Garden gnomes in the likenesses of MLB players, coaches and mascots "have sprouted up in stadiums across the country in recent years as a popular giveaway," according to Matt Kawahara of the SACRAMENTO BEE. The Dodgers on Aug. 14 will give out a gnome of co-owner Magic Johnson. A's Senior Dir of Marketing Troy Smith: “(Baseball players) are actually athletic, and when you make them into a gnome it turns them into something completely different, this kind of pudgy character." Kawahara noted the A's and Giants use Washington-based Bensussen Deutsch & Associates "for their gnome supply." The Giants are handing out a gnome in the likeness of manager Bruce Bochy, who said that he was "unaware of the July 31 giveaway until asked about it last week." Bochy: "It looks like, who is it, Attila? Attila the Hun? That’s who it looks like a little bit, doesn’t it?" BDA VP/Client Services Steve Avanessian said that demand for gnomes so far "has stayed rooted" in MLB, though it is "not to say we won’t see it in other sports.'” He added that he "expects teams to start looking for new ways to accessorize their gnomes" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 5/1). For the second straight season, at least a dozen MLB clubs have scheduled a garden gnome as a gameday giveaway, according to SBD research. On June 21, 15,000 Fenway Park attendees will receive a Papi Gnome in honor of DH David Ortiz, the club's first ever such hand out. The table below does not include items that were bobblehead-gnome figurines. The Rockies handed out nine of those items in '14, while the Angels hosted one such night in '11 (David Broughton, Research Director).
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SEASON
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GNOME GIVEAWAY DATES
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TEAMS
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'16
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12
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12
|
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'15
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15
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11
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|
'14
|
9
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7
|
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'13
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9
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8
|
|
'12
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4
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3
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'11
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2
|
2
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'10
|
3
|
3
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