The New York Yankees will once again honor their assistant to the traveling secretary.
The team unveiled a George Costanza bobblehead that will be given away for “Seinfeld Night” on Aug. 21 when the Yankees host the Boston Red Sox.
The first 18,000 fans in attendance will receive a figurine of Costanza napping under his desk – as he did in an episode of “Seinfeld” when the character worked for the organization.
“I love a good nap,” Costanza says in the episode. “Sometimes it’s the only thing getting me out of bed in the morning.”
Costanza, played by actor Jason Alexander, served as the team’s assistant to the traveling secretary on the NBC sitcom from the end of Season 5 through Season 8.
In a Season 8 episode titled “The Nap,” Costanza hires a contractor to modify his desk so he can comfortably take naps beneath it without being seen through his office windows.
“Do you think it might be possible to add a little shelf, like, uh, for an alarm clock?” Costanza asks, before also requesting a drawer for a blanket and a mounted cupholder.
While napping later in the episode, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner enters the office and waits for Costanza to return, leaving him trapped beneath the desk.
“What is it with this guy? I’ve been waiting three and a half hours,” says Steinbrenner, voiced by Larry David. “Should I go? No way, Jack!”
It’s the second straight year the Yankees have proclaimed this the “Summer of George.”
Last July, the team gave away a bobblehead of Costanza wearing a dress shirt, tie and slacks while in a batting stance. That likeness, of course, was from the Season 8 episode titled “The Abstinence,” in which Costanza gives batting tips to Yankees legends Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams.
“Hey, we won the World Series,” Jeter says.
“In six games,” Costanza replies.
Costanza had some Yankee Stadium giveaway ideas of his own in the show, like Snow Tire Day and Jon Voight Day. But if the team needs suggestions for next year’s Yankees-related Costanza bobblehead, here are a few: Costanza eating a Snickers with a knife and fork, Costanza as “Bodysuit Man,” or Costanza spilling strawberries on Babe Ruth’s uniform.
Or, perhaps, go with a bobblehead of his father Frank Costanza ranting to Steinbrenner about trading Jay Buhner.
