The goateed man behind home plate at Game 2 of the 2025 World Series, who went viral on social media after dressing up as Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, was actually sent by the fast-food chain as part of a marketing stunt.
“We changed the name of our iconic KFC Zinger sandwich to the Dinger, and sent the Colonel to Game 2 to hype that message,” said Azim Akhtar, the interim chief marketing officer of KFC Canada, in an emailed statement. “It’s our way of feeding baseball fandom and celebrating the hits.”
Photos and videos of the mysterious man sparked a flurry of discussion online during and after the game. Some fans initially speculated that the impersonator was a random individual who was trying to throw off the Japanese members of the Los Angeles Dodgers — including superstar Shohei Ohtani. According to Japanese legend, the ghost of the Colonel cursed the Hanshin Tigers, a team in Japan’s Nippon Baseball League, after fans threw his statue in a canal.
This isn’t the first time that a Colonel Sanders impersonator has been spotted at a Toronto sports game. Last year, a man cosplaying as the KFC founder — who lived in Canada for the last 15 years of his life — also appeared courtside at a Raptors game.
With files by Mahdis Habibinia
