Earlier than MLB’s latest trophy was supplied up because the prize in a contest between the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres, it needed to cross by way of the arms of Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder.
The customized Fender Telecaster guitar, named the Vedder Cup, is claimed to have been performed by its namesake for “about an hour” earlier than it was shipped off to T-Cellular Park in Seattle.
“He gave it a good run through,” George Webb, Pearl Jam’s gear supervisor, instructed the Seattle Occasions on Monday. “He always likes to feel like he puts a little energy, you know, spiritual energy, into an instrument. Not just hand off something that’s brand-new, never-touched kind of thing. So yeah, jammed on it for about an hour. Had a good time.”
The trophy options many nods from the 60-year-old musician, together with a hand-drawn “cresting wave” illustration and an arrow and mod image — an allusion to Vedder’s tribute to the Who on his private guitar. On the again, the Padres and Mariners logos seem alongside textual content hand-written by the singer and guitarist: “The Vedder Cup Established 2025 by Major League Baseball.”
The Vedder Cup, a guitar proven off Monday by Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, will go every year to the winner of the full-season sequence between the Mariners and the San Diego Padres.
(Lindsey Wasson / Related Press)
It additionally accommodates a brand from EB Analysis Partnership, a nonprofit co-founded by Vedder and his spouse, Jill, after a childhood pal’s son was born with the painful pores and skin situation epidermolysis bullosa. The nonprofit funds analysis on the illness.
The cup is meant to convey “meaningful awareness” to the uncommon dysfunction, Mariners Govt Vice President and Chief Working Officer Trevor Gooby stated in an announcement in March, when the longtime rivalry grew to become official.
“We can’t wait to see this rivalry series grow and look forward to battling the Mariners for the Vedder Cup,” Padres Chief Govt Erik Greupner added.
The rivalry, comparable to it’s, arose from forces each actual and manufactured, apparently. Vedder has sturdy ties to each cities, having grown up in San Diego, then moved to Seattle to begin Pearl Jam with Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament — therefore, the “Vedder” Cup.
Additionally, upon the introduction of interleague play within the late ’90s, MLB regarded for “natural” rivalries between groups just like the Padres and Mariners. This yr, the league canonized the rivalry, which is claimed to have begun as geographic, given each groups’ West Coast houses, Reuters reviews.
The 2 groups have met nearly yearly since 1997. Within the casual all-time sequence, Seattle at the moment leads 68-63. Moreover, they share a coaching advanced in Peoria, Ariz.
Some followers are nonetheless left with questions as to why the competitors has turned official, with one claiming on Reddit that “padres and mariners fans literally give no s— about each other.”
Nonetheless, they conceded it’s “likely the most meaningless and yet kinda fun thing in MLB.”
The trophy was within the highlight Monday when the groups met for the fourth time this season. The Mariners notched a 9-6 victory over the Padres, taking the season sequence after three earlier wins in San Diego. The Padres beat the Mariners Tuesday, 7-6, and the ultimate recreation is Wednesday, however the contest has already been determined. Cal Raleigh, the Mariners’ switch-hitting, homer-hammering catcher, often called “Big Dumper,” hoisted and performed the trophy in celebration Monday night time.
The title and brand for the cup have been first proven off in March, however its remaining design wasn’t completed till the weeks main as much as the fixture.
“Typically on a custom build like this it will take us six months or so to source the wood, get everything mapped out ready to go and take our time to vet the process, apply the graphics, do some test runs,” Chase Paul, director of product growth for Fender, instructed the Seattle Occasions. “On this we just kind of headed into it in parallel with testing and the production version at the same time, and kind of getting it ready to go.”
In all, it took Fender eight or 9 weeks to get the work executed, which Paul known as a “really incredible effort by the team in the shop.”
Naturally, Vedder doesn’t need the trophy guitar to sit down on a shelf for the following yr whereas it’s within the Mariners’ possession. Based on Webb, “He wants it to be played.”
“That’s his attitude with everything. It’s a living, breathing instrument. It sounds great,” he added.
As an added bonus to followers, the league introduced it might give away limited-edition Vedder Cup hats over the last 2025 recreation between the 2 on Wednesday.
To no shock, the unique ticket bundle that included the hats has offered out.
