The Rangers will give all fans in attendance on May 29 a replica of a jersey paying homage to Nolan Ryan’s bloody lip game in 1990.
Courtesy Of Texas Rangers
ARLINGTON — Give the Rangers credit. Creative minds can turn a stained history and turn a stain into a historical promotion.
Welcome to Nolan Ryan Bloody Lip Jersey Night.
On Friday, the Rangers will give to every fan at Globe Life Field a replica of the jersey Ryan wore during a start against Kansas City in 1990 in which he lost a Bo Jackson scorched comebacker, had it hit him in the face, then remained in the game, bloody lip, stained jersey and all. For a franchise that was steeped in mostly misery and mediocrity, it was an iconic moment, made more so by photographer Linda Kaye’s shot of the pitcher, his lips pursed and bleeding, his jersey stained, and his eyes resolute.
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As of today, in their 56th season in Texas, the three most iconic images in Rangers history are Corey Seager’s World Series homer, Ryan holding Robin Ventura in a headlock and the bloody jersey — and not necessarily in that order. Ryan has signed thousands of versions of the photo. And the Rangers have promoted almost every conceivable moment of Ryan’s time with the Rangers. Except for, you know, the bloodshed. So how do you merge the two? Where there’s a will — and a vendor with the right dyes — there’s a way.
They found a deeper well of Ryan promotions.
“We’ve done so many different iterations of Nolan Ryan over the years, bobbleheads, all kinds of stuff,” Rangers director of promotions Zach Geist said, whose team works with Chief Business Officer Jim Cochrane to come up with the promotional items. “But there’s two iconic components, the punch [of Ventura] and the bloody lip.
“So, we’re talking: Should we make a jersey of it? And the second question is, would anyone wear that jersey? My opinion was that I think people will. But I had to look myself in the mirror and ask should we really give away a bloody jersey. Are people going to think we’re crazy?”
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To the question of will people wear it: We’re not sure. Only because it appears to be the hottest promotion in baseball this year, and a significant number of those who get one may look at it not from a nostalgic perspective but from a capitalistic one. Expect them to flood Ebay even before first pitch Friday.
Over the years, the Rangers have given away any number of Ryan items, mostly bobbleheads and jerseys. There was Nolan after his 5,000th strikeout, after his seventh no-hitter, wearing a duster and cowboy hat, a replica of the bronze statue of him. They even once gave out Nolan Ryan plush snow monkeys. This is the first one commemorating a vital bodily function. But it’s Ryan, and Ryan is exceptionally popular with Rangers fans.
“He’s not only one of the greatest of all time, but fans will always love him,” Geist said. “A part of my job is to find different ways to bring Nolan Ryan into this ballpark and deliver cool moments, cool items, and things that people want to wear. In my mind, Nolan is immortal and I don’t think there is a way to not keep doing something related to him. Older fans remember him pitching. Younger fans hear about him from their parents and grandparents. And they are always going to want it.”
Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan suffered a bloody lip when hit by a one-hop bouncer off the bat of Bo Jackson in this Sept. 8, 1990 photo, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Linda Kaye)
AP1990
The Rangers also made the decision to make this the lone “all fans” giveaway this season. While they have more promotional, theme and community nights than ever before, they’ve also reduced the number of free promotional items from 15,000 to 10,000. This was the exception.
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They are going to give away a lot of them. As of Thursday evening, the Rangers were about 1,500 tickets shy of a sellout. It remains very possible this will be the biggest crowd of the season, surpassing the home opener of 37,635 to see the Cincinnati Reds.
It took some time to bring this from an idea to fruition. According to Geist, the Rangers had to go through multiple vendors to find the ability to closely match the color and pattern of the stain. There were seven different versions before the Rangers found one they felt comfortable with.
When they first announced the giveaway in March, it went viral. Since then, the Rangers have only leaned into it harder. The Rangers will partner with Carter Blood Center to host a blood drive on the stadium’s North Plaza. There will be $4.49 red-dyed beers available at the Budweiser Sky Porch “as a nod to Ryan’s grit,” though a price point ending in .34, given Ryan’s jersey number, might be more fitting. And fans are encouraged to wear face paint to replicate Ryan’s bloody lip (though full body paint will not be permitted) and show up on Bloody Lip Cam on the stadium’s big screen.
Because that was the one element the Rangers couldn’t fully replicate. Though they will try later this season when they go back to the well to give away a bloody lip bobblehead on July 20 when they face the Chicago White Sox.
They would have liked to have been even bolder.
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Originally, the idea was to give away a bobblehead commemorating the punch, which occurred in 1993, but without Ventura’s permission, they couldn’t feature him. Ventura’s not keen to talk about the incident, let alone promote it.
“We thought about a rock ’em sock ’em robot kind of figurine where you could press a button and it throws a punch,” Geist said. “I’m not saying that won’t ever come back, but the technology isn’t quite where we want it.”
So, they pivoted back to the bloody jersey idea. The bobblehead will feature a tiny blood stain on Ryan’s lip, though in Geist’s mind, he’d love to go even further.
“I’d love to have a button where you could push it and fake blood comes out,” he laughed. “But again, technology only goes so far.”
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And as long as technology keeps advancing, the Rangers are going to keep on finding ways to commemorate Ryan.