RDT's Official Power Rankings Of The 2019 Orioles Giveaways
It's officially promo season in baseball which gets me all hot and bothered. Nothing I like more than grabbing a bobblehead or jersey at a game. It's the simple things in life, people. The Orioles have had some pretty damn good promos the last few years, while this seasons isn't up to par with a few year back, it's okay. It also seems like a lot of teams are now doing theme nights instead of straight up giveaways, lots of Star Wars (NERDS), Game Of Thrones (NERDS), and nights like that. It's different. Normally I'm more worried about the product on the field, but it's going to be a rough couple of rebuilding years for them, midas whale give away some cool stuff to attract people to the park, right? I'm running down my top 10 favorite Orioles giveaways below.
10. Oriole Bird Nutcracker - Tuesday June 25th vs Padres. This is part of the "Halfway To Christmas" celebration at OPACY which I believe they started last season. They had fake snow, people dressed as Santa, and gave away the Buck Snowalter Snowglobe, this Oriole Bird Nutcracker isn't a bad idea at all.
9. Orioles Floppy Hat - Friday June 28th vs Indians. Classic, just a classic giveaway. Hard to beat a floppy hat. You'll see a million of these throughout Ocean City and any bar on the water in Baltimore. This is a must give out every year. It is getting a bit stale, but I get the draw behind it.
8. Margaritaville Night - June 11th vs Blue Jays. The first theme night on our list sounds like a good one. You have to pay for a special ticket where you get a seat, a spot at this pregame party, as well as a "It's 7:05 Somewhere" T-Shirt. Good shirt idea, I like that. Couple that with margaritas and you have my attention. We're in business here, folks.
7. Bark At The Park - Wednesday May 29th vs Tigers, Tuesday September 10th vs Dodgers. Now we're talking, hard to beat Bark At The Park. What's better than dogs and baseball on a summer night? I know it POURED last year during one of the Bark At The Parks, but hopefully that doesn't happen this year. Will for sure be bringing my dog out there. I just wonder where all the dogs go the bathroom? My dog doesn't shit on concrete, grass only for this guy.
6. Birdland Hawaiian Shirt - Saturday July 13th vs Rays. This is another one that has come on strong recently. The last few installments can still be seen on eBay selling for close to $100. They released a little picture of this seasons, but you can't really see anything, looks like a palm tree, Orioles logo on an Orange shirt and thats about it. Im sure it'll be a big hit and every kid at One Star will have this one that night.
5. T shirt Giveaways - Various nights. Nothing beats a t shirt giveaway. They're always super soft, great to wear while lounging around, and never have to worry about getting dirty. I like that they are doing a shirt to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the "Why Not?" team, fitting because I've dubbed this team the "Sure, Why Not?" team. They have a bunch of these scheduled so I'm sure we'll get player t shirts and other Orioles themed ones. Hard to beat these.
4. Orioles Maryland Flag Replica Jersey - Saturday June 29th vs Indians. These have gotten very popular in the last few seasons for a few reasons. #1 is because Maryland has the best state flag out there. 75% of readers don't know what their state flag looks like, so don't shame us Marylanders for loving ours. Suck it. I'm hoping for an Orange or Grey one since they've already done black and white.
3. Game Of Thrones Bobblehead - Tuesday, May 21st vs Yankees. This is another package deal where you have to buy a special ticket for a pregame party and you get the seat + unlimited food and drinks + bobblehead. I hate Game Of Thrones, I mean I hate it so much. But you can bet your ass I'll be there to get this bobblehead. I went last year with the wife and the food and all you can drink was for sure worth it. Dragons are dumb though. I'm guessing it will be a Cedric Mullins climbing some wall as the bobble though, that would be pretty cool.
2. Trey Mancini bobblehead - Saturday May 4th vs Rays. Another theme night for the May the 4th be with you nerd stuff. Like GOT, I never got into Star Wars. Could for sure do without it. But again, I need this bobblehead. IDK what that little circle thing is, but it looks dope. Sign me up. Nice that they finally gave Trey some facial hair on the bobble too.
1. Brooks Robinson Bobblehead - Tuesday July 16th vs Nationals. Only right that they honor Brooks with a bobblehead this season. I love that it's against the Nationals too, that just means everyone in attendance that night will have been an Orioles fan at some point in their life. You'll have grown men in Nats gear trying to get this bobblehead because they grew up rooting for Brooks. But in all seriousness this will be the biggest giveaway of the year. Lines will be insanely long and I'm sure the bobbleheads will go for a ton on eBay. I love that they're paying respect to the best defensive third baseman ever, good on you, Os.
Just missing the list are all of the other promos. The movie nights don't do anything for me. The movies they're doing this year are "Field Of Dreams" and "A League Of Their Own" with a "No Crying In Baseball Shirt", well if you're an Orioles fan this season there will be crying. That is just a joke sitting on a tee for you. The standard play catch with your dad on the field and fedora for Fathers Day, bracelet for Mothers day are staples so no real complaints about that. Kids run the bases every Sunday after the game, a neat thing for the youngsters. A nice Sherpa blanket will be given out, not sure its as nice as the one we sell in our store though. During the summer we get the Friday Fireworks and Music, thats okay. It's always some country singer who no one knows, so thats not really for me. Crab hat night, meh. Yoga at the Yard and LGBT Pride Night are two other events that are coming back, no complaints about those. The Orioles Tote Bags are actually pretty nice, got a handful of those and they're pretty useful around the house. They have a dancing hula bird which is okay I guess, as well as O'stoberfest. I'm sure you'll get a nice O's stein or something with that.
The big thing chapping everyones ass is the increase in price for students tickets. Back in my day I could get an upper deck left field ticket for $5. I would split a bottle of Burnett's with a friend, and zombie walk my way into the game for cheap. Don't get me wrong, $10 for an upper left field ticket isn't bad, but come on, put it back at $5. No one is going to watch the game if they're buying those tickets.
Overall I think it's underwhelming, but thats just me. I can see people making cases that they're excited for the concerts, movie nights, and the other theme nights. As long as I get my bobbleheads, I'm fine.
Bonus Giveaway - The AL East, they'll give that away by like June. Beat you all to the joke so you can't say it.