Royals honoring Soria with T-shirt night at the stadium
By JEFFREY FLANAGAN
The Kansas City Star
S o, the Royals are having their
ownJoakim Soria T-shirt night at Kauffman Stadium on Aug. 26.
Hmmm. This wouldn’t be in response to the popular “Mexicutioner” T-shirt that WHB began pumping out earlier this summer, would it?
“Our T-shirt promotions have been a popular promotion for us going back multiple years,” said Royals vice president of sales and marketing Mark Tilson. “It happens that this is a great time to recognize Joakim Soria for his contributions, particularly making the All-Star team.”
So, this promotion has nothing to do with the “Mexicutioner” T-shirts?
“We certainly recognize that the nickname ‘Mexicutioner’ is out there,” Tilson said. “But from what I understand, WHB can’t and hasn’t taken ownership of that nickname.
The nickname “Mexicutioner” is believed to have its origin from the baseball Web Site www.ranyontheroyals.com, which earlier this summer solicited readers to come up with a list of potential nicknames for Soria. But it has also been rumored that the “Mexicutioner” nickname actually began surfacing in December 2006 after Soria pitched a perfect game in the Mexican Pacific League.
The Royals’ Soria T-shirt, interestingly, won’t be a replica jersey but instead will have an image of Soria on it, Tilson said. (The “Mexicutioner” T-shirts also are not jerseys but have an image of Soria on them.)
“These will be more of a fashion T-shirt than a baseball jersey,” Tilson said.
In any event, WHB apparently isn’t getting huffy over the Soria T-shirt promotion.
“Nah, we don’t have any problem with it,” WHB’s Kevin Kietzman said. “I can’t think of a single player more deserving.”
Nickname search
On the Royals’ Web site, the team is taking a poll to come up with a Joakim Soria nickname. (Wait a minute, doesn’t he already have one?)
Anyway, the poll urges fans that “we want YOU to decide the nickname for Royals pitcher Joakim Soria!”
Oh, in other words, not some other Web site or radio station.
The Royals’ poll at least offers Soria’s existing nickname, “The Mexicutioner,” as one of the options.
Here are the poll’s other nickname suggestions (you better sit down for these): El Lobo (The Wolf), El Castigador (The Punisher) and The Terminator.
Olympics ratings
Ratings for the Olympics have been a bonanza locally for NBC affiliate KSHB (Channel 41). The Olympics garnered nine of the top 10 Nielsen rating spots for Kansas City sports last week.
“We were very pleased,” said KSHB general manager Craig Allison. “They were about in line with our expectations.”
@ Go to
KansasCity.com to read more from Jeffrey Flanagan in his blog “Over the Top”
To reach Jeffrey Flanagan call 816-234-4492 and leave a message or send e-mail to jflanagan@kcstar.com
