Tulsa feels the beat during 918 Weekend

What attire do you wear to catch a ballgame? A jersey of your favorite player? A T-shirt?

Fans who made their way to ONEOK Field during Tulsa Sound Weekend didn’t just show up with a ballcap and T-shirt, they came decked out in full costumes of their favorite local musicians.

The event, which occurred from June 22-25, was this year's incarnation of Double-A Tulsa’s 918 weekend, when the team honors the city itself. In the past, the games have included special promotions for the occasion, but none to the extent of this year's celebration during the series against Northwest Arkansas.

The Drillers did a complete rebrand, new jerseys, special guests and specialty merch all as a nod to Tulsa’s special sound, a mix of blues, blues rock, country, rock and roll and swamp pop.

Back at it tonight.

🎟 https://t.co/96Y0GZk48v pic.twitter.com/wj7QmU7l0j

— Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) June 24, 2023

“It was a blast,” said Justin Gorski, the Drillers' assistant GM and vice president of marketing. “We had so much fun, it was such a great weekend. The entire community got behind it and it was something that we were just so proud of.”

The Dodgers affiliate began the festivities by sporting the new uniforms and hosting a special Tulsa Sound bucket hat giveaway at the gates along with the traditional $2 Thursday night promotion.

“We worked with Brandiose, they helped to create the logo itself,” Gorski said. “This was in the works for a couple of years before it actually came to fruition.”

The design was a nod to Leon Russell, who is considered one of the pioneers in developing the city's unique musical sound. It features a baseball with a top hat, goatee and a sweet pair of aviators. The logo is on both the hat and shoulder of the jersey, which took a long time to come to fruition.

“Our designer, Mickey Shaw, actually created the jersey itself,” Gorski said. “We had the primary logo on the front, then we had piano keys down the front and on the sleeve, we had a musical note because that was actually a Tulsa Drillers logo, so it tied in with that. Then we actually had our city skyline built into the numbers.”

Should we bring TulsaSound back next year? 👀 pic.twitter.com/laslUIopFH

— Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) June 29, 2023

All the elements culminated in a jersey featuring three different logos all nodding to a separate aspect of Tulsa music.

“Everyone’s got their own style of it, but to me, it’s really like a groovy style of music,” Gorski said. “It’s kind of laid-back, kind of chill, but very groovy feeling.”

All weekend long, the stadium speakers played the “groovy” style, with a special treat on Friday, when the team welcomed Ann Bell, the “Queen of the Tulsa Sound.”

Bell performed some of her music, and was followed by another special guest Saturday, when Leon Russell’s grandson, Payton Goodner, threw out the first pitch. The event was a total hit among the fans as they flooded the stadium all weekend long.

“They loved it, they really did,” Gorski said. “We actually had people dressed up as Leon Russell and musicians and everything. So many people aren’t baseball fans, they’ve never been to ONEOK Field before. They came out and tried it for the first time and were like, ‘Man, this is really cool. This is a great experience, the food and the fun.’ And they’ve come out and joined us afterwards too.”

Tulsa also planned to have a celebrity softball game as part of the festivities, but it was canceled due to weather. However, with the success of the event, the team just may be able to hit all the right notes with it next summer .