Fun fact: Tropius was the first Pokemon to be distributed in a Cherish Ball.

Rough translation from Google Translate:
>This is an announcement of a special project "Shokotan's Tropius" from "Pokemon Sunday", which is being broadcast on TV Tokyo series.
>In honor of the trainer "Shoko" who plays Tropius in the game, the director Shokotan, who is active in "Pokemon Sunday", will give away "Tropius" as a gift! The gift Tropius is called "Shokotan" and is in a precious ball. Also, the mysterious card has a message from Director Shokotan! The gift period is from February 3 (Sat) to February 12 (Mon) at the following stores. Don't miss this chance! !!

https://web.archive.org/web/20070206211857/http://www.pokemon.co.jp/info/anime/a0128_01.html

*the cherish ball is referred to as the precious ball in the japanese versions