The “Tarps Off” trend that started in St. Louis with a baseball team from Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches.
HOUSTON — You may have seen them high up in the right field bleachers at Daikin Park during Tuesday’s Pirates-Astros game – a whole section of bare-chested fans waving their shirts round and round in the air.
So what exactly were you seeing? It’s the latest tradition in baseball — the ‘Tarps Off’ movement that’s taking over stadiums across the league. A group of rowdy bare-chested fans cheer on the home team from one of the furthest spots in the stadium from home plate — the upper deck in right field.
Here’s a look at the Houston debut of “Tarps Off” in the opener of the Astros home series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
This viral trend all started with a baseball team from Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches.
The Lumberjacks club baseball team was on a trip to Illinois for the Club Baseball World Series. And while on the road, they decided to take in a game between the Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals at Busch Stadium in mid-May. The Lumberjacks cheered wildly at the game, shirts off, waving them in the air. More fans joined in, and according to MLB.com, it provided enough energy for the Cards to pull off a walk-off win, and the trend was born.
The next night, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol bought out the “Tarps Off” section at the stadium and invited the Stephen F. Austin club baseball team into the Cardinals’ clubhouse.
Then just days later, the Cardinals won on an Iván Herrera walk-off three-run home run against the Pirates. As Herrera was rounding the bases, he gave a nod to the shirtless section, then ripped his own jersey off and twirled it in the air.
“What started as a group of Lumberjacks cheering on the Cardinals during their trip to Illinois for the Club Baseball World Series turned into a viral moment seen across the country, with fans, players and national media embracing the energy and spirit of SFA,” Stephen F. Austin posted on the school’s official X account.
It’s a trend that started with a team from Texas, and on Tuesday, came back to Texas at Daikin Park. Unfortunately, the Busch Stadium magic didn’t come with it on Tuesday night. Houston lost that game to Pittsburgh, 10-6. But on Wednesday night, Houston scored six runs in the eighth inning to comeback and stun Pittsburgh for an 11-9 Astros win.
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