It’s baseball season, and while no one is currently allowed to watch games from the stadium, teams have been compensating by putting up fan cutouts in the seats.
Globe Life Park in Arlington, TX, home of the Texas Rangers, has one cutout in particular that is sure to pique the attention of metal fans… late Pantera/Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott.
The cutout, placed near the right field foul pole and paid for by a fan or friend of Abbot, was profiled during a recent Rangers game on Fox Sports. A short video of the segment was shared by Pantera’s official Instagram.
It’s fitting that Abbott appears in the audience for the Rangers’ games. The team pays tribute to Abbott and Pantera every time a player is walked by playing part of the band’s single “Walk.”
Along with late brother “Dimebag” Darrell, Abbott was a known fan of Dallas’ sports teams. According to Loudwire, the two partied with hockey’s Dallas Stars following their Stanley Cup victory in 1999.
Abbott isn’t the only metal-adjacent person to be commemorated with a stadium cutout. Loudwire also reports that a cutout of Metallica bassist Cliff Burton’s father Ray Burton resides down the first base line at San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park.
Vinnie Paul Abbott passed away from heart disease in 2018. He was 54.
