The Boston Red Sox are set to give away Kiké Hernández bobbleheads on Wednesday night, but there’s a catch.
Hernández got traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers two weeks ago, which makes this a very unusual bobblehead giveaway for Boston fans.
The Red Sox reportedly still wanted to keep the World Baseball Classic-inspired Hernández bobblehead giveaway on the schedule even though he got traded to the Dodgers. The reasoning behind it is actually pretty cool.
MassLive spoke to Red Sox chief marketing officer Adam Grossman to learn more about the Hernández bobblehead decision, partly involving a WBC-based fan vote that named Hernández one of the Boston bobblehead picks.
It also had to do with giving Red Sox fans the chance to own a collector’s bobblehead.
Chiefly, Grossman explained, the Red Sox thought the right thing to do was to go ahead with the giveaway as scheduled in an effort to not deprive fans of a collector’s item. The one caveat? Making sure Hernández, who now plays thousands of miles away after a rocky final season in Boston, gave the promotion his blessing.
“We touched base with him after he was traded to tell him we’ve got this coming up,” Grossman said. “We were inclined to give it away and continue to go through with it as long as he was comfortable with it. He was comfortable.
“For his time here, he had a close relationship with fans. I think fans felt similarly. So we felt like, for all those reasons, why not give it out to the fans?”
Hernández also left a really cool message for Red Sox fans on the bobblehead box, thanking them for their support.
On the side of these tonight: https://t.co/6gwMrqdiUA pic.twitter.com/fOUPhCrJxt
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) August 9, 2023
While Red Sox fans might not get to cheer Hernández on the field, they’ll get to commemorate his time with the team with a really cool memento.