A Look Back at the Former SNL Star’s Memorable Day in Major League Baseball
Topps RIPPED is celebrating Saturday Night Live’s historic 50th season with multiple articles about the show’s biggest stars, best sketches, and connection with Topps and The Hobby
On a Thursday in March back in 2015, former SNL superstar Will Ferrell made himself some history. Ferrell played for ten MLB teams in five spring training games to raise money for cancer charities, logging time at every position (yes, including pitcher) and one appearance as a pinch hitter. He also spent some time with the Cubs as an enthusiastic third-base coach, where he pulled out cue cards for men on base, like “You are so handsome,” “Remember these games don’t count,” and “Ignore that last card … play hard.” Ferrell made his goal heading into the day crystal clear in an interview with ESPN. “What if today I play out of my mind, and what if I make the regular roster? That’s kind of what the goal of today is—I’m hoping to land with a club.”
The SNL alum is a longtime sports fanatic. Before heading to USC to study sports journalism, the actor played basketball, football, and soccer in high school. Of course, his career took a much different turn, but Ferrell has kept the sporting world close to his heart. Ferrell actually used his impression of legendary Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray during his audition for Saturday Night Live and went on to play the Hall-of-Fame broadcaster on the show itself. Ferrell has made a whole slew of sports comedies, like Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory, and Semi Pro.
Today, Ferrell is a part-owner of MLS franchise LAFC and iconic English soccer club Leeds United. His longstanding love for sports, unparalleled showmanship, and (evident) baseball ability made this spring training event a perfect fit for the funnyman.
The accomplishment of playing in five games for all ten teams was no easy feat. Ferrell traveled Arizona throughout the entire day, starting in Mesa before heading to Tempe and Scottsdale. To pull off the finale, Ferrell was cut by the Reds after an inning at third base, allowing him to jump on a helicopter to head to Glendale, where he landed in center field of the night game between the San Francisco Giants and Chicago White Sox (where he struck out in his second and final at-bat of the day). The grand entrance was captured on Ferrell’s White Sox DH card.
While his longtime love of sports was known to many, Ferrell was known in Hollywood as a notoriously difficult signature. But for this cause, Ferrell finally put pen to card stock in partnership with Topps. To commemorate this historic and hilarious day, Topps collaborated with Ferrell to produce 10 baseball cards, one for each team that he appeared with, listing the position he played and his stats on the day.
The series became an insert in the 2015 Topps Archives set. Each card was created in the style of an iconic Topps year—1957, 1965, 1973, and 1989 all get their turn, among others. Each card had auto versions numbered to 10. The cards were standouts of the set and some of the most hyped cards of the year across Topps’ offerings. They remain some of the most covetable Topps Archives cards of all time.
In addition to putting out cards and auctioning off game-worn memorabilia, Ferrell captured the story of the day in the HBO documentary Ferrell Takes the Field. To celebrate the film’s release, Topps issued ten variation cards strictly for promotional events. These cards used the same designs as the originals but different photos. They even included a few with MLB stars, like Mike Trout, Rickey Henderson, and Kris Bryant.
The legendary day, put together by the legendary showman, even found its way into the 2015 Topps Dynasty set, which includes 10 auto patch cards featuring Ferrell’s signature and a piece of one of his game-worn jerseys.
The whirlwind event raised nearly $1 million for cancer charities, bringing a hilarious change of pace to a humdrum day of Spring Training. Former A’s reliever Evan Scribner said after his game with Ferrell. “He’s hilarious. It’s amazing how one guy can make everyone in the whole city’s day. All the players, all the fans, everybody.” A barrel of laughs and a barrel of money for a good cause. As Harry Caray would say, “Holy cow!”
