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Saskatoon’s newest baseball team has a high-profile fan.
The Saskatoon Berries got some major support from Snoop Dogg at Wednesday’s concert at SaskTel Centre. The rapper wore a Saskatoon Berries jersey and hat for the entire second half of the show.
Tyler Wawryk, vice-president of team business operations for Sask Entertainment Group, said the team worked behind the scenes to get the team’s apparel into Snoop Dogg’s hands.
“We had kind of known that he loves to support the local teams – he wore a Blades jersey the last time he was here – so this time we set aside a Berries jersey and hat, and then we had given it to one of the managers here at SaskTel Centre,” Wawryk explained.
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“They met with his tour manager prior to the show, showed him the jersey, and apparently he loved it.”
According to Wawryk, Snoop was a little confused about the team’s name at first, but people at SaskTel Centre explained the origins of the name to him, and he was “berry” much on board.
“He loved the blue, the colour, the jersey and the hat,” Wawryk added.
Wawryk said having someone as popular as Snoop Dogg wearing the team’s gear is huge for a minor league team which is still in its inaugural season.
He added that country star Morgan Wallen wearing a Berries hat at his concert in Saskatoon last September led to a big spike in sales.
Country star Morgan Wallen also wore a Berries hat during a Saskatoon performance last fall. (Saskatoon Berries/Twitter)
“To this day, that’s been our number-one selling hat, the one that Morgan Wallen wore. We still can barley keep them on the shelves every time we order them in,” Wawryk explained.
“It’s early and just happened last night, but I’m sure we’ll see a spike in sales a little bit. It’s just cool to see the recognition.”
Since the team announced its name last year following a public contest, Wawryk said the team has sold thousands of hats.
He couldn’t say exactly how much gear they’ve sold, but reiterated that the club did not expect to sell so many hats.
“We drastically underestimated the demand for it. We’re just appreciating our fans’ patience, because we’re constantly trying to reorder and get things in, and it’s about a three month turnaround to get new era hats,” he said.
“We’re well into the thousands – they’re outselling our other two teams (the Blades and the Rush) … I think last year we hadn’t even played a game and outsold everybody in the league.”