Minor league baseball teams have held a lot of wacky promotions over the years - including the Mahoning Valley Scrappers' liposuction giveaway and the brilliantly tasteless "Awful Night" that the Altoona Curve hosts every year. But the Inland Empire 66ers, a San Bernardino, Calif.-based Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, has come up with a truly sweet event to kick off the first home weekend of its 2013 schedule.
"Farewell to Twinkies Night" will take place Friday, April 5, and the first 999 fans in attendance at San Manuel Stadium will receive a free Twinkie - the world's most famous endangered snack item. (Irving, Texas-based Hostess Brands in November ceased production of Twinkies, which have been around since 1930, but at least three companies reportedly are among the leading candidates to acquire Hostess' snack-cake brands under the company's bankruptcy reorganization.)
A silent auction will be held for the 1000th Twinkie, with all proceeds going to charity. "These 999 Twinkies could very well be the last produced, and to be able to share them with our fans would be a real treat," 66ers general manager Joe Hudson said - melodramatically, we imagine - via a team press release.
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But the Hostess homage won't end there. The 66ers asked actor Woody Harrelson, who starred as the Twinkie-obsessed Tallahassee in the 2009 zombie comedy, Zombieland, to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. And the team also has contacted Hostess about featuring the Twinkie the Kid mascot in a race against the team's own Bernie mascot.
