WASHINGTON — Minor League Baseball promotional schedules are a beautiful melting pot of ideas both inspired and awful, all offered to the public in the name of drawing more fans to the ballpark in the dog days of summer. And while theme jerseys have been around for years, the quest to create the most innovative duds has led to an escalating arms race, culminating in the craziest season we’ve seen yet in 2015.
Although teams all over the country have gotten in on the fun, a pair of local clubs have devised some of the most memorable in this year’s crop.
While many teams have created Star Wars-themed jerseys, from the Toledo Mud Hens’ Chewbacca tops to the Durham Bulls’ R2D2 design, none were as striking as what the Potomac Nationals sported on June 14. Decked out in sky blue background with fluffy white clouds, the jerseys featured popular franchise character Lando Carlissian, who was played by Billy Dee Williams in the films.
The Lando Calrissian Jerseys are IN! The P-Nats will be wearing them this Sunday for #StarWars Day at The Pfitz! pic.twitter.com/uS8u4e4U85
— Potomac Nationals (@PNats42) June 12, 2015
“We wanted to do something where people would really take a step back and say, ‘Wow, that’s crazy,’” says P-Nats director of media relations Bryan Holland.
The design was reminiscent in a sense of what the El Paso Chihuahuas pulled off last season, using the canvas of the shirt in a different way than had been done before. But how far is too far to push the boundaries?
“There is no line until your farm director says ‘I’m not putting my guys out there,’” says Holland. “Anything short of sandwich bags will do … Our goal internally is just to keep one-upping ourselves.”
Holland says the team is already working on ideas to build upon this year’s idea for next year’s Star Wars Day. They might do well to take a page out of the Frederick Keys’ book.
After trying to decide how to commemorate a 90s night this year, the Keys ended up working with Nickelodeon to create Rugrats-themed uniforms made to look like the outfit the character Chuckie wore, including the pants.
90s Nickelodeon Night- July 31st! Players will wear Rugrats jerseys & pants @NickelodeonTV @NickBreaks @bensbiz pic.twitter.com/4DnwW8dL3u
— Frederick Keys (@FrederickKeys) July 17, 2015
“They wanted to do hats too,” says Keys director of marketing Bridget McCabe, of working with Nickelodeon, but explains that there were restrictions from Minor League Baseball. “They wanted it to look like the character. With just the jersey itself, it wouldn’t have come off as exact.”
The jersey drew attention from ESPN, FOX Sports, and the Major League Baseball blog Cut 4. That helps not only spread the word to local fans to help boost attendance, but also to raise awareness for jersey sales that benefit charities.
“I know we’ve had interest from people from Maine, New York, California,” says McCabe. “Plus, Minor League Baseball has the Golden Bobblehead awards too, so we’re always trying to outdo each other.”
The drive to push that envelope as far as possible has led to perhaps the most inventive jersey of the season, and also one of its last.
On Thursday, the Fresno Grizzlies will be celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Taco Truck Throwdown, one of Minor League Baseball’s most successful recent promotions. The Throwdown has grown from eight trucks in its first year to 18 last year, when 13,845 fans combined to consume 27,000 tacos. This year there will be 25 trucks, so the front office decided to take the promotion to another level, bringing it literally onto the playing field.
For one night only, the team will actually change its name to the Fresno Tacos, sporting specially designed taco hats and jerseys. Predominantly bright green and orange, they shouldn’t work. They should be garish and awful. And yet …
We're taking theme jerseys to another level. Get the #FresnoTacos hat right now! Buy || http://t.co/Qy59nHQiB1 #MiLB pic.twitter.com/6p6dMrCRv7
— Fresno Grizzlies (@FresnoGrizzlies) July 21, 2015
It works. Not only have the limited edition run of hats flown off the shelves at the team store, the name has been such a hit the team even briefly considered keeping the name. It was the kind of perfect marriage of a good idea that fits with the particular fan base that most teams dream of.
“It’s turned into a very Fresno cultural event to where it’s a party out there in the cantina,” says Grizzlies director of marketing Sam Hansen. “Now we wanted to merge it back onto the field.”
The fact that the origin of the taco truck can be traced back to the farms around the Fresno area lends a sense of local pride that has made the promotion a continued success, not a one-and-done-deal. Following in that vein, the jerseys were designed in-house, not contracted out to one of the approved vendors.
“One of the crucial elements for its growth was that we attached it to something culturally relevant to Fresno,” says Hansen.
Consider the gauntlet thrown. We’ll have to wait until 2016 to see what the rest of Minor League Baseball can come up with next.
