If you are a baseball fan you will be dying to get into one of these–literally. Introducing… the baseball coffin. A place to rest in eternal peace… and bears your favorite team’s colors and insignia.
A company called Eternal Image has teamed up with Major League Baseball to put team logos on caskets and urns. The effort begins next season with the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Phillies, Cubs and Dodgers and could eventually include all 30 teams. According to the company, each urn will be stamped with a message saying Major League Baseball officially recognizes the deceased as a lifelong fan of that team.
Not a baseball fan? Well, hang in there; Eternal Image says it hopes to branch out by making similar deals with the NFL, the NHL and NASCAR. Before you snub your nose at the idea, consider this remark made by a member of the National Funeral Association: “The Major League Baseball caskets are part of a trend of trying to capture the life and the passions of the person that has passed away.” And considering there are Harley Davidson-themed caskets, and one featuring Betty Boop already on the market this idea doesn’t sound so far-fetched.
The league, the manufacturer and funeral directors say they are trying to fill a need with the products. But they acknowledge that the sales will have to be done with respect, like all transactions in the sensitive world of funerals and burials.
A funeral director in suburban Detroit, said fans in many blue-collar cities have undying loyalty to their teams, which could make the Major League Baseball caskets and urns a hot commodity. His comment made me pause for thought since I live in “Packer Country.” Which is basically the nickname fans who live in and around Green Bay, Wisconsin have bestowed on the area. Talk about die-hard fans. You don’t know die-hard fans until you have strolled through the Lambeau Field parking lot prior to a home game.
Eternal Image says urns for the six teams should be available by Opening Day 2007, and caskets for those teams should be ready later in the year. The products have not been made yet and the exact cost has not been set. Funeral directors say the manufacturer will have to make sure the products aren’t too expensive because they note that people who opt for cremation often do so partly because it is cheaper.
Do you know anyone who would opt for one of these caskets or urns?