Erie, Pennsylvania (AP) – In addition to being a fan, John Oliver had a certain affinity for the baseball of the minor leagues.
Saturday evening, the actor and host of “Last Week Tonight” of HBO saw his latest crazy creation embarking on the world while the Mammoths of Erie Moon made their debut in front of a record crowd of 7,070 at UPMC Park.
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“We send our child to fur in the world and you are the guardian. Now be careful with our child,” said Oliver a few hours before Mammoths Moon take the ground against the Chesapeake Oyster sensors.
Oliver highlighted the baseball promotions of minor leagues and alternative nicknames during “last week this evening” on May 5.
Forty-seven teams sent throws, including the Erie Seawolves, the Double-A of the Detroit Tigers subsidiary.
The president of the Érié, Greg Coleman, sent a list of 11 reasons for which they were the perfect candidate, in particular: “The Seawolves play baseball in nowhere near the sea.”
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“Having so many teams expressing your interest was really edifying. I think it validates the fact that we thought there was something special in minor leagues baseball. We thought it would be a group of people who would respond to the ridiculous idea that we had,” said Oliver.
Erie was announced as the winner on May 19. After six weeks of search for Oliver and its staff, the Mammoths Moon were released on June 29. This included the mascot called Fuzz, a purple woolly mammoth carrying a space helmet.
“Erie has stood out as being, you know, only eccentric. And I say that as a compliment and an insult, which is the greatest compliment there is,” said Oliver. “There was something in the moon mammoth that spoke to us to be particularly strange.
The fact that this has gathered in less than three months is a minor miracle. It is generally 16 months to a team to have an alternative identity approved, then take the ground.
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“I thought we had a good luck when I sent it. And then when we were selected, it was a bit surreal,” said Coleman. “And since then, working with the” Last Week Tonight “team, they have been wonderful and focused on details.”
The name of the Moon mammoths was inspired by George Moon, who found the bone of a prehistoric mammoth during scuba diving in 1991. The remains were hosted at the Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg.
Moon has become a regional celebrity since the announcement of the brand change. He was in the match and caught the first Oliver ceremony throw.
“It’s fun. I appreciate it,” said Moon. “From all these years to today, I would never have thought that something would have been possible. The newspaper did something to its 30th anniversary (in 2021). Apart from that, I haven’t heard much saying much.”
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Coleman said that since Mammoths Moon had been unveiled, the team was equivalent to four years of online sales in three weeks. The line of people waiting to enter the team store, which was located in the left field, extended to near marble in the hall area.
Karyn Drombosky and Sean Mizerski led Pittsburgh and carried home defenses while they were waiting to get into the team store.
“It’s just great. We are big baseball fans. We see the pirates all the time, and the minor league games are fun. There are so many nonsense,” said Drombosky. “We look at John Oliver quite regularly. We were as surprised but excited when we saw that he chose the ERIA team to take over.”
In addition to throwing the first throw, Oliver was a Batboy during a round and also led the crowd to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh round. The cap and the jersey that Oliver was wearing for the first throw goes to the temple of the reputation of baseball.
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The Moon mammoths will be back on August 19 as well as September 12 and 13. Coleman said there will be at least four mammoths Moon games next season.
“I love baseball of minor leagues. There is a particular eccentricity,” said Oliver. “It seemed to be a good adjustment with our program because the baseball of the minor leagues, as you know, is willing to try anything. This was proven by the fact that more than half of the league was willing to see invisible, renamed and trust in the hands of a group of people who are objectively unreliable.
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