Saturday, March 30, 2013

Ted Williams Popsicle Night

I’m not so sure that honoring the man known as “The Splendid Splinter” for his batting exploits on the baseball field with Popsicles is such a great idea, but apparently, the Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings of Arizona thought it was a cool idea. The promotion was held on June 3, 2003.

So why the ice confection? In case you didn’t know, Ted Williams is still around. The baseball legend actually died in 2002, but his family had him cryogenically suspended (that’s “frozen” to you and me) in liquid nitrogen.
Consequently, he’s now in a stainless steel tank somewhere in Scottsdale, Arizona, cooling his heels. (Hey, I’ve been to Scottsdale; I didn’t know he was there.)
That’s about four hours north of the Kings’ home field – Warren Ballpark. All they wanted to do, according to team owner John Guy, was sell tickets for the brand-new professional team. He got his publicity, with lots of ESPN and Sports Illustrated coverage. His 500 Popsicles only cost him $100.
A minor league team in the Arizona-Mexico League, the Kings originally played in 1949-1950 (affiliated with the Brooklyn Dodgers), then 1955 to 1958. They were affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1958. The Copper Kings have the distinction of being the only professional team whose nine players in the starting line-up each hit a homerun in the same game.
Unfortunately, Guy and the Kings couldn’t sustain their audience. Although they ended the year with a 9-7 record (second place), the league folded.
I wonder what they did with the Popsicle sticks after the game.
I love minor league baseball team promotions.

1 comment:

Marty59 said...

I was there for the game. Interesting to say the least. As for the popsicle sticks, well, after eating the popsicles quickly, it was Arizona after all, they went under the bleachers or into the trash, but I do have the t-shirt!