Ben’s Biz Baseball Cards, #2: Erik the Peanut Guy

The 2017 TOPPS Pro Debut set, released May 24, contains a 15-card Ben’s Biz insert set featuring highlights from my seven seasons of ballpark travel. This is the second in a 15-part blog series, which will provide the backstory for each and every card.

BBB-2: Erik the Peanut Guy (front)

Erik Mertens lives in Spokane and works as an alumni and young adult minister at Gonzaga University. But he has his summers off, and during the summer he returns home to Kennewick, Washington, and morphs into Tri-City Dust Devils icon “Erik the Peanut Guy.”

I visited the Dust Devils’ Gesa Stadium in 2016, and wrote a story on Erik. An excerpt:

Erik, as you could probably guess, sells peanuts. He’s served in that capacity ever since he began working for the Northwest League franchise during its inaugural 2001 campaign. But Erik — last name Mertens — isn’t just working for peanuts. He also doubles as the Dust Devils’ on-field emcee.

Whether slinging the sport’s most iconic nut or refereeing a dizzying bat race, Erik is always decked out in a bow tie and personalized apron. He’s one of Gesa Stadium’s most well-known and well-liked denizens, featured on a schedule magnet in 2005 and immortalized in bobblehead form seven years later.

I was impressed with Erik’s boundless enthusiasm for, and love of, the Dust Devils.

During my time at Gesa Stadium, Erik gave me the opportunity to serve as his apprentice:

Erik also inadvertently set up my best-ever on-field ad-lib.

So here’s to Erik, a man who will always love working for peanuts.

BBB-2 Erik the Peanut Guy (back)

benjamin.hill@mlb.com

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