The Yankees were giving away Mariano Rivera bobbleheads to the first 18,000 fans through the gates at Yankee Stadium last night. Only problem: they didn’t have the bobbleheads. The truck delivering them broke down in New Jersey. The Yankees held the gates closed late but, when it became obvious that the bobbleheads weren’t going to arrive in time, they opened the gates, bobblehead-free. Vouchers were given out instead.
You can imagine how that went over at Yankee Stadium.
The merch arrived midway through the game and the team made an announcement that people with vouchers could line up to get their bobbleheads. The lines stretched down the concourses and, according to the Daily News, it took people several innings on line to get what they came for. Click through to the Daily News for your requisite angry New Yorker quotes.
A couple of thoughts:
1. Why did the Yankees limit the bobblehead giveaways to the first 18,000? I never get that. Is the idea to incentivize people to get to the ballpark early so that they buy more beer and nachos? Would it really cost the team that much more to make sure everyone who buys a ticket can get one? Imagine how much less chaos it would have caused if the Yankees just handed them out when people left the ballpark, the way teams do with free tickets for ice cream and pizza and stuff; and
2. Chaos aside, given how poorly the Yankees played last night, one would think that standing on line in the concourse waiting for a bobblehead would be preferable to the game, but maybe that’s just me.
Anyway: heckuva job, Yankees.