HOUSTON – For Astros families, it is arguably the most difficult gift to find this holiday season. A Jeremy Peña jersey.
Carey Laurito was on the hunt outside the Astros team store at Minute Maid in hopes of becoming “Number one mom,” she said with a laugh.
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She, like so many Houstonians, has been searching for quite some time for a Peña kids jersey.
“A few months since the World Series,” to be exact.
She’s not alone.
KPRC 2′s Mario Diaz has been in the same boat when it comes to a Peña “Space City” kids jersey, which is viewed by some as even more elusive than one of the regular jerseys with Peñas name on the back.
Bottom line, any version in a kid’s size is challenging to find at any retailer in the Houston area and beyond.
Out of stock for several weeks is the typical response from retailers.
The Astros tell us they have a select few at their team store but when KPRC 2 paid a visit twice on Thursday, workers told us they were sold out for quite some time.
It was the same story on Monday and a previous visit a few weeks back following their second world championship in five years.
One employee even called the Peña jersey the equivalent of the “cabbage patch dolls of the 80s” adding “good luck finding one” as we inquired about the availability of any kid’s version of the jersey.
Again, some of us are parents dealing with the same challenges as so many other Houstonians.
When asked whether or not she was surprised there was not a mass production of Peña’s jerseys immediately after the World Series, Laurito said, “A little bit,” going on to add, “It’s a great money-making opportunity.”
It is but Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale says the dilemma is one that he has seen before in furniture retail.
“These things happen in retail all the time. There are couches in there that I think are ugly, and they take off and the ones I think are beautiful, and I buy 100 of them, [they] don’t sell at all,” said McIngvale in the parking lot of Gallery Furniture.
But those are couches!
The focus here is Jeremy Peña jerseys.
The rookie sensation captured the hearts of Houstonians during the Astros World Series run in October and November.
“I can definitely see how that’s an issue though because when we were riding around in the parade float, I saw more Peña signs than I’ve ever seen signs in my life,” said Alex Bregman, Peña’s teammate.
Bregman provided a suggestion for parents and even Santa during a recent conversation, “Maybe you could put a note in a present that says as soon as I can find a Jeremy Peña jersey, you are going to get one.”
KPRC 2 Investigates even attempted to create a custom-made jersey on the websites MLB shop and Fanatics but the two did not allow for special characters.
In Peña’s case, the “ñ” could not be constructed as it stated special characters are not allowed.
The same issue occurred when we attempted to recreate the accented “i” on Edwin Díaz’s last name for a custom-made Mets jersey.
McIngvale’s take? “MLB’s website needs to learn how to speak Spanish!”
Emails were sent to Fanatics and MLB requesting a statement in response to the glitch involving special characters in Spanish last names and the inability to build out jerseys.
We have yet to hear back from them.