Well before first pitch on Opening Day, there was a stampede of Yard Goats fans at the Retro Brand Team Store.
“I have tickets for about four games already this season set aside,” Phyllis Maccutcheon said.
Maccutcheon had to get her hands on Yard Goats gear for the start of the season.
“Last season I got a lot of T-shirts, hats, mugs, the mascot stuffed animal, baseball cards,” Maccutcheon told NBC Connecticut.
She even replenished her goat gear supply for her out of town friends.
“They love it because it's a great logo and a great team and I have a lot of friends are into baseball to begin with,” Maccutcheon said.
Fans have a lot of options - The Yard Goats don’t just offer your basic t-shirt and baseball caps with the team logo.
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“We're not content to just stick with one T-shirt with our logo on it we do all sorts of crazy stuff,” Mike Abramson, Yard Goats general manager, said.
The team store reflects that, with a range of gear in all different colors of the rainbow.
Abramson said the demand for goat gear is on the rise after its 41 sellout games last season.
“It's always caps for us, the brand just popped so amazingly after everybody was fearful of the Yard Goats name, it took them about a month to get used to it,” Abramson said.
Abramson says the Yard Goats’ standout season held steady even after the games were over.
“That momentum never slowed down in the off-season or sales department which is usually very quiet in October, November but it was just cranking they never stopped it was like there was no off-season,” Abramson said.
On Opening Day, an already promising season for the team Hartford has come to love.
“We are on the brink of about eight sell-outs right now which given we haven't even thrown a pitch is insane,” Abramson said.
