No, your eyes weren’t deceiving you, Toronto Blue Jays fans. That was Colonel Sanders behind the plate.
A man looking very much like the founder of KFC, right down to the white suit, hair, mustache and Van Dyke beard, was seen sitting behind home plate during Saturday night’s Game 2 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The colonel became a viral sensation during the game as fans took to social media, theorizing about who the mysterious man was.
“I can’t tell if last night was a fever dream or not, but apparently the biggest X factors in World Series Game 2 were Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Colonel Sanders and the Jonas Brothers,” @BlueJayHunter posted on X.
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While some X users speculated it might have been a publicity move, others thought the colonel was a fake.
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“Hey hey hey, Temu Colonel Sanders doesn’t count,” @2oldtorocknroll posted.
Still others blamed his appearance for the Jays’ loss, referencing the Curse of the Colonel, a Japanese urban legend that suggests the colonel’s ghost placed a curse on the Hanshin Tigers baseball team.
“Forget about the Jonas Brothers we all know it was the Colonel Sanders curse,” @GerryBrown20 posted.
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The Jonas Brothers performed a song after the fifth inning in another celebrity appearance during Saturday’s game that took some by surprise. The performance was announced the day before.
So who was the man in white behind the plate?
KFC confirmed he was indeed someone sent by the company to promote its newly renamed sandwich.
The fast-food chain is changing the name of its “fan-favourite” Zinger Sandwich to the Dinger Sandwich to support the Jays.
“When the nation’s baseball fever hit new heights, we knew we had to step up to the plate with something just as bold,” Azim Akhtar, interim chief marketing officer with KFC Canada, said. “We decided to change the name of our iconic Zinger sandwich to the Dinger, as our way of feeding that Canadian baseball fandom, celebrating the hits, the hype and the moments that bring fans together.”
With the spotlight shining brightly on the Blue Jays, other companies were also trying to step in. Wendy’s responded cheekily, saying, “sorry colonel. You are bad luck.”
The Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-1 in Game 2 of the best-of-seven championship. The series now shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
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