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Fans maintain support of Pirates' Kang bobblehead giveaway

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Fans maintain support of Pirates' Kang bobblehead giveaway

A sampling of Pirates fans planning on attending today’s afternoon game said they cannot fault the organization for proceeding with the Jung Ho Kang bobblehead giveaway despite a Chicago police investigation of sexual assault allegations against the player.

“Innocent until proven guilty,” said April Enterline, 30, of the West End, who said she looked forward to collecting one of the souvenirs “without hesitation.”

Ms. Enterline and her boyfriend, Jason Brosius, 29, are part of a season-ticket plan and switched tickets with a friend to get today’s game because of the promotion.

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“I like the bobbleheads and the free-shirt Fridays,” said Mr. Brosius, who said he looks forward to adding the Kang bobblehead to his “nice collection” at home.

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“It doesn’t affect me now because we don’t have enough information about it,” he said of the police investigation. “If it comes out later that something bad did happen, I don’t think you could fault the Pirates. It’s a promotion and it’s intended to get people to come to the game. It’s a fun thing.”

Chicago police on Wednesday said they are still conducting interviews with the 23-year-old woman who said Mr. Kang gave her an alcoholic drink that caused her to lose consciousness and sexually assaulted her in his hotel room during the team’s trip there in June.

Pirates spokesman Brian Warecki said the team takes the allegation “very seriously” but proceeded with the promotion — giving Kang bobbleheads to the first 20,000 fans at the ballpark — as “there have been no charges filed.”

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“We also respect both the legal process in Chicago and the commissioner’s jurisdiction in such matters,” Mr. Warecki said in a statement last month.

Kristen Houser, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, said her organization understood why the Pirates would proceed with the promotion, although she hoped some fans might turn down the bobbleheads.

“Ultimately, we see this as an important opportunity to get information out and getting people involved in prevention of sexual assault,” she said. “But the fans are going to do what the fans want to do.”

Delilah Rumburg, the coalition’s CEO, issued a statement praising the Pirates as “leaders in Southwest Pennsylvania, using their public platform as a way to get more people involved in preventing and responding to sexual assault and domestic violence. ... We know they take these issues seriously, and are following new MLB guidelines.”

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Under league rules, Mr. Kang cannot be disciplined until the investigation is concluded, and that could take time, she said. “It is common for sexual assault investigations to take a year or more to move from investigation to court proceedings. ... It is also common that sexual assault investigations result in a variety of outcomes which do not indicate whether or not the sexual assault occurred.”

Dylan Geisinger, 26, and his wife, Alyssa, 28, of Red Hill, Montgomery County, travel across the state for a few games a year. The Wednesday-Thursday games fit well into their plans for a family outing.

“I think the team should go ahead with it, because if they didn’t it could look like maybe they think he did do it,” Ms. Geisinger said.

The couple said they have many bobbleheads at home and the Kang figure will be welcome. But if the justice system rules against him, they might change their thinking.

“I guess I’d have a hard time displaying it. It might have to go away into storage,” Mr. Geisinger said. “If there was a controversy, that would make it tough to display, tough to look at.”

Ms. Enterline expressed a different view.

“If it turns out guilty, I think I’d still display it,” she said. “It’s still Pirates memorabilia. I think it’s something separate. He’s a player with the Pirates and he’s part of their history.”

The Pirates have given away hundreds of thousands of bobbleheads since the craze took off a couple of decades ago, and usually the only controversies are whether the player deserved the honor or whether the figure looked much like the athlete.

The Boston Red Sox, for example, canceled a David Ortiz bobblehead promotion Tuesday night when the figure turned out to be “racially insensitive,” said team president Sam Kennedy, who called the image “offensive.”

The Pirates had three bobblehead games planned for this season, including Mr. Kang. A Gerrit Cole bobblehead was given away earlier this season, but the Francisco Liriano giveaway scheduled for Sept. 10 was canceled after the team traded the pitcher to Toronto. The figures, which already have been delivered, are in storage and another promotion, as yet unannounced, will be substituted, Mr. Warecki said.

A check of the online auction site ebay showed that Kang bobbleheads already were going for $20 or more Wednesday.

Dan Means, owner of Sports World Specialties, said he sells many of them in his memorabilia shop on Smithfield Street, Downtown, and online. At least three or four a week, he said.

“Some are obviously better than others,” he said, noting that the Pirates have cut back on the number they distribute at games, making some figures harder to come by and therefore worth more.

“In Pittsburgh, when guys are gone, nobody wants them,” Mr. Means said. “The Jason Bays, the Freddy Sanchezes, Zach Dukes are very hard to sell. We have such a rich tradition of champions, I think we get a little spoiled, so when somebody leaves or somebody retires, we just forget about them.”

“Like the [Troy] Polamalu stuff. When he was playing [with the Steelers], it was hot. Now that he’s not playing, no one’s interested. And then when he goes into the Hall of Fame, everybody will be interested again.”

Some of the most expensive bobbleheads, he said, are legends such as Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski.

“But there’s also Charlie Brown and Snoopy, the bobbleheads that were given just to kids,” he said. “The Pierogies are real popular. I’ve probably sold more Pierogies than I have Stargell.”

As far as the Kang bobblehead is concerned, he said, “I don’t think people that collect this stuff are too concerned one way or the other. Maybe they should be. But until everyone finds out what really happened, it shouldn’t affect its popularity. Although he is having a slump this year. That has something to do with it, too. When players are hot, everybody wants them.

“Players go in and out of favor pretty quick. It wasn’t long ago, we couldn’t keep [Andrew[ McCutchen stuff. Now, with him struggling, no one is too interested.”

Dan Majors: dmajors@post-gazette.com and 412-263-1456.

First Published: August 11, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

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