NEW YORK, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- New York Yankees fans hoping to receive a Mariano Rivera bobblehead figurine were angered Tuesday when shipments of the dolls arrived late to Yankee Stadium.
The bobbleheads of the retiring all-time saves leader and Yankees great were supposed to be handed out to the first 18,000 fans who entered the stadium before the start of Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, but the gates remained closed as club officials awaited the dolls' arrival, The New York Daily News reported.
When they did open 30 minutes late, the figurines still hadn't arrived, and fans were instead handed vouchers.
An announcement was made in the third inning that fans holding vouchers could now get their Rivera bobbleheads, sparking a chaotic scene in which Yankees backers formed into long lines and waited several innings to pluck their prizes.
"I've been coming to Yankee Stadium since 1981 and I've never seen anything like this," Chaz Perry, a 36-year-old New York Fire Department paramedic, told the Daily News. "If they run out for any reason ... I don't want to be here for that. It's going to get ugly."
Yankees Senior Vice President of Marketing Deborah Tymon told the newspaper the delay was caused when a truck transporting the dolls broke down in New Jersey.
