About

MLB Cardboard Cutout Fans refer to many Major League Baseball teams' decision to charge fans to place cardboard cutouts of themselves in their seats during the 2020 season games. The offering, which started due to social distancing measures during the coronavirus pandemic, became a topic of discussion among baseball fans who either mocked the decision or created quirky cutouts.

Origin

On July 18th, 2020, baseball fans saw the first uses of the cardboard cutouts at a preseason Yankees vs. Mets game, according to the New York Times.^[1] That day, Twitter user @solomonster^[2] posted a screenshot of the game saying, "#Mets against Yankees with cardboard cutouts of fans in the crowd. This is 2020." (shown below). The tweet garnered over 320 likes in five days. That same day, Redditor Monk_Philosophy posted another screenshot to r/Dodgers^[3] saying, "Watching some Mets/Yankees, got a preview of how the cardboard cutouts will look throughout the season. It’s gonna be distracting."

Spread

On July 23rd, 2020, during opening day, Twitter user @StuDoesAmerica posted a video of a baseball hitting a cutout captioned, "Dude doesn’t even flinch" (shown below). The tweet gained over 1,200 likes and 180 retweets in a day.

Dude doesn’t even flinch. pic.twitter.com/UJJ35TLIvl

— Stu Burguiere (@StuDoesAmerica) July 24, 2020

That same day, Twitter user @BradinCorona^[4] posted a screenshot of a stadium and said, "Imagine being a cardboard cutout and you still get a shitty seat" (shown below, left). The tweet received over 90 likes in a day. The next day, Redditor jojowhitesox posted a picture of his cutout captioned, "My cardboard cutout needs a cold one" to r/whitesox^[5] (shown below, right). That same day, The Onion^[6] published an article titled "Cubs Install Cardboard Cutouts Of Fans Pissing All Over Streets Outside Wrigley Field." Mashable^[7] and Timeout^[8] also published articles on the cardboard cutout fans.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References