Major League Baseball teams love their commemorative patches. By pretending to honor something meaningful, teams create marketing campaigns during which obsessed suckers collectors will buy every new hat or t-shirt with a patch.
Trust me; I’m one of those collectors. I have eight different Yankee hats all with different patches (World Series: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003; 100th Anniversary Season, Post-9/11 U.S. Flag).
Well, with history inevitably heading our way in 2008, the Yankees’ uniforms – but not their hats – will be adorned with patches. The patch shown on the left in the image above will commemorate the rich history and final season of Yankee Stadium. The team will wear that patch on their left sleeves.
The patch on the right will adorn the right arm of the Yankee uniforms from the start of All Star balloting in late April through the All Star Game in July. You can bet that the All Star Game will bring with it a whole slew of merchandising opportunities as well. In fact, you can already buy some All Star Game merchandise, and it’s still just 2007.
So keep those wallets ready. It’s marketing time around the Bombers.
Patches and uniform information courtesy of the Something Awful forums. For a larger view, click here or anywhere on the image above.