Mariano Rivera Bobblehead Night a Disaster as Yankees Receive Shipment Late

Even Mariano Rivera can't make the save in this situation.

There was mass chaos before the New York Yankees' game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night, as the team was holding a bobblehead giveaway in honor of its retiring closer. The only problem was, the bobbleheads didn't actually show up before the game.

UPDATE: Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 8:38 p.m. ET by Joseph Zucker

Have no fear, the bobbleheads are here. Well, at least they're on their way, according to Daniel Barbarisi of The Wall Street Journal:

While the bobbleheads may have arrived in the third inning, the chaos did not subside, according to Rob Powers of New York City's WABC-TV Channel 7:

The sheer mass of people appears to be overwhelming, as you can see in this photo from @amazingjr87:

---End of update---

Instead, as MLB.com's Bryan Hoch reported, the first 18,000 fans in attendance received vouchers:

That led to The Newark Star-Ledger's Andy McCullough dubbing the promotion "Mariano Rivera Voucher Night":

This is the message that awaited fans as they entered the stadium, courtesy of Mark Feinsand:

Here's what the voucher looked like. If you close your eyes, it looks exactly like a bobblehead, via @IsaYankeeDiva:   

Plus, wouldn't you rather carry around a little ticket than a bulky box? Perhaps the Yankees thought they were just putting the fans first here.

In all seriousness, bobbleheads are generally the most popular promotion during the season. When you combine that with Rivera's impending retirement, you get what were some crazy lines of fans dying to get their hands on the freebie before the game.

When looking at the images outside the ballpark, you can only imagine how upset people were to receive the voucher instead of the real thing.

There was a massive swell of humanity waiting to get through the gates, via @Zellyanks:

Here's another look at the crowd waiting to enter Yankee Stadium, per YES Network:

Fans wanting a bobblehead needed to get in line pretty early by the looks of this photo, courtesy of the Albany Times Union's Mike Gwizdala:

The Yankees hopefully learned a very valuable lesson Tuesday night: Make sure you physically have the bobbleheads before announcing a Bobblehead Night, especially for one of the most revered players in franchise history.

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