Leave it to the hometown baseball team for another creative promotion. Borrowing from a pro wrestling theme, the Fresno Tacos (the alter ego of the minor league Fresno Grizzlies) and the Lehigh Valley Fighting Bacon (alter ego of the IronPigs) are engaging in an epic online battle.

The two squads are holding an online contest now through May 29. The loser will have to wear the winner’s cap at a yet-to-be-determined June game. The Tacos and Fighting Bacon (affiliates of Houston and Philadelphia respectively) have been squabbling on social media for years over who has the better food-based theme.

Both teams also argue over who fully embraced the food theme first. In 2014, the IronPigs introduced a special bacon cap and uniform. A year later, the Grizzlies changed their identity for one night (in conjunction with its long-running Taco Tuck Throwdown) as the Tacos. In 2016, Fresno took the Tacos identity further by wearing special jerseys for Tuesday home games.

Fresno’s general manager Derek Franks (who has dabbled in local pro wrestling himself) channeled The Rock at a news conference Tuesday (March 21).  “I’ve heard enough from the Lehigh Valley IronPigs about how bacon is better than tacos. It’s been going on for months. Yesterday, they took it too far. It got personal.”

Franks was referring to the numerous social media posts needling the Fresno baseball team, including one on Twitter that featured a taco being dropped into a trash can. “Today, we throw down the gauntlet. We’re going to let the world decide, tacos or bacon, what is the superior food,” Franks continued.

Voting takes place at BaconvsTacos.com and by #TeamTacos or #TeamBacon hashtags on Twitter.

Contact David Taub

Phone: 559-492-4037 / e-mail

This story was not subject to the approval of Granville Homes.