I’m not going to sugar coat anything. This was one of the most difficult blogs I’ve ever written. With as much confusion as I’ve ever encountered, here’s what I’ve come up with for your reading pleasures and a rare bobblehead to boot.
The Staten Island Yankees were a Class A Short Season New York-Penn League team that played in Staten Island from 1999 until 2020. Apparently, the ownership decided to take a vote to change the name somewhere around the end of 2017. After a somewhat controversial, but successful launch in 2018, the Staten Island Yankees brought back the Staten Island Pizza Rats for a second season. The short season minor league team Staten Island Yankees played as the Pizza Rats for seven games back in 2019.
The name “Pizza Rats” went borderline viral as many fans and baseball higher ups were disgusted by the name. Anyway, the votes were tallied and the Pizza Rats stuck around for a few years.
Apparently, last year given the pandemic, the Yankees ceased operations and totally got rid of the Staten Island team all together. They were no longer part of the Yankees minor league affiliation structure and owner and higher up’s were not having it. They decided to take legal action against the New York Yankees to seek compensation for unpaid wages of players, managers and overall player development. The entire thing was a huge fucking mess and many local fans who supported the minor league team got thrown to the curb.
I did some recon and went to the Pizza Rats home website and discovered they had a shit ton of plans for their fans several years ago, operating as a normal minor league baseball team. They had merchandise to sell, promotions, fan giveaways, great seating and ticket options and a myriad of fun activities for families with children to enjoy at the game. Unfortunately, that all went to shit when the Yankees dumped the team.
I recently, came upon the official mascot of the Pizza Rats bobblehead. To my knowledge, this is one of three in existence. Manufactured by AGP, the Rat is positioned standing on one leg, holding up a slice of good ole fashioned Staten Island cheese pizza. The front letters are raised and one can only imagine how excited the fans would have enjoyed this mascot bobblehead of their favorite, local minor league team. I would assume during the turmoil of the team getting curb stomped that the Pizza Rats organization put a stop to the production of these bobbles as only 3 were ever made.
I’m a huge minor league fan as it’s the place where players develop and hopefully move on to the big leagues. The majority of ballparks are fun, engaging and overall have a positive atmosphere for fans to enjoy. I cannot give an opinion as I don’t know the finer details why the real reason the Pizza Rats got dismantled, but from the looks of the prototype bobble, I’d for sure would make my way to a Pizza Rats game, especially if they were giving out this bobblehead.
Sniper