Youppi! was the mascot of the Montreal Expos, before the franchise moved to Washington as the Washington Nationals. He is an orange furry creature with a white face originally leased in 1979 and designed by Bonnie Erickson, formerly a designer for some of Jim Henson's Muppets characters. Youppi! was so named resembling the phrase "Yippee!" or "Hooray!" in French. Youppi! was the first mascot to be thrown out of a Major League Baseball game: on August 23, 1989, in the 11th inning, while atop the visitors' dugout, Youppi! took a running leap, landing hard and noisily on its roof, and then sneaked into a front row seat. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda complained to the umpires and Youppi! was ejected, though he later returned, confined to the home team's dugout roof. Youppi! was abandoned as a mascot after the Expos franchise moved to Washington in 2005, but was adopted by the NHL's Montreal Canadiens team on September 16, 2005, as potentially the first sports mascot to switch their allegiance from one sport to another, while remaining in the same city.