Padres Were Caught Selling Johnny Manziel Jerseys

If you remember back during the 2014 MLB Draft, you might recall that San Diego drafted NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel with their 28th round pick. This was more of publicity stunt than anything else, and it certainly worked. People all within the sports world certainly took an eye to it, and the Padres had themselves some positive attention in an other wise standard draft day for themselves. Apparently their was another layer to this whole story not known at the time.

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After drafting Manziel just for a nice public relations move, the Padres then decided, to start selling jerseys with his name on the backs of them, in team colors and all the workings on a usual baseball player’s jersey that is sold in stores. These San Diego Manziel jerseys did not come cheap either. They were reported to have started the price of this jersey at $109, not  a misprint, a piece, hardly chump change for any Padres’ fan to drop on a piece of team gear.

Though the price did actually get discounted to $89 at one point, it still did not take away the question of: why even have these jerseys even made in the first place? Especially knowing that Johnny Manziel will never play a inning for the team and would be on his way to the NFL? It seemed like a waste of time and money to have these made, and the fans of this franchise did not let this get swept under the rug.

Padre fans grew in their frustration and outrage as site of the Manziel Padres jersey hanging off racks were being spread like wildfire on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The outcry grew to such a level that the Padres organization decided to pull the plug on sales of those jerseys immediately.  It ended what was a bizarre experiment by the team with a draft pick that yes was a good baseball player back in his earlier years, but is a football player through and through.

Some fans did purchase the jersey, and were seen wearing them at games earlier in the season. In some ways it can now be deemed a rare collectible that no question could be seen popping up on eBay or some other auction sites online in a few years, if his NFL career does take full flight. The prices for what they will want for a Padres Manziel jersey in say 10 years time will make the $109 figure look like a great bargain.

So closes the book on what can be deemed as the most fascinating and interesting 28th round pick the Padres will ever draft in their history.