Michael Coffin is about to get a bobblehead, and the giveaway is coming with a funeral home’s name attached.
The Corpus Christi Hooks will hand out a talking Coffin bobblehead to 2,000 fans on Saturday during Día de los Hooks Night, a Copa de la Diversión promotion that ties into Día de los Muertos, the day of the dead. The bobblehead is being presented through a partnership with Seaside Memorial Park & Funeral Home, which made the whole idea land with a perfectly eerie little twist.
Coffin, the Hooks’ director of media relations and broadcasting, said the idea caught him off guard in the best way.
“It’s not something I had on my baseball bingo card," admitted Coffin, the Hooks' director of media relations and broadcasting. "But when they asked me about it at the start of the year, of course it was a yes.
I was blown away. Plus, they shaved off at least 10 pounds.
I look great!”
The funeral home sponsorship was apparently an easy fit once someone floated the name connection.
“It’s perfect," Coffin said. "Somebody pitched to them, ‘We have a Coffin on our staff.’
And they were into it. I have to remember to send them a Christmas card, because this is just really, really cool.”
Coffin has been with Corpus Christi since 2007, and the longtime Texas League voice said the bobblehead’s audio came from one of his favorite home run calls. He said he drew inspiration from a talking Milo Hamilton bottle opener he had as a kid and recreated the line: "It’s going down the line.
If it’s fair, it’s gone! The Hooks win!"
The name, of course, has never exactly been subtle. Coffin said he thought about that even as a child.
"I do remember [during childhood] thinking about it like, ‘That’s a weird name to have,’" he said. "It goes back to when names came from the jobs people had.
So, if you were Armstrong, you carried stuff around for other people, and if you’re a Smith, [an ancestor was] a blacksmith. So, at some point, somebody in the family was making coffins."
And Coffin made clear where his own skill set does and doesn’t begin.
“There’s only one thing I know how to do, and it ain’t woodworking,” he said.
For Coffin, the bobblehead is still the kind of honor that leaves him searching for the right words.
"It’s been really cool to hear from everybody who’s reached out and texted and called," he said. "I’ve worked with a lot of folks, and it’s been wonderful to hear from them.
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