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Waterford pizza joint riding high after promotional baseball cap appears during World Series

WATERFORD–Crown Pizza is a family restaurant in Waterford known for its crazy creations. Fish taco pizza? On the menu. Spaghetti and meatball grinder? Che...
crown pizza world serie

WATERFORD--Crown Pizza is a family restaurant in Waterford known for its crazy creations. Fish taco pizza? On the menu. Spaghetti and meatball grinder? Check. Chicken bacon ranch pizza? They've got it.

But Crown's latest viral creation wasn't made in the kitchen, but rather a silk-screening printer.

Taso Vistas, the owner of Crown Pizza, is longtime friends with Rajai Davis, an outfielder for the Cleveland Indians.

"I'd probably say the most famous friend I have, or famous customer, is Rajai Davis, of the Cleveland Indians," Vistas said. The duo have been friends for 18 years, since college.

The Indians are in their first World Series since 1948, so all eyes are on the team and its players. And being the good friend that he is, Davis got Vistas tickets for Game 4.

But while Vistas may not have gotten on the megatron, at one point during the game on Saturday the camera panned to a shot that excited Vistas even more: sitting in the dugout was a baseball cap emblazoned with "Crown Pizza of Waterford" on it.

"Since he got me World Series tickets, I get him a hat in return, and we'll be even. That's fair, a fair price," Vistas joked about how the hat even appeared in the dugout in the first place.

The free bit of advertising seems to have paid off: within minutes Vistas had dozens of texts and phone calls on his cell phone. And the restaurant has seen an uptick in pizza orders as well!

And boy was it some smart, sly marketing, since advertisements that run during commercial breaks for the World Series normally run in the neighborhood of $500,000!

But Vistas claims it wasn't by design, just a lucky turn of events.

"Stories are the best when they’re on accident, you know, and that’s why this one's a great one. It’s wasn’t planned, and it’s great."

In case you were interested, Davis' team had a great night, winning 7-2. You can watch Game 6 on Tuesday on FOX 61 starting at 8 p.m.

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