The Yankees made the Torpedo Bat the talk of the sports world after clubbing 15 home runs during a season-opening sweep of the Brewers.
The new bats, which shift more mass toward the core, lit social media ablaze with debate, speculation and controversy.
It was only a matter of time until the bats reached retail, as Marucci and Victus released three Torpedo Bat models for purchase on their site Monday night.
This got us thinking: What are some of the other viral sensations that have made their way from pro sports to the masses?
Reebok Pump shoes
During the 1991 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Dee Brown bent over and began “pumping up” his Reebok Omni Zone Pump shoes.
“The more he pumped, the louder the fans got, the more the players sitting courtside cheered,” wrote Josh Weinfuss in a 2019 story for ESPN.
Reebok had released the new-age sneaker in 1989, and the company had tapped Brown to use the dunk contest in 1991 to raise awareness for the shoe.
Before each one of Brown’s dunks, he bent over and pumped up his sneakers. Then, after all of his dunks, he would bend over and let the air out of the shoe.
The stunt was already creating a massive buzz around the sneaker, but things reached a whole new level when Brown unveiled his arm-over-his-eyes dunk to beat Shawn Kemp for the title.
The following Monday, Reebok took out a full-page ad in USA Today with a photo of the dunk, according to Weinfuss.
Shooting sleeves
Allen Iverson’s impact on culture was arguably greater than his influence on the game of basketball itself.
In the early 2000s, his every move was emulated by idolizing fans and kids — influencing fashion on the court and off.
Perhaps his biggest contribution to the apparel world was the shooting sleeve. Originally meant to help with the swelling on his shooting elbow in January 2001, Iverson wore a “swath of a tube bandage called compression stockinette,” according to a Jay Caspian King story in The New Yorker.
Iverson posted a 51-point game wearing the sleeve and averaged more than 35 points for the rest of the season.
In Caspian King’s retelling, Under Armour contacted Philadelphia 76ers trainer Lenny Currier, who came up with the idea, shortly thereafter, asking whether Iverson would use one of the company's custom-made nylon sleeves instead.
By 2008, shooting sleeves had become the most popular “non-apparel” item sold by the league, according to a report by our Darren Rovell for CNBC.
Phiten necklaces
Remember when baseball players decided a mysteriously magical necklace would make them play better? The Phiten necklace, appearing to be a twisted rope of sorts and said to be infused with titanium, claimed to improve focus, assuage muscle aches and help players relax, among other things.
Randy Johnson is credited with bringing the necklace, produced by a Japanese company, stateside. According to the New York Times, he visited Japan in 2001 on an All-Star tour and started the trend, which surged following the 2004 World Series-winning Red Sox team wearing them and continued for the rest of the decade.
By 2008, nearly 300 professional baseball players were wearing the necklace, according to CBS News. Predictably, they emerged on Little League fields and in high school baseball parks as the latest trend for young players looking for an edge.
The problem was there was no evidence backing Phiten’s claims. In 2011, the company settled a class-action lawsuit alleging false advertising. Part of the settlement prohibited Phiten’s from claiming the product could affect energy, pain, or treat disease, according to Vice.
Beats by Dre headphones
Everywhere you looked during the 2012 Olympics in London, athletes were seen wearing Beats by Dre headphones. Michael Phelps wore them before races to an audience of millions.
It was a repeat of the success seen after LeBron James wore a pair of the gifted headphones, along with other players on the Team USA basketball team, during the 2008 Games.
Described as an “ambush marketing campaign,” Beats headphones were sent to dozens of athletes, garnering millions in earned media. This earned the ire of the IOC, which deemed the campaign prohibited advertising.
In the 2012 games, Phelps was forced to cover the logo on his Beats headphones.
The Fab Five's baggy shorts, black socks and shoes
The Fab Five didn’t invent black socks, shoes or baggy shorts, but the quintet made them a viral sensation (before going viral was a thing).
In 2014, Fab Five member Jalen Rose told Grantland’s David Jacoby the iconic look was first created at Southwestern High School, as Rose wore two pairs of shorts to compensate for his slight frame, and teammate Voshon Lenard made a habit of donning black dress socks during games.
Some say the baggy shorts trend actually traces its roots to former Illinois players in the late 1980s, led by Kendall Gill, who told ESPN the Juwan Howard and Chris Webber actually approached him, Nick Anderson and Steve Bardo and said, “We wore our shorts long because you guys did it.”
But regardless of the origins, there is little doubt the massive media attention surround the Fab Five brought it mainstream.
Victus pencil bat
Victus, one of the fastest-growing bat brands in the country (and one of the retailers of the new Torpedo Bat), first introduced the pencil bat in the “MLB The Show” video game.
Word traveled fast, and by the time the bat made its way to the big leagues during a Little League Classic game in Williamsport, Pa. in the hands of Bryson Scott, the unique lumber was already a hit with kids.
Victus quickly sold 1,000 hand-painted pencil bats. Then the company sold another 1,000. Last year, Victus launched a metal version, ranging in price from $199 to $399, selling tens of thousands of units and becoming ubiquitous on Little League fields everywhere.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.