Baseball season will be underway next week, which, all real sports aside, means three things.
The 9 weirdest baseball promo giveaways of all time
We asked, you responded
Weird ballpark food, weird mascots and weird giveaways.
We asked our MLB fan communities for the wackiest freebie they’ve ever received at a game -- after all, there are a lot of them and teams have to find some way to fill the seats.
Here are the best of the best:
1. Zim Bear
From SB Nation user asb06c: The Tampa Bay Rays gave away the late "Don Zimmer as a cuddly lil bear."
The best way to be immortalized is definitely as a stuffed bear cub.
2. Joe Mauer Sideburn Day
From Wide Right & Natty Lite contributor Matt Nelson:
The Minnesota Twins may have limited this promo to a day, but fans can embarrass their children forever with traumatizing photos like this one.
3. Handy Reminder
Reader Ryancoss32 knew this contribution wasn’t from a major league team, but it had to be shared anyway:
I know what you’re thinking, and yes, it’s true. “For Father’s Day last year, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans gave out a Bobble-Finger to raise awareness for prostate cancer,” Ryancoss32 said. How thoughtful.
4. The Sodfather
Reader Joewho112 got a Roger Bossard groundskeeper bobblehead from a Chicago White Sox game.
Give credit where credit is due.
5. Twins x2
Twinkie Town contributor myjah alerted me to this double bobblehead of Kent Hrbek and Ron Gant.
The Twins are giving themselves a bit of a cheeky pat on the back with this commemoration to the controversial play when Hrbek lifted Gant’s leg off the base for an out.
6. Love Boat
Another minor league team, the St. Paul Saints, gave away this small ship, according again to myjah.
The better story, though, comes from another night.
“I unfortunately could not find a picture of the Randy Moss Hood Ornament, also given away by the Saints, in commemoration of the time [former Vikings wide receiver] Randy Moss tried to run over a Minneapolis Police Officer,” she wrote. “AKA one of the greatest moments of all time.” Read more about the incident here.
7. Bobblebelly
NCAA football contributor Alex Kirshner, also a Pirates fan, remembers this interesting take on the Pittsburgh Pirate Parrot.
“[It’s] exactly what it sounds like,” Kirshner said. “You’d shake this doll, and it would hump the air in whichever direction you wanted.”
8. Player to be Named Later
Bleed Cubbie Blue editor Al Yellon found this "Player to be named Later" bobblehead from the Iowa Cubs.
Minor league teams have more fun.
9. Marlins Bar Mitzvah
The Florida Marlins take the cake. Not a single giveaway, but in 1996, they helped their young fan Dan Sharfin host the coolest bar mitzvah on the block.
Posting this knowing full well how nerdy it is. My Bar Mitzvah picture. #flashbackmarlins pic.twitter.com/tFZSJftwHA
— Dan Sharfin (@VoiceOverDan) May 16, 2015
His family had been season ticket holders for years, and the team just gave them all their old leftover promos and basically said “have at it.”
It turned out well for the attendees.
“All I remember is that giving mini bats to a bunch of riled up 13-year-olds was not a good decision,” Sharfin said.
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