The Los Angeles Dodgers stand as a franchise that has given us many legends. That includes managerial great Tommy Lasorda, whom the organization wishes to commend this season through a bobblehead promotion. However, instead of preparing to delight fans with the giveaway, the team is prepping for a legal battle with the company tasked with providing the goods, arguing that its business partner has not honored their agreement.
Lasorda—the oldest living member of the Hall of Fame, which he joined in 1997—did not achieve much as a player, but his turn as the Dodgers’ manager resulted in eight National League West division titles, four pennants and two World Series championships. Those are certainly numbers that are worthy of commendation, especially since his 1988 team’s World Series victory is the most recent time that his long-time employer captured the Fall Classic.
For the bobblehead giveaway, the Dodgers had been working with a promotions company called Plan P2 Promotions, but the team claims the company failed to deliver the 42,000 bobbleheads it ordered. Plan P2’s web presence is light, with no readily apparent website. A Google search for its name mainly returns Amazon listings for a line of President Donald Trump bobbleheads, items that it has had to defend against supposed misuse by a sports marketing firm. No stranger to litigation, then, Plan P2 now finds itself on the opposite side of the plaintiff/defendant spectrum, as it must now fend off claims that it has neglected to send along the Lasorda nods.
The Dodgers have filed a $175,000 lawsuit over 42,000 missing Tommy Lasorda bobbleheads.
We aren't kidding ➡️ https://t.co/WPlx0sjJhj pic.twitter.com/TXpgXufrDa
— Yahoo Sports MLB (@MLByahoosports) April 4, 2019
As 12UP notes, Plan P2 Promotions and the Dodgers have had successful bobblehead collaborations in the recent past, making the latter’s $175,000 lawsuit even more interesting. In an account of the matter, Yahoo Sports notes that “It’s not specified if Plan P2 Promotions is responsible for producing each bobblehead,” but regardless of that, the company does have the duty to send the items to the Dodgers, who hold that nothing has come their way, hence the legal action. Since the two have already done business together, it could strike one as odd that one party has allegedly just stopped deciding to honor its contract, although the Yahoo account and others do not include comments from Plan P2 Promotions so as to uncover the supposed reasoning for any oversight, and nothing touches upon for how long the Dodgers have been requesting the Lasorda giveaway before issuing the lawsuit.
One wonders if the sides could reach an amicable conclusion if Plan P2 Promotions were suddenly able to send along the good. That is not to cave to bias by supposing that the Dodgers truly have not received the product. It is simply rooted in news accounts’ mentions that the Dodgers have no proof of the products’ arrival on hand. Like the MLB season itself, this case is rather young, so it will be interesting to see if Lasorda can receive the organization’s intended way of thanking him for bleeding Dodger Blue or if it will have to consider another means to laud his longevity.
