POWAY, Calif. (KGTV) — Two Poway teenagers have taken their love of baseball and turned it into their own merchandise company called 'Keep Baseball Fun'.
They say it is their way of putting the fun back in the game, and at the same time give back to those in need.
Brothers Cooper and Parker Smith say the game of baseball is too serious at times, so during the pandemic, they decided to create their own merchandise as a way of making the game fun again.
"We decided to make our own lifestyle baseball brand with our own tips, our own product reviews, and just try to bring the fun back into baseball," says Cooper.
Parker, a baseball player himself, says he and his friends were really bored during COVID, and making t-shirts and hats sounded really fun.
"We're doing this because it's fun, and we wanted to do this kind of thing," said Parker.
"So far the experience has been great. It's gotten more attraction than we ever thought would be possible."
The brothers got together with their friends and came up with different ideas to put on the merchandise. Their creative process included using some of their favorite baseball catchphrases and terms.
"Well, my friend came up with the idea of 'Hitting Tanks'. He's been around baseball and he liked that idea because he hits home runs. Another one, 'Can of Corns' actually means easy pop fly and not a lot of people actually know that."
The goal of their clothing company was to just have fun, but they decided to take it a step further by giving back to those in need.
They went back to their baseball knowledge and decided their motto would be to punch out hunger, referring to an umpire who might punch out a batter on a called third strike.
The recipient of their Punch-Out Hunger campaign is the non-profit Feed the Children.
"During these last few months people have been shut down and we wanted to come up with a lighthearted way to help people, so my brother and I came up with the idea of punch out hunger. A punch-out is what an umpire does when he calls strike three."
The brothers have been in business a little over a year, and as of now have donated close to $2,000 to Feed the Children.
