Gunnar Henderson may not have made it to the final round in Monday’s Home Run Derby, but the Orioles slugger’s homers this season have translated into lots of cheap pizza for fans.
A Papa John’s promotion offers half-priced pizzas the day after Henderson hits a home run. In honor of the derby, the pizza chain shared some statistics this week revealing that 40,837 pizzas have been ordered using the Henderson discount.
New Gunnar Henderson Papa John’s Commercial
#Birdland pic.twitter.com/UazDod0nnE
— ZFARM (@ZFARM_) May 9, 2024
The 23-year-old shortstop has hit 28 home runs this season, which breaks down to 1,458 pizzas per home run.
That means Baltimore-area residents have purchased 326,696 slices of discount pizza through the first half of the season, or enough slices to feed more than half the population of Baltimore City (559,266).
Despite a tepid performance at the Home Run Derby in Arlington, Texas, where Henderson hit 11 home runs and was eliminated in the first round, the Oriole said he still had an “unreal experience.”
“I was glad to make it through it and at least hit double digits,” he said after the Derby.
He’s still got the second half of the season to hit many more — and to add to those pizza stats.
Baltimore Sun reporter Jacob Calvin Meyer contributed to this article.