The Astros 2017 World Series ring: the best giveaway that never happened 
The dream is dead. What was certainly the boldest baseball giveaway of the year — the 2017 Houston Astros replica World Series ring dreamt up by their Triple-A affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies — is no more. Maybe it was too bold?
Not even a full day after the Grizzlies unveiled the rings as part of their Aug. 15 “Back to the Future” promotion, the team announced it was shelving the idea and thinking of something else to give away that night. The official explanation: They didn’t want to “jinx” the Astros.
From the Grizzlies’ press release:
“We met internally and have decided to replace the 2017 Houston Astros World Championship Ring with a more Fresno-centric giveaway, which more aligns with our marketing plans for 2015 and beyond,” stated Derek Franks, Grizzlies General Manager. “We do not want a Fresno Grizzlies giveaway to be perceived as a jinx for our Major League affiliate.”
“We appreciate that our affiliate is as optimistic as our fans are about the future of the Astros,” said Astros President Reid Ryan. “The Grizzlies will see some of the Astros top talent coming through Chukchansi Park, and we wish their whole team the best of luck in the upcoming 2015 season.”
If you’re not hip to the 2017 allusion: The rebuilding Astros were pegged as the 2017 World Series champs by Sports Illustrated in June 2014. It’s a bit gimmicky and adds to a giant heap of expectations, but in general it’s a compliment for a team that had three consecutive 100-loss seasons from 2011-2013. The Astros are heading in the right direction now, with sluggers George Springer and John Singleton in the big leagues, Jose Altuve a star after his 2014 batting title and top prospects Carlos Correa and Mark Appel on the way.
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Still, it sounds as if the Astros don’t love the “2017 World Series champs” idea. From Astros beat writer Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle:
It makes sense that the Astros aren’t keen on the 2017-or-bust movement. It pigeonholes them a bit, and puts undue pressure on a young team that could just as easily be good in 2018 or 2019. But that pressure would be there regardless of a Sports Illustrated headline or a minor-league giveaway. Pressure also comes from needing No. 1 draft picks to deliver and having to live up to the hype surrounding the club’s farm system and its gung-ho adoption of analytics.
Nonetheless, the Grizzlies will keep going with their “Back to the Future” night, with theme jerseys that look like a DeLorean and feature a flux capacitor on the back. The rings will live on only in our memories — they’ll be like the Sidd Finch of giveaways, so great but they never actually existed.
Unless, of course, the Astros actually do win the World Series in 2017. Then we’ll all look back at this and laugh.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
