Ranking 2013 Royals Promotions

On January 2 the Kansas City Royals started unveiling their 2013 promotional schedule. Each promotion holds value depending on what you like but some will draw a bigger crowd than others. The say something like “here’s how I’d rank them based on the attractiveness of the promotional item and the quality of the matchup. Here are my rankings;

10) Sluggerrr Piggy Bank/Sunday, July 21 v. Detroit – Sure this is a great give away for the kids on what will probably be a warm Sunday afternoon at the K. The Tigers are a good reason to attend but I think this is probably a better promo for those with kids based on the age.

9) Stars & Stripes Royals Hat/Wednesday, July 3 v. Cleveland – I imagine since it’s the day before the Fourth of July there will also be fireworks but I feel this is a recycled promotion. This is against another divisional foe which does help but again I feel like they’ve done this give away before.

8) Cooler/Sunday, May 5 v. Chicago – Here is your yearly Royals cooler giveaway and it’s tied with the “Viva Los Royals” event. I like both ideas but last year against the White Sox the team gave away a chip plate for this theme night.

7) Royals Blanket/Saturday, September 21 v. Texas – It’s the end of the season and Fan Appreciation Night so come collect your annual fleece blanket. Good chance you’ll see a team in playoff contention which depending on how the weather is might be handy against a good team.

6) Green T-Shirt/Tuesday, September 17 v. Cleveland – Hey another giveaway with the Tribe in town! Ok, sarcasm aside this isn’t a bad looking shirt and you can wear it when St. Patrick’s Day actually arrives and not just on this day marking the halfway point.

5) Charlie-O T-Shirt/Saturday, July 6 v. Oakland – Last season when these two teams played the Royals gave out KC A’s hats. This year they’ll honor the Kansas City Athletics mascot a mule named after the team’s then owner Charlie Finley. This rates high paying respect to history.

4) Hot Dog Derby Bobblehead Series/Saturday May 25 (Los Angeles), June 22 (Chicago), July 20 (Detroit) – If you want all ketchup, mustard and relish in bobblehead form then you’ll need to see the Angels, White Sox and Tigers this summer. Other teams have done this and I give KC credit for doing something different with their bobbleheads here.

3) Monarchs Vintage T-Shirt/Saturday August 24 v. Washington – A second Saturday night t-shirt giveaway but why so high on my list? Because it’s a sharp-looking shirt and will probably be a salute to the Negros Leagues. Oh and the Expos/Nationals haven’t been to the K since 2004.

2) Billy Butler Bobblehead/Saturday May 4 v. Chicago – Hey another giveaway against the ChiSox but a Country Breakfast promotion? This will definitely be one of the most attended games of the season plus it’s still early in the year when optimism will be high as long as the team doesn’t start out like they started 2012.

1) Powder Blue Retro Jersey/Saturday June 8 v. Houston – This is a sharp-looking jersey which falls in line with previous season’s promotions. This will also be against “new” American League West foe the Houston Astros. More importantly it’s my birthday (which I swear has nothing to with this ranking).