I just wanted to note that former Indians DH Travis Hafner is returning to Cleveland, but he won’t be wearing an Indians uniform. He’ll be a volunteer assistant coach (working with batters, duh) at Notre Dame College in South Euclid. He’s in good company, as former Indians pitcher Len Barker (he of the May 1981 perfect game) is the baseball head coach. This is apparently a “temporary” gig, but it sounds like a graceful way for him to exit his playing career. He was our stalwart DH for ten seasons, during which he hit 200 home runs and batted .278. While it was definitely time for him to exit the Indians line up, I feel kind of bad that he spent what is likely his last season as a player with the Yankees. At least Mommy’s Dirty Little Secret is coming back to Cleveland in some capacity. And if you never managed to get Hafner’s autograph, note that Notre Dame plays all of its home games at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon.
Cool!
I was looking for a Cleveland Indians t-shirt online (now that you can get them without Chief Wahoo), and I found a popular site that has t-shirts that have players’ names on the back for about $27. Interestingly, you can get Ubaldo for $20 (there’s someone betting that he will be gone), Choo for $17, and even Mark Reynolds for $18. But Travis Hafner rates a lowly $10. What’s up with that? Hafner never got the respect he deserved.
Supply and demand, most likely.
But still, no excuse for Mark Reynolds costing $18
Econ 101. Supply and demand.
Having taken Econ 101 (and 102, and several others), it’s clearly supply and demand. However, I’m simply wondering why the demand for Hafner gear is so low that they can’t be sold at $17-$18 like Choo and Reynolds shirts.
If Hafner was getting the respect he deserves, the shirts would have been gone before the price got so low. Reynolds played well for the Indians for exactly one month – how many people want to wear a shirt that commemorates May 2013 of the Cleveland Indians season? The demand for his shirt ought to be remarkably low – I’m not even sure I’d wear one if someone gave it to me for free.
May 2013, never forget.
Great month.
why would you ever want it WITHOUT the wahoo?! are you native american and find it deeply offensive? or just a winey american who finds everything not politically correct and offensive. Sheesh
You’re looking at it backwards. It’s not an issue of lower demand for Hafner, it’s an issue of higher supply.
When Hafner was here and at his peak he was one highest selling jerseys on the team, probably second to Sizemore for awhile. So now that he’s gone, they must have a ton left over. There were fewer Choo, and even fewer Reynolds jerseys produced, so there’s less that they need to get rid of.
The demand for all of them is close to zero. So the price is simply set based on how much they need to get rid of. They’re not disrespecting Hafner at all.
I did think of that – Hafner’s last nearly full year was in 2010, almost four years ago – surely they haven’t produced many (if any) shirts since then? I can’t imagine that they have all that many left over after so long.
However, Reynolds’ flash-in-the-pan was just last April (I thought it was May, but after checking his stats revealed that Reynolds hit .301 in April and .218 in May, and then dropped off a cliff after that).
And since you mentioned Grady Sizemore – you can’t even get a regular Sizemore shirt or jersey anymore in the men’s section of the site (fanatics.com). You can, however, get lots of pink ones in the women’s section. I guess Grady’s Ladies are still carrying a torch for him…
And lastly – there’s no sign of a “Tony Plush” jersey yet. What a travesty!
Whew. What a relief. I was worried that we had signed him to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training.
The last thing the Indians need is extra depth at the “mostly useless power hitter” position.
(I kid, I kid, I love Giambi)