I'm not certain when the Joey Bats Rogers vans started popping up around this city, but I think it was the summer if 2015. Seeing Jose Bautista, Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson on the side always made me smile. If a Rogers service van is making you smile, you know it was a wise marketing move.
When the Jays were humming and hawing about bringing Bautista back, I tweeted it was a no-brainer because of these vans.
The Jays should sign Joey Bats yesterday. If for no other reason than to save themselves from having to re-paint the Rogers service vans.— Toronto Mike (@torontomike) January 13, 2017
According to my estimates, it would cost Rogers $18,500,000 to remove the Joey Bats graphic from their massive fleet of service vans. Signing him to an $18,500,000 guaranteed one-year contract was a slam-dunk.
