Rockies give out shirts to honor 'Tulo', but spell his name wrong

(Reuters) - Ebay may soon heat up with searches for baseball jerseys honoring Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, after his own team managed to spell the top hitter's name wrong.

The team gave out 15,000 of the shirts to fans attending a home game at Coors Field in Denver on Saturday, spelling as "Tulowizki" the name of the player tied for first for the highest batting average in Major League Baseball.

Some of the jerseys with the misspelled name were already bid up to more than $40 just a few hours after being offered on the eBay auction site.

One listing described the item as "wrapped in plastic to preserve this wonderful mistake," with the added exhortation: "Own this piece of epic fail history!"

Other sellers were offering the shirt for as much as $300. By comparison, Tulowitzki shirts - with the correct spelling - can be purchased on the site for as little as $11.99.

Fans posted pictures on the Internet of themselves or friends all wearing the already-notorious shirts.

The Rockies posted an apology on the team's Facebook page, saying they decided to go ahead and hand out the jerseys "acknowledging that many fans came to the game for the jersey" and not wanting to disappoint them.

Fans who wanted to exchange the blooper jerseys will be able to do so in September and will also receive a free ticket to a Rockies game, the team said.

Tulowitzki, who is batting .340, leads the Rockies in home runs with 21 this season and is tied for 10th in the Major Leagues in that category.

Not everything came out wrong on Saturday for the Rockies, currently in last place in the National League's Western Division. By a score of 8-1, they defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates.