However, the Boston Globe reported that Red Sox President Sam Kennedy chose to scrap the promotion after seeing the dolls.
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Red Sox president Sam Kennedy told The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham the Ortiz bobblehead, which was a tribute to the speech Ortiz gave on the field following the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, was “an inaccurate portrayal” of the slugger.
It is one of five bobblehead giveaways planned this year, to mark Papi’s last year before retirement, according to the Daily News.
“I personally thought it seemed to be an offensive portrayal of him and racially insensitive”, Kennedy noted.
Kennedy added that he didn’t want to take a chance and offend a single fan by letting the bobblehead giveaway go on as planned.
The bobblehead was the team’s fifth promotional event honoring their beloved designated hitter.
“My gut feeling was if I have that negative reaction then our fans may as well”, he said. “We apologize to everyone tonight and will make it up to fans”. Better luck next time, Red Sox.
Instead, the Red Sox plan to order newly designed Ortiz bobbleheads and give them to fans who have a ticket to Tuesday’s game.
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The Red Sox cancelled Big Papi’s bobblehead night hours before Tuesday’s 7:10 p.m. game after the figurines didn’t look how the team expected them to.
