For all the Yankees wins Mariano Rivera has nailed down, the legendary reliever was powerless to help the Bombers close the deal on bobbleheads carrying his likeness.
Rivera said he was blown away seeing footage of fans jamming three levels of Yankee Stadium concourses, just to score a his bobblehead during a horribly botched promotion Tuesday night.
If Rivera had been in charge, 18,000 fans would have received their bobbleheads with no sweat, he joked.
“If I was [in charge], it would have been done,” a chuckling Rivera said Wednesday.
The Yankees announced Wednesday anyone with tickets to Tuesday’s game can redeem them for tickets to any regular-season game next year other than Opening Day or Old Timer’s Day (more info at yankees.com).
“Although a perfect storm of circumstances beyond our control led to the delay in the distribution of last night’s promotional item, the fact remains that our fans were inconvenienced. It matters little why — only that they were,” Yankees COO Lonn Trost said in a statement. “We take [Tuesday] night’s event seriously, and to apologize to our fans and express our loyalty to them, we are inviting all ticket holders from [Tuesday] night’s game back to Yankee Stadium for a complimentary game during the 2014 regular season.”
Officials with Alexander Global Productions — the Bellevue, Wash., makers of the Mo figurines — did not return messages seeking their comments.
The Rivera bobblehead promotion went haywire on Tuesday when the dolls didn’t reach Yankee Stadium until well after 5 p.m., when stadium gates normally open for a 7 p.m. game.
As the team frantically printed 18,000 vouchers, the growing crowd was kept outside until about 6 p.m.
Rivera — seeing the commotion on TV Tuesday when the bobbleheads finally arrived — asked team officials what the problem had been, and he didn’t get a clear answer.
“I asked,” Rivera said. “There were so many things that happened that they couldn’t get it on time. It’s not that they didn’t want to get it on time, it’s just that unfortunately so many things happened: a car broke and a truck broke.”
It was even more complicated than that, as the shipment of 850 boxes from Seattle to The Bronx hit several bumps, including a train delay in Chicago and a broken down truck in New Jersey.
It resulted in 18,000 people getting vouchers and lining up, starting in the third inning, to redeem them. That led to an incredibly long lines.
“It’s amazing,” Rivera said in how long people waited. “They showed a view from the outside, and my God, there were a thousand people there. Amazing.”
Ira Mayer, editor of The Licensing Letter which tracks licensed knickknacks such as bobbleheads, said it’s not surprising fans would waste nearly an entire game waiting in line for their Rivera keepsake.
“He’s a beloved figure. How many baseball players generate that kind of passion — and with the Yankees, there’s not much to be passionate about right now,” Mayer said. “Here’s someone so humble, a really nice guy who is the best guy at his job. So yeah, I’ll stand in line for six innings for this souvenir.”
Cops at Yankee Stadium said they were just grateful angry crowds didn’t turn violent on Tuesday.
“[It was] total chaos, people were standing on line and missing the game. They were bitching, yelling and screaming,” one police source said.
Though there were no fights, many fans took their frustrations out on team employees, screaming and cursing at them as they passed out the figurines.
“If [late owner] George [Steinbrenner] was alive, this never would have happened,” another law enforcement source said.
Additional reporting by Mark Hale, David K. Li and Jamie Schram