Collecting Game-used: A crazy night at the ballpark ...

The future of Minor League Baseball is a cloudy one with this season in doubt or if not done before it ever starts, hundreds of players cut in recent weeks to pare everything down and the constant worry of the number of teams shrinking as MLB struggles with what to do amidst everything that has come with the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the creativity of MiLB and in particular its fun promotional nights can't be topped -- and both of those things got me looking for something different for my collection and for this regularly appearing department here on The Buzz. This piece presented itself with a nod to pop culture for a price that, well, can't easily be beat at the big-league level for game-used material ... so, it had to be had.

This specialty jersey you're about to learn about came directly from the Daytona Tortugas, the Class-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, and was used last season. It's a one-of-a-kind jersey as the team wore them just once last year as "the best-dressed team in baseball" donned different specialty jerseys for each of their Friday night home games last year.

You can keep reading to see the gamer and details.

The Daytona Tortugas wore "Opening Night Hangover" specialty jerseys for their second game last season. (Photo via team GM Jim Jaworski)

THE BASICS ...
Game-used Daytona Tortugas Opening Night Hangover jersey: Worn by clean-up hitter Bruce Yari on April 5, 2019 (team authenticated)
Watch it in action: Not this time.

The matchup: Florida Fire Frogs 5, Daytona Tortugas 4
The result: Yari went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts

What's Buzz-worthy: Batting behind first-rounder Jonathan India (who also went 0-for-5 in the game) the fourth-year prospect from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, wore this one as he was among the squad's members who all donned these jerseys that are a nod to movie The Hangover. These jerseys don't have numbers on the front -- or a team name -- just a take on the harnessed baby Carlos from the movie with a Daytona shell logo in the center. I paid $50 shipped for it from the team via MiLBstore.com where you can select a number of their jerseys from specialty games via noted sizes/uniform numbers for those still available. (Or you can do a mystery box if that's how you want to roll.) Other jerseys or still recently up for grabs include nods to Game of Thrones, Dumb & Dumber, Margaritaville, Fortnite, the Daytona 500, Sager Strong, Star Wars, Napoleon Dynamite, Talladega Nights, Woodstock and even Jackie Robinson Day jerseys (They play at Jackie Robinson Ballpark too.) from past seasons as well as several others. ... How did I settle on this one? Well, I did a little research to try and match up the available jersey numbers with players -- not the easiest thing to do with an always-changing MiLB roster -- and picked the lone starter that was available from that game. I grabbed a team set from last year, too, after noticing that some of the cards showed players in these specialty jerseys but none of those players' jerseys were up for grabs to be able to own an on-card game-used jersey. The team doesn't use the phrase "game-used" with its store listings -- something that probably hurts interest a tad as some buying online may not be sure -- but the letter from the GM links it to the player based on the number. (Perhaps it's a move to avoid arguments over whether a player took the field or not ... either way, used for the game and the team didn't wear these at any other point.) I've only been to a handful of MiLB games and only have one other MiLB gamer (a one-game rehab jersey for the player I collect also straight from the team) but this one is by far the coolest of them with its simple touches. I was a little surprised to see the only patch being the one for the jersey-maker, OT Sports ... but then realized that's likely a cost thing that allows the team to do its specialty gear often. A secondary logo below the right foot of Carlos (not seen when jerseys are tucked in) is for the Daytona Beach International Airport, so I suspect that's a sponsorship to help these happen, too. ... MiLB teams' sites are always worth a look for oddball game-used gems or team card sets that might be some of the rarest basic cardboard creations on the planet but there might be more bargains to be had than ever as they work through their summer without on-field action.

>> See all past Collecting Game-used stories from Buzz here

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