Cooper Flagg is in the midst of his rookie season on the NBA court, and now a Maine minor league baseball team is bringing him to the diamond — in bobblehead form.
The Portland Sea Dogs announced Thursday that Flagg will be featured in the team’s Notable Mainers bobblehead series later this season. The first fans who enter Hadlock Field in Portland for the Aug. 12 game against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies will receive a limited edition bobblehead of Flagg wearing a Maine United jersey from his AAU days in the Pine Tree State.
“The people of Maine are proud of what Cooper Flagg has accomplished,” Sea Dogs General Manager Jesse Scaglion said in a Thursday press release. “We’re excited to honor him as part of our Notable Mainers series and give fans the chance to take home a unique collectible.”
Flagg will join other prominent Mainers in the bobblehead series such as Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, actor Patrick Dempsey and WNBA player Mackenzie Holmes.
Gates will open at 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 12 and the team expects the 1,000 bobbleheads to be handed out quickly. Stadium capacity is around 7,000.
Flagg is a Newport native who won a Maine state championship during his one and only year at Nokomis Regional High School. He went on to finish his high school career at national powerhouse Montverde Academy in Florida before spending one year at Duke University, where he won almost all of the college national player of the year awards.
The 19-year-old NBA rookie was selected first overall in last year’s draft by the Dallas Mavericks. He is currently a contender for NBA rookie of the year.
Tickets are still available for the Aug. 12 game in Portland, as of Friday afternoon.
