An Unsolicited Ranking of the 2025 Braves Promotional Giveaways
The Braves just dropped the 2025 promotional schedule and there's some really great giveaways for fans this upcoming season
A little bit of levity for you today - the Braves announced their promotional calendar for the 2025 season, complete with glamour shots sent to the media, this morning.
There are some good giveaways here, as there is every year - the Outkast bobblehead was so iconic that they had to bring it back for a second run, while the Braves-themed clone trooper bobble was incredibly unique and the HBCU band member bobblehead series is becoming a collector’s item.
What are the best (and worst) options for this season? Let’s arbitrarily rank them.
#1: Ronald Acuña Jr’s red carpet fit
Blatantly stealing an idea from their High-A affiliate, the Braves are giving away a bobble of Ronald Acuña Jr’s red carpet fit from the 2023 All-Star Game on September 22nd versus the Nationals.
Designed by noted athlete clothier Tom Marchitelli, Ronald rocked a bubblegum pink suit with a diamond-encrusted necklace of his “Too Small” celebration, winning every single “Best Dressed” award from the baseball media.
There will never be another bobblehead quite like this.
#2: Chipper Jones Dominating the 2000 All-Star Game
You may have heard, but the All-Star Game is returning to Atlanta this season.
And the Braves want everyone to know who holds the greatest All-Star performance in an Atlanta ballpark.
Chipper went 3-3 with a homer in the 2000 edition of the game, played in newly-opened Turner Field. His homer came in the third inning, invoking images of Hank Aaron (who threw out the first pitch) homering in front of hometown fans when Atlanta hosted their first-ever All-Star Game in 1972.
(Also, Andruw Jones drove in the only non-homer run for the NL in this game, which was won by the AL by a score of 6-2.)
#3: Golden Cy Sale
Always love any sort of memorabilia with gold on it.1
In honor of Sale’s resurgent and dominant 2024 season, Atlanta’s commemorative bobblehead features the tall lefty with a crown and holding both his Cy Young and Gold Glove awards.
Is it the single greatest pitching season for a Braves starter since the 1990s? Quite possibly.
#4: Spencer Strider’s Volume 2 Vinyl Records
Listen, Spencer Strider is not only one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball right now but he also knows more about music than you.
After hand-selecting three Atlanta-based artists to recognize on his giveaway night last season (featuring performances in The Battery by the trio of Trash Panda, Dinner Time and Lunar Vacation), Spencer’s back at it with three more (selections still to be announced). For anyone who collects vinyl records and loves baseball2, it’s become a can’t-miss night. Just hoping we get a better opponent than the Brewers next time.3
#5: 1995 World Series Replica Ring Giveaway
On August 22nd, the Braves are honoring the 30th anniversary of the ‘95 Championship team with a special night of events.4 Included is this awesome replica ring:
Listen, I have one for the 2021 World Series but not the one I watched at the tender age of 10. Let me have this.
#6: Marcell Ozuna Triple-Bobble
While the noted speedster Ozuna hit a STANDING triple in 2023, this one’s a ‘triple-bobble’ because the head and both arms are bobbly5. That’s enough to push it ahead of some of the other offerings.
Ozuna’s entering the final contractual year with the Braves and is traditionally hot at that time of the year (he has a career .289 average in May), so he might put on a show for his own bobblehead night.
#7: The rope trucker hat
The Braves actually give away a lot of hats every year - Los Bravos hats are available on six different dates, as well as two dates of Girls Night Out hats and other limited edition giveaways.
But this is objectively a cool hat.
It’s the iconic red, white, and blue but the gold rope really sets it over the top. I’ll absolutely be at the park on July 21st for this one.
#8: A reliever gets a bobble!
Quick, who was the Braves team leader in ERA and Win Probability Added last season?
Yep, it was Raisel Iglesias.6
And he’s being commemorated with his own bobblehead for it:
Relievers are marketable, too.
#9: “We’re playing a game in a racetrack this year”
In case you haven’t heard, the Braves are taking on the Reds in the “MLB Speedway Classic” inside Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway on August 2nd.
In case you forgot, here’s a Braves-branded racecar.
Okay, I guess? Only the Speedway Classic makes this make sense.
#10: Why is Reynaldo López wearing a cape?
Uh, huh?
Is it a cape? Is it a blanket? What are we doing here?
Check out the full promotional calendar, including the special merch with specific ticket packages, on Braves.com.
I still regret not buying a gold-lined hat in 2022 to commemorate the World Series win.
A surprisingly big crossover in those two groups, actually.
It’s the Chicago White Sox, so no.
I’m willing to put money down that we get another “Legends Booth” broadcast for this game with Smoltz, Glavine, and Chipper.
Bobble-enabled? Bobble-enhanced? Of bobble?
1.95 ERA across a nice 69.1 innings, besting Reynaldo López’s 1.99 ERA. Iggy’s 4.3 WPA just squeaked by Sale’s 4.2.