Minor league team introduces shockingly sexist ‘Hourglass Appreciation Night’ promotion
The Pioneer League, the league that brought you “Caucasian Heritage Night,” is back at it again with another blatantly offensive ballpark promotion.
The Ogden Raptors, a short-season A ball affiliate of the Dodgers in Utah, recently announced plans for “Hourglass Appreciation Night” to be held on August 11. Here is a screenshot of the press release, in the likely event the team deletes the webpage. (UPDATE: The press release was pulled offline about an hour after this post went up.)
The alleged intention of the promotion is to celebrate the fact that baseball is played without a clock (by introducing a timekeeping device?). The third paragraph of the press release, though, lays bare the real focus of the night.
“The home team hosts the Billings Mustangs, but the real thoroughbreds will join Raptors broadcaster A.P. Harreld in the booth. Since August is the eighth month of the calendar year, and an 8 looks tantalizingly similar to an hourglass, be there a better way to remind the world that baseball needs no clock than to feature 18 hourglass-shaped color commentators?”
Each of the women will spend a half-inning in the commentary booth and the team will stream the goings on in the booth—“well, at least the better-looking half of it!”
“Fans will have the opportunity to pose for pictures with the lovely ladies as we showcase seriously splendid visual appeal: Utah's legendary mountains, Dodgers and Reds farmhands - and gorgeous women whose curves rival those of any stud pitching prospect!” the press release concludes.
“Guys... get your tickets now!” the subheadline on the team’s homepage proclaims. The header image is a cartoon of three women in bikinis.
Not surprisingly, the promotion was harshly criticized on social media.
