The Violent, Big League ‘The Walking Dead’ Promotion

Yesterday, we reported that a U.K. retail outlet pulled its “The Walking Dead”-themed T-shirts after some customers took offense to the message’s racist origin. The focus of the shirt was a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, which one character had been known to yield on the show. And, it turns out, this T-shirt wasn’t the only spiky bat-related “The Walking Dead” promotion. The other one is much more … practical and hands-on.

The show gave prominent MLB sluggers, like Yasiel Puig and Bryce Harper, a “Walking Dead” crate with a barbed wire bat inside.

And they say baseball is boring.

Harper, the Washington Nationals’ big-hitting outfielder, even trotted out to the on-deck circle with his. No word on whether or not he used it in a game, but you have to imagine the sweet spot is a little smaller when wrapped in barbed wire, right?

Thanks to USA Today, we got a glimpse of some of these players unboxing and playing with their creative, albeit scary, promotional product.

(Editor’s note, we would pay so much to see a heavy hitter like Frank Thomas or Mark McGwire come to the plate with a barbed wire bat.)

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