Have you ever been to a promotional giveaway or tribute day in a Minor League game? If you have, you probably remeber it because those are some of the most memorable baseball games that a fan can attend. Well the promotions that are about to be mentioned here are not only memorable, they are from major league teams.
Before we dive into the specific promotions, there was a ticket deal offered by the Kansas City Royals that I had to share. This season if you buy two 81-game season ticket packs in the upper deck, you get an additional two seats for the entire season for free. So 4 seats for the season for the price of 2. Thats a team that has attendance issues.
Not leaving Kansas is our first memorable promotion that will take place on April 12 when Minnesota comes to down. That night, the Royals will be bringing back their powder blue jerseys (I still don't know why). To celebrate the return of powder blue, the first 20,000 fans will be receiving Billy Butler Replica Jerseys, that look pretty nice.
On that same day, in Seattle, the Mariners will be celebrating JJ Putz's facial hair. The first 20,000 fans will be receiving a patch to stick on their chin. You might remeber a similar promotion in the 2006 NLCS when the Cards gave their fans the Spezio look. The difference here is that the JJ Putz soul patch as they call it, will be on a picture of his face, which really sends this promotion over the top.
In Detroit on April 15th, the Tigers will be celebrating Justin Verlander's no-hitter by giving out 10,000 copies of his no-hitter performance on DVD. This really impressed me because usually DVD sales are a way for a team to make more money, and they sharing a great moment in Tiger history with the fans, which is really good for baseball.
On the 26th, Tampa Bay will be giving out Cow Bells to the first 10,000 fans wearing Rays gear, meaning they will have bells left over. Anyway, if you have watched a game at TB on TV, you know that sound travels very well in that dome and the prospect of 10,000 cowbells is scary, that could literally bring down the house. The game will be against Boston.
Finally, on April 27th, the Brewers have selected Corey Hart and Richie Weeks to fight chewing tobacco. The two will be featured in a comic book that will be given out to children 16 and under as they and the “rest of the B-squad” (quote from their website) fight the tobacco monster.
When baseball and creativity get together, the result is wonderful.
