‘Tyler Watson is in my front yard.’ How Arizona man is becoming a political celebrity

An Arizona man is making waves for ... crossing his arms, local media outlets reported.

Tyler Watson, a 25-year-old minor league baseball player from Chandler, can be seen on signs throughout the city amid numerous signs advertising political candidates, 12 News reported. But he isn’t making any sweeping political promises, or running for office at all — according to the sign, he’s simply “crossing his arms,” the outlet reported.

“It looks endearing to me,” Watson told AZ Family. “He looks like he is trying his best and proud of the sign. It’s just so funny to me. The only context is what’s literally happening, he’s crossing his arms.”

The signs were initially intended to be a gag for his friends and family to enjoy, but have become a local favorite, cutting through the noise of an otherwise contentious election season, ABC 15 reported.

“The whole gist of the story was, I was driving down the street, and I saw some signs, and I thought it would be funny if my friends were driving down and they just randomly saw my sign,” Watson told KJZZ. “So I created the sign as soon as I got home, took a picture, and then I made it and then two days later I put it out and didn’t tell anybody.”

The signs began to gain more attention, and people asked Watson — a pitcher in the Oakland Athletics organization — where they could buy their own, KJZZ reported.

So Watson created a website with two versions of the sign for sale — the original one, and another that says “Tyler Watson is in my front yard.” The website also has a t-shirt for sale that says “Write-In Watson.”

“I was going to just charge people what it cost to make it, I wasn’t going to profit on anything or anything like that. But then I figured if people are going to buy it, I might as well raise money for charity,” Watson told KTAR. “So that’s what I ultimately ended up doing.”

Watson told the outlet that the money will go to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and that he estimates he’s raised at least about $1,000 as of late July.

“I hope that the other politicians will actually maybe take note and maybe mix up their sign choice and mix up the strategy a little bit,” Watson told 12 News.

This story was originally published August 2, 2022 at 2:52 PM with the headline "‘Tyler Watson is in my front yard.’ How Arizona man is becoming a political celebrity."