Blue Wahoos Hawaiian Shirt Giveaway Becomes Must-Have Item

Carrie and Brent Burns were among the first in a massive line, arriving nearly an hour before stadium gates opened Friday.

They knew the Blue Wahoos’ Hawaiian shirt giveaway promotion was a must-have item.

The design lived up to their hopes.

“This is my favorite giveaway so far,” Brent Burns said. “I get to wear a sport shirt on Fridays where I work, so this will be my Friday workshirt now.”

While the Blue Wahoos game against the Mississippi Braves was postponed Friday night, due to an unexpected cloudburst above Blue Wahoos Stadium during the teams’ batting practice, and the field unable to sufficiently dry in time, the shirts on their backs were a hit with fans.

“I love it!” said Carrie Burns. “This is really nice. We are really thankful.”

Game sponsor Landshark Lager provided the button-down shirts, distributed in men’s XL sizes to the first 1,000 fans ages 21-up. The age requirement was due to Landshark being an alcoholic beverage company.

The shirts were gone in 11 minutes after fans began streaming through the main gate at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

Of the Blue Wahoos’ varied promotions and giveaway items in past seasons, this one rivaled the Blue Wahoos’ “Beach Towel” which will be distributed in September for the season’s final homestand.

“I think the beach towel is a staple now, but this generated that same level of excitement,” said Anna Striano, the Blue Wahoos merchandise and community relations manager. “I think it would be fun if we have a partnership with Landshark to do one of these every year.”

Striano designed the shirt, based upon elements in prototypes she received from the manufacture. Her quest was to make the shirt a conversation piece, which was accomplished in a blue-fuchsia-white floral design with logos.

The idea was formed after team president Jonathan Griffith attended a Tampa Bay Rays game a year ago and picked up a Hawaiian style shirt.

“I wanted it to be bright and in-your-face,” she said, laughing. “I wanted it to be obnoxious in a good way… something that was bright and colorful and starts a conversation.

“If you are wearing this shirt out in public, somebody is probably going to stop you. I think we have three different logos, so there is a lot going on.”

The promotion was part of the Blue Wahoos’ lineup of “Giveaway Fridays’ with different items for each homestand Friday game.

The Burns’ couple, along with a friend, are frequent ticket-buyers to Blue Wahoos games. They learned of the item at Tuesday’s game. They knew they had to arrive early.

When they got to the ballpark is when the rain hit. They were luckily under the awning above the stadium box office windows.

“We stayed dry the entire time,” Brent Burns said.

The field, however, was not dry and safe enough for the game umpires and both teams’ managers to deem fit for play, so the game was postponed until Saturday.

As for the shirts, Striano wishes she could get more or some with a different design. But merchandise orders have been a tall order all season due to national supplies of every kind of item.

“It’s tough right now to get any new merchandise,” she said. “It would be great if we could. In a perfect world I would have some that are similar right now.”