With all the silliness in minor league baseball promotions in recent years, it’s something of a surprise that there are some things Minor League Baseball will NOT let teams put on a game jersey. When the Biloxi Shuckers, Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, unveiled their promotional schedule back in March, the list included an homage to one of their city’s most famous sons, George Edgar Ohr, also known as the Mad Potter.
Ohr, famous for his abstract ceramic pottery and gigantic mustache, was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1857. His work is featured in Biloxi’s Ohr-O’Keefe Museum Of Art, designed by fellow abstractionist Frank Gehry. (The O’Keefe part of the name of the museum is Annette O’Keefe, who helped raise funds to build it.) Ohr created more than 10,000 pieces, many of which were destroyed when his workshop burned down in 1894.
The Shuckers planned to wear the promotional jerseys during a game against the Mobile BayBears August 18, then auction them off to benefit the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum. But Minor League Baseball stepped in and put a stop to it.
These jerseys were denied by @MiLB for use in game, so the Shuckers are wearing them before the contest with Mobile. pic.twitter.com/T6MioZy4W0
— Tyler Bouldin (@tylerbouldin) August 18, 2016
According to a source with the team, MiLB denied the jerseys because they featured the likeness an actual person rather than a fictional character. Tyler Bouldin of WLOX in Southern Mississippi tweeted the news the day of the game, though the team knew about the change a couple weeks in advance.
The Shuckers still did wear the uniforms for batting practice and even sent non-starters onto the field in the jerseys for the National Anthem, but when the players took the field, they were in their regular home blues.
The auction took place during the game as planned, with winners going on the field for autographs and to meet players.
