NEW YORK — If you watch Braves games, something in the dugout probably caught your eye.
After a home run, the Brave who hit it would wear an oversized hat. It made for funny moments and pictures.
The big hat was a hit with fans.
Then New Era stepped in and nixed it.
New Era is the official on-field hat sponsor of MLB, and the big hat was not a New Era cap.
“It’s tough because we had a pretty good streak going,” A.J. Minter said. “We were hitting a lot of home runs. But at the end of the day, we’re here to honor our sponsorships. We have to respect those. It’s a business, unfortunately. But we’re here to represent those guys, like they represent us.”
At the Braves Walk on April 6 – where fans greeted the Braves as they strolled through The Battery Atlanta and into Truist Park – a couple of fans threw a couple of big hats to players. One went to Minter.
It became a fun thing.
“That’s what it’s all about is trying to engage fans with the culture we’re trying to build in Atlanta,” Minter said. “Obviously, it’s a big thing now where all the teams celebrate a home run with a cool prop nowadays. It was cool to bring something that the fans started and incorporate it with our team.”
And then, one day, Braves players received the news.
“We just heard that we couldn’t do it anymore because New Era owns the rights to the hats in MLB,” Minter said. “We’re here to honor them. There wasn’t really much we could do.”
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