The Yankees are attempting to capitalize on Shohei Ohtani’s presence in The Bronx this weekend, to the point where they’re even selling New Era hats that contain both Ohtani’s No. 17 and Aaron Judge’s No. 99 as the pair of stars meet in the lone Yankees-Dodgers series of 2024.
That cap, which was shared by MLB in a post on X, has Judge’s number printed across the right side of the front, while Ohtani’s 17 sits on the left.
It wasn’t the only merchandise addition for the three-game set this weekend, either, as the Yankees were also selling Ohtani jerseys, joint bobbleheads containing both Ohtani and Judge — and even a shirt that read “Home Run Battle in the Bronx.”
The bobblehead, according to ESPN, will set you back about $150.
And in response to a question posted in the MLB post on social media — “would you wear one of these?” — many users who replied seemed to agree that they would not, in fact, wear one.
“Who were these made for,” one user asked, with a face with tears of joy emoji.
“What the hell is this trash can garbage?” another user wrote.
Still, it marked an unusual twist at the Yankee Stadium stores ahead of the series opener, with Ohtani hitting second and serving as the designated hitter — alongside a lineup that also includes Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman — against Yankees starter Cody Poteet.
He grounded out to second in his first at-bat after getting Poteet to a full count.
Ohtani, who won his second American League MVP award last season, has hit .318 with a .973 OPS, 15 homers and 40 RBIs after signing a 10-year, $700 million deal — with most of that deferred, though — in the offseason.
Last year, Ohtani’s No. 17, then printed across the Angels’ uniforms, was MLB’s top-selling jersey for the first time after cracking the top 10 in 2018 and 2021, according to MLB.com.
And in 2024, helped the Dodgers sweep the Mets last month, and Los Angeles leads the Padres by eight games in the NL West entering the weekend — with Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting Friday night against the Yankees.