Ty Cobb Night Picked as One Of Minors' Best

OMAHA, NE - The Omaha Royals 2008 season is history, but the national spotlight continues to shine on one of the many unique promotions staged this year by the team. ESPN The Magazine has named Ty Cobb Night as one of six minor league promotions nationwide to have earned its annual Veeckie Awards. As the magazine states, the awards are named for the "late, great MLB owner and showman Bill Veeck."

The awards are listed in the September 22nd edition of the magazine which is currently on newsstands. The writers had as much fun with the awards as the Royals had with the night, listing the Royals category as "Best Exploitation of Interns."

In case you aren't aware, Ty Cobb (yes, that's his real name) is the Omaha Royals marketing intern. On Friday, August 15th, the Royals held Ty Cobb Night and produced an old-style baseball card, featuring a photo of their intern in a retro uniform. Cobb spent the night signing his card and giving it away to fans. There was also a contest where young ladies vied for a date with Cobb by taking part in the team's on-field promotions during the game.

"When I came up with the idea for a Ty Cobb night, I felt it would be a unique and fun promotion," said Martie Cordaro, Royals General Manager. "It was also fitting to salute Ty with a promotional night, because he was a huge part of our marketing department's success in 2008. All of the attention we received, then and now, from ESPN was icing on the cake."

A few days before the August 15th promotion, Cobb was interviewed live by Dana Jacobson on ESPN2's "First Take" program. The interview included a segment where the Royals' Cobb participated in a split-screen battle of wits with a photo of the Hall of Famer Cobb, spouting one-liners from a Conan O'Brien-like movable mouth.

For more information, contact Kevin McNabb, Royals Director of Media Relations, at (402) 738-5103.