The Staten Island Yankees, a Minor League affiliate of the New York Yankees, are mocking the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal in spectacular fashion. When the Tri-City ValleyCats, an Astros farm team, come to town on Sept. 3, the first 500 fans will receive a promotional mini trash can!
https://twitter.com/SIYanks/status/1217180321973776385
For non-baseball fans who haven’t been paying attention to the news, here’s why this is such a brutal troll-job:
The Houston Astros’ 2017 World Series victory was tarnished when it came out that the team was using a variety of methods to steal signals and warn batters before the pitch came in. One of the main ways the team did this was having cameras around their ballpark, with a guy in the clubhouse watching on a monitor. When certain signals came in, they would warn batters by banging on a trash can.
Hence, the Yankees’ promotional trash cans.
As you can tell by now, this is an epic burn. While the two teams might be low down on the professional baseball pyramid, this is a Big League burn. The Staten Island Yankees are the, well, New York Yankees of trolling right now.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has already made it clear that any pitchers in the majors who throw at batters will receive harsher punishment this year (and he swears it has nothing to do with the Astros cheating scandal coming to light), but he didn’t say anything about teams rubbing it in with fan giveaways.
Might we suggest:
- Jerseys with extra buttons if you’re “shy,” like Jose Altuve (who has been accused of concealing an electrical device under his jersey)
- Commemorative photo night where an inconspicuously placed camera in the outfield takes your picture
- Instead of “Kids Run the Bases Night,” you could have “Kids Tour the Space Between the Dugout and the Clubhouse Night”
The ideas are endless. And now, we will recite what is practically our catchphrase at this point:
Minor League Baseball is the center of sports marketing creativity. MLB, take notes. The Short-Season Single-A team just hit a grand slam (without needing some lowly staff member to bang on a trash can like it’s STOMP Out Loud).
