Red Sox postpone 'racially insensitive' David Ortiz bobbleheads

The Boston Red Sox say fans will not be receiving David Ortiz bobbleheads on Tuesday night, as expected.

The team promised to distribute Ortiz bobbleheads to the first 15,000 fans entering Fenway Park prior to Boston's game against the New York Yankees, but Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said he elected to postpone the promotion after doing a quality check.

"I thought the bobbleheads were an inaccurate portrayal of David," Kennedy said. "To go further, I thought the facial features were racially insensitive."

Kennedy said the team will now give out a new-look Ortiz bobblehead at a future date to anyone who has a ticket to Tuesday night's game. In a statement, the Red Sox said that they will announce details after the game.

The bobbleheads were more highly anticipated because Ortiz is retiring at the end of the season.

Bobblehead snafus are not completely unheard of. Last year, the Washington Nationals shelved a Jayson Werth bobblehead that awkwardly had the outfielder's mouth wide open. Five months later, the team gave a more satisfactory-looking bobblehead to fans with vouchers from the original game.

In 2006, the Baltimore Orioles canceled a Brian Roberts bobblehead promotion after his face appeared too dark.

One of the most awkward bobblehead giveaways came in August 2012, when the Philadelphia Phillies gave away 45,000 Hunter Pence bobbleheads right after they had traded him to the San Francisco Giants.