Two minor league baseball teams next week are planning promotions relating to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who faces a suspension this fall for his alleged role in deflating game balls in the 2015 AFC championship game, ESPN.com reported Wednesday.
If your name is Tom or Brady, you get free admission to the Pawtucket Red Sox’s “Free Brady Friday” on June 10. Otherwise tickets to the game will set you back only $12 — corresponding to Mr. Brady’s jersey number — instead of the usual $13 price to get in to see Boston’s Triple–A affiliate.
Meanwhile, 450 miles away in Buffalo, the Triple–A Bisons — affiliated with Boston’s AL East rival the Toronto Blue Jays — have a different tack. “[A]ny fan who brings a properly inflated football to be donated to area youth football programs will be able to buy one ticket and receive a second ticket free of charge,” ESPN explained. “The club is also accepting ’un-destroyed’ cell phone donations for ’Cell Phones for Soldiers’ charity.”
In April, a federal appeals court reinstated the four-game suspension that a lower-court judge had earlier tossed out. Mr. Brady is appealing the ruling and the New England Patriots filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting him on May 25.
Mr. Brady’s looming suspension led the Bisons to joke in a new release that if you happen to be named Tom or Brady, “you will be allowed entrance but will not be allowed to watch the first four innings of game one of the doubleheader. Please, no appeals.”
As the New England Sports Network noted Wednesday, June 1 marks the 500th day of the so-called Deflategate, quipping that it’s “hard to believe, since it feels about 5,000 days old at this point.”
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.