Popular rock band The Black Keys are making a little league team feel like true rock stars after sponsoring the Orioles, a team in the West Akron Baseball League in Ohio.
Patrick Carney, the band’s drummer and Dan Auerbach, the vocalist and guitarist in the Grammy-winning band, played in the same league when they were growing up and jumped at the chance to help out their hometown. Head coach Steve Milkovich, who was friends with Carney’s brother growing up, reached out to the drummer directly and the band quickly put up the $300 to cover the cost of the sponsorship.
The Black Keys name stands out from the local business and restaurants that usually grace the little leaguers’ backs. They’ve created quite a buzz in Ohio, causing a need to make more of these special uniforms–just in larger sizes.
“It’s crazy now, people are contacting the league from everywhere, asking to buy one of the jerseys,” Milkovich told MTV. “And that’s so great, but what I think is the most amazing is that the band never asked for anything, not even to be recognized. They just did it because they’re good guys, they remember playing in the league. It was just ‘Here’s the check, go out and win some games.'”
Having the coolest sponsor in the league scrawled across their backs sparked some good fortune for the team, made up of 6 to-8-year-olds — they went undefeated during the season. But the good fortune didn’t end there, as the band promised to sign each of the Orioles’ jerseys at the conclusion of the season.
Check out the shirts (which use the same font that can be found on the band’s “El Camino” album) below .
Photo via @officerpatrickcarney
