Over the last few years the garden gnome has become a popular giveaway at MLB stadiums. This season alone 17 gnomes have been or will be given away.
The Angels had Albert Pujols, Jered Weaver and Mike Trout gnome giveaways; the Athletics handed out Coco Crisp gnomes and the Rockies will honor retired first baseman Todd Helton with his own bobblehead gnome next week, but it was Jayson’s Werth’s gnome that snarled D.C. mass transit and then the supply ran out 50 minutes before the 7:05 p.m. start time, leaving many fans without the coveted giveaway.
At about 2:10 p.m. Aug. 5, fans began lining up at at Nationals Park’s gates, which were set to open at 4:30 p.m., according to the Washington Post. The first 25,000 fans would get their own Werth garden gnome, but about 15,000 fans did not receive the coveted giveaway prior to the Washington Nationals 6-1 loss to the New York Mets, according to Deadspin. The sold out game drew more then 40,000 people to the weekday night game—more than 10,000 more than it did for the Sunday afternoon game versus the Philadelphia Phillies.
Some of those who got to the ballpark early to receive the gnome have placed it on ebay. Prices ranged from $40 to $199 as of press time.
