Sports Beanie Babies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Of the many themes and involvements of Beanie Babies produced by Ty, Inc., one of them has been professional sports. Beanies have been used both to represent and promote various sports.
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[edit] Automobile racing
In mid-2007, 22 NASCAR-themed beanies were introduced[1]. Some are now retired. These included Racing Gold (in varying colors) and:
[edit] Baseball
[edit] Giveaways
At some Major League Baseball games, various beanies have been given away to some of the fans. At games that had Beanie Baby giveaways, attendance greatly increased[2].
[edit] Beanies representing baseball players
- Mac the cardinal, in honor of Mark McGwire, introduced in 1999. A Beanie Buddy version later made was simply called "Cardinal."
- Rocket the blue jay, in honor of Roger Clemens, introduced in 1998. A Teenie Beanie version was #5 in the 1999 series.
- Sammy the bear, in honor of Sammy Sosa, introduced in 1999. A Pillow Pal called "Sherbert" was introduced later the same year that was similar in style.
[edit] Addison
Addison the bear was first introduced at a Cubs game on May 20, 2001, a game at which the Cubs beat the Diamondbacks 6-5. A total of 10,000 were given away to children 13 and under. It was not until after this game that addison was introduced to retailers[3].
[edit] Soccer
[edit] Kicks
Kicks the bear, introduced early in 1999, was the first beanie to represent a sport. A Beanie Buddy version of Kicks was made in 2000.
[edit] Champion
Champion was a bear made in 2002 in 32 versions, representing 32 countries in the World Cup. The version for any particular country was retired on the day that country was eliminated from the World Cup tournament. The hand tag of each Champion bear provided information on that country's team. All versions were introduced on April 4, 2002. None have birthdays.
| Country | Date Retired |
|---|---|
| Argentina | 6/7/02 |
| Belgium | 6/17/02 |
| Brazil | 6/30/02 |
| Cameroon | 6/11/02 |
| China | 6/4/02 |
| Costa Rica | 6/13/02 |
| Croatia | 6/03/02 |
| Denmark | 6/15/02 |
| Ecuador | 6/03/02 |
| England | 6/21/02 |
| France | 5/31/02 |
| Germany | 6/30/02 |
| Italy | 6/08/02 |
| Japan | 6/18/02 |
| Korea | 6/25/02 |
| Mexico | 6/17/02 |
| Nigeria | 6/02/02 |
| Paraguay | 6/07/02 |
| Poland | 6/04/02 |
| Portugal | 6/05/02 |
| Ireland | 6/16/02 |
| Russia | 6/09/02 |
| Saudi Arabia | 6/01/02 |
| Senegal | 6/22/02 |
| Slovenia | 6/02/02 |
| South Africa | 6/12/02 |
| Spain | 6/22/02 |
| Sweden | 6/16/02 |
| Tunisia | 6/05/02 |
| Turkey | 6/03/02 |
| United States | 6/14/02 |
| Uruguay | 6/01/02 |
