The Atlanta Braves’ viral “big hat” home run celebration is no more thanks to Major League Baseball and one of its sponsors.
Braves players recently began using an oversized “homer hat” to celebrate home runs, a move that the team had wholly embraced. The Braves had made it a point to share images of the celebration on social media.
The busiest Brave at the ballpark tonight is the homer hat.#ForTheA pic.twitter.com/aLYjGd7Sv2
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 15, 2023
The homer hat had disappeared, however, in recent games. The hat was provided to Atlanta players by More than Sports, a local memorabilia collector. The owner tweeted this week that the hat was no more, because cap company New Era had “shut it down.”
The Atlanta Braves big hat is no longer. New Era has called and shut it down. They are the exclusive on field hat for Major League Baseball.. #bighat #rip
— More Than Sports (@MTSMorethanspor) April 26, 2023
The Braves confirmed to Alison Mastrangelo of WSB-TV that New Era, which is MLB’s official on-field cap partner, spoke to the league about shutting down the celebration since the hat was not produced by New Era. MLB passed that message along to the Braves, who have stopped using it.
Obviously, MLB has to respect its corporate deals, but this just makes New Era look petty. Plus, there is no reason they could not have found a way to manufacture a big hat that would abide with guidelines. That still would be a pretty unfair deal for the originator of the hat, but it’s still better than nothing.
The Braves have yet to debut a new home run celebration. Clearly, they’ll have to make like the Baltimore Orioles and come up with something that won’t run afoul of any merchandising agreements.
