READING, Pa.- Something is brewing in Reading. Over the weekend, the Fightin Phils unveiled their newest identity for the August morning game: the “Reading Iced Coffees.”
By Sunday afternoon, it was everywhere.
Director of Media Relations Jake Starr said the team was fortunate the promotion quickly caught the attention of major voices online.
“We were very fortunate that a couple of bigger media personalities, Phillies writers, picked it up,” Starr said. “And then from there, it really just snowballed, right? Like it got picked up by MILB, by Major League Baseball social media accounts. It got picked up by guys from ESPN, CBS, Bleacher, like Barstool.”
We came to the team store to see it for ourselves.
Executive Director of Graphic Arts and Merchandise Ryan Springborn said the concept grew out of the team’s tradition of breakfast-themed morning games.
“When we started coming up with this idea, the coffee concept was kind of cool,” Springborn said. “So, we wanted to take an iced coffee as its true form and character form and then add those elements of baseball with it.”
A breakfast theme that turned into a national moment.
“We had a limited run of merchandise available at first. That did sell out pretty quickly. So, we made everything available for pre-order,” he said.
The R-Phils say they set a record for sales in a single day after the announcement.
“I definitely encourage fans, if they want to go to the game, to buy tickets to that August 25th game,” Starr said.
The team will wear the Iced Coffees uniforms during the August 25 morning game at FirstEnergy Stadium.