShore RailCats. It was not until after the Gary SouthShore RailCats won the Northern League Championship in 2005 that Rascal also joined the RailCats family at U. S. Steel Yard. The story begins with Rascal getting into a lot of trouble around the house bouncing off the walls, scratching every piece of clothing he could get his claws on, and basically driving his mother crazy. Rusty thought coming to baseball games would be a good outlet for Rascal's seemingly endless supply of energy, dance moves, and fun. However, Rusty was concerned his brother's shyness might be difficult to overcome. Their mother couldn’t have been happier with the idea and knew that Rascal would be purrfect despite Rusty's concern. So on April 29, 2006, the crowd at U. S. Steel Yard welcomed Rascal for the first time. He was a little shy at first but the RailCat fans greeted Rascal with loud cheers and cured his shyness. Ever since that day, Rascal has been a welcome addition to the Gary SouthShore RailCats and a fan favorite.