The Making of McGonigoggles 🥸

How joy catches on.

Sometimes joy spreads in the most unexpected ways.

A young Detroit Tigers fan named Cece showed up at a game wearing homemade “McGonigoggles”—two plastic cups fashioned into oversized goggles in honor of rookie Kevin McGonigle. Just moments after television cameras featured her creation, McGonigle hit a home run. After the game he gave her a shoutout, thanked her for the good luck, and encouraged her to keep wearing them.

I laughed when I saw the story.

Since our family was planning to attend two Tigers games in Sacramento, I couldn’t resist. It seemed only right that we show up wearing our own McGonigoggles. 🥸

I briefly entertained the idea that this would become a family crafting activity. It did not. 😂 And so began an evening involving orange paper cups, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, googly eyes, glue, and more optimism than engineering skill. Fortunately, the engineering eventually caught up with the optimism. By the fourth pair I was feeling surprisingly confident in my pipe cleaner design, even if the rest of the family remained somewhat skeptical about the overall concept.

As it turned out, the goggles became only part of the story.

Before we had even entered the stadium, a woman waiting in line came over to ask where I had found my colorful hat and dress. Our conversation wandered from clothing to creativity, recycled materials, and the bags and motorcycle seat covers her ten-year-old son enjoys making. I found myself telling her about young fashion designer Max Alexander and his remarkable creativity. Even one of the ticket checkers waved me over before the gates opened—not to check my ticket, but to tell me he loved my outfit. He said it was fun and had a hippie vibe. I smiled all the way to our seats. It struck me that colorful clothing has a way of inviting conversation.

The moment we put on our McGonigoggles, people started smiling. One fan even came over and asked if they could take a picture with us. We quickly slipped them back on for the photo. Somehow that simple, goofy idea had become an invitation to connect with complete strangers.

And yes…the McGonigoggles seemed to do their job.

On Saturday, Kevin McGonigle led off the game. Wearing our freshly engineered McGonigoggles, we watched him step to the plate.

Home run!

I make no claims regarding the scientific validity of McGonigoggle-induced baseball performance, but I am also not prepared to dismiss the possibility. We were sure to put them on each time he was at bat.

Looking back, the weekend was about so much more than baseball. It was about saying yes to an idea that made us laugh. It was about creating something delightfully unnecessary. It was about conversations with strangers, a family willing to wear ridiculous orange goggles, and discovering once again that joy has a remarkable way of catching on.

One little girl inspired our family. Our family made a few other people smile. Maybe they’ll inspire someone else. I think that’s one of the nicest things about joy. It can be remarkably easy to share.