Fort Wayne baseball team’s pitch gives nod to Hoosier tenderloins

Fort Wayne, Indiana – The love of tenderloin sandwiches in Indiana is being fully embraced by a Minor League Baseball team.

The Fort Wayne squad made the announcement on Friday that, for a few of its home games at Parkview Field in the next season, it will trade in its Johnny TinCap jerseys and caps for shirts and hats featuring pork deliciousness.

For the games, the Hoosier State Tenderloins will serve as the temporary name for the TinCaps.

According to legend, tenderloins first appeared in 1908 at Nick’s Restaurant in Huntington, which is located about 30 minutes drive from Fort Wayne.

On their Aug. 3–6 home game against the Great Lakes Loons of Midland, Michigan, players will wear jerseys with tenderloin graphics.

“Just as a classic tenderloin is too large for the bun, we’re planning to go big for these games as the Hoosier State Tenderloins,” said a statement from Michael Limmer, the TinCaps vice president of marketing and promotions.

The names of Indiana’s 92 counties are shown in stripes below the jersey, according to the team.

The team didn’t say whether spectators could buy the meaty jerseys or whether tenderloins will be sold at the games, so perhaps it’s in the works.

State legislators have not advanced a Senate bill that would make the tenderloin the official Indiana sandwich during the current General Assembly, which is taking place in Indianapolis. During his State of the State address in January, Governor Eric Holcomb praised the legislation.

At the end of December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected that Indiana’s population of hogs and pigs, which was over 4.3 million, was the fifth-highest in the nation, behind Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Illinois.

The name TinCaps is a tribute to Johnny Appleseed, who in the early nineteenth century brought apple trees to portions of North America.