How a spring training trip inspired the best baseball shirt this year
SEATTLE — Spring training is a rite of passage for all baseball fans. It’s the one time of year fans can get within inches of major-league players, see multiple games per day and sit directly behind home plate without dipping into their life savings. Plan things out right, and spring training can be one of the best experiences for any baseball fan.
So when life-long Seattle Mariners fans Matt Gombossy and Cam Samac decided to make the trek to Arizona to see their beloved team play, they wanted to make sure it would be a trip they would never forget.
“We were pretty stoked about the team and wanted to do something goofy,” Samac says.
After some brainstorming, the two settled on an idea: T-shirts. They would create a T-shirt that involved one of the players on the team. But Gombossy and Samac weren’t going to take the easy way out. Robinson Cano was too popular for this exercise, and Felix Hernandez shirts had already been done.
“Anybody can do a Felix shirt … and we love Felix,” Samac says. “We just wanted to pick a guy that no one knew a ton about.”
That player was Korean first baseman Dae-ho Lee. At the time, Lee was a relative unknown in The States. He had put up excellent numbers in the Korean Baseball Organization, and in Nippon Professional Baseball, but had come over to Major League Baseball with considerable questions.
For one, he was huge. Lee was listed at 6-foot-4 and, depending on who you talked to, ranged from 280 pounds to 300 pounds. At age 33, he was already out of his baseball prime.
On top of all that, it was unclear whether his success would carry over in MLB. His power potential was great, but that wouldn’t matter if he couldn’t handle pitchers in a more advanced league. Due to those concerns, Lee didn’t even get a major-league contract. The Mariners signed him to a one-year, $4 million minor-league deal.
For Gombossy and Samac, none of that mattered.
“We picked Dae-ho Lee because he was interesting to us,” Samac says. “We thought, let’s pick an obscure guy. He’s not even on the roster. “
“Let’s bring attention to a guy who may or may not make the team and have fun,” Gombossy adds.
It would be cliché to say the idea came to them in a dream, but that’s a pretty accurate description of what happened. The morning after they came up with their plan, Gombossy woke up with the slogan. His idea: A T-shirt reading “Dae-ho Lee grail.” In the middle of the shirt, there would be a chalice. In the middle of that chalice would be Dae-ho Lee’s face.
Knowing that idea would never be topped, Gombossy immediately designed the shirts in Photoshop, and had three of them printed. Gombossy and Samac would each take a shirt. The extra, of course, was made with the intention of somehow getting it to Lee.
That proved easier than either of them expected. Since the attitude is much more relaxed during spring training, Gombossy and Samac were able to get the attention of a Mariners’ minor leaguer. They kindly asked that player if he could give the shirt to Lee and the player agreed.
A few minutes later, five members of the Mariners came to the top step of the dugout, found Gombossy and Samac in the stands, and started to point and laugh at their shirts. Seconds later, Lee emerged out of the dugout holding up the shirt. One of the Korean sports photographers at the game snapped pictures of the event.
At that point, Gombossy and Samac realized this could be more than just a silly T-shirt. The two created a website, mattandcamshirts.com, and began selling the shirts online. They even registered as a state-licensed business in Washington, and spoke with MLB and the Player’s Association in order to make sure they wouldn’t run into any legal issues.
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Of course, it helps that Lee has played incredibly well with the team. Lee has mostly been used in a platoon with Adam Lind at first. He’s on the lesser side of that platoon, only facing lefties. Despite that, he’s been productive. Through 129 plate appearances, Lee has hit .287/.326/.541, with 10 home runs.
“What he’s doing here is really remarkable considering the limited playing time he’s received,” Gombossy says. “Essentially, he’s out-hit Adam Lind in half as many at-bats.”
That production has no doubt helped Gombossy and Samac’s shirt gain notoriety.
“The way that he’s played has really helped us,” Gombossy says.
“I like to jokingly say we’re the reason he made the team,” Samac adds.
While the two are happy about the success of the shirt, they don’t want to take any attention away from Lee.
“It’s not so much about us as it is Dae-ho Lee, but it’s kind of taken on a mind of its own,” Gombossy says.
That much is true. The two are constantly noticed at games now.
“A lot of fans point and laugh and then they are like, ‘where did you get that? Did you make it? I saw you guys on the Internet,'” Samac says.
The two received even more attention after being featured on the Mariners broadcast following one of Lee’s home runs. Gombossy and Samac were at the game. As usual, they were wearing their shirts.
During one of Lee’s at-bats, an usher told them they could run down the step near the home plate seating area if Lee did something good, but only if they promised they wouldn’t get too crazy.
Sure enough, Lee crushed a home run to left field, extending the Mariners lead. The usher waved Gombossy and Samac down, and the two celebrated while holding enlarged Dae-ho Lee heads on sticks. Both of them can be seen in the video clip of the home run on MLB.com doing their best impressions of “Price is Right” contestants.
It’s not just people in Seattle, though, Lee’s fans in Korea are also aware of Gombossy and Samac’s campaign.
“On my Instagram I’m getting comments from people daily,” Gombossy says. “Not only locally, but in South Korea too.”
Now that their T-shirts have received attention internationally, there must be pressure on the duo to somehow top themselves with their next idea. Thus far, that hasn’t been an issue. Gombossy and Samac have already come up with a few new T-shirt designs, all of which are centered around Lee.
Two other shirts are already on the website, though more are coming. The duo plans to release a version of the original “Dae-ho Lee grail” shirt translated into Korean. They also have a shirt on the way that should please Mariners fans in a neighboring state. That shirt features Lee’s face in the center of a silhouette of the state of Idaho. The caption reads, “I-Dae-Ho.”
At this point, it’s clear that this has become much bigger than one silly T-shirt. One small idea has now launched a legitimate business, one that has already received international attention. To think, the whole thing started because two friends just wanted to enjoy themselves on a spring training trip.
“We just wanted to make it a memorable spring training,” Gombossy says.
As far as that goes, they somehow managed to exceed expectations. That’s pretty fitting, considering their inspiration for the T-shirts.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
