Results tagged ‘ Promotions ’
Firm Traditions
We learn from MLB.com that:
"Rally Monday is now a firm tradition that only select MLB markets can enjoy each year…"
For example, MLB’s most tradition rich franchise – the Yankees – so revere Rally Monday that they’ve disassociated themselves from it entirely. Couldn’t be bothered with yet one more untraditional, contrived imposition just prior to the playoffs.
By contrast, eager Diamondbacks PR flunkies will corner passers by at some Tempe mall I’ve never heard of, to whoop and holler and hand out logo dishrags. In house hosts Vanessa and Mike are scheduled to put on a grate show, flanked by firm breasted RallyBacks making the scene.
Firm tradition, indeed.
Playing hooky for a playoff game is one thing. Navigating rush hour crosstown traffic for a third rate pep rally? No thanks. Not unless this svelte rally monkey’s phone number is on my dishrag.
We’re playing the Cubs and that’s exciting enough on its face. Lou Piniella. Zambrano. Alfonso and Aramis. Polish sausage. Derrick Lee. There’s more than enough fire and spice and heavy lumber to go around, without handing out hot pregame woodies. If the Cubs ever did conceive of a Chicagoland rally monkey, however, we imagine it might look something like their fans: doughy and undiscerning.
(photo courtesy of sockmonkeyfun.com and dbacks.com)
A Game Broke Out At The Charity Ball
Tonight could be a special night, with Brandon Webb trying to surpass Sal Maglie 
and Bob Gibson on his consecutive scoreless innings streak, currrently at 42. And we’re genuinely looking forward to it.
Last night wasn’t nearly as special, and it wasnt just because of the 7-4 loss to the Brewers in a game that wasnt that close.
Sideline reporter Todd Walsh encountered a representative from AFLAC Tuesday evening, who we quickly learned partnered with the Diamondbacks to bring over a hundred kids from Phoenix Children’s Hospital to the game. Nice.
The thrust of the piece, and indeed of the entire nine inning telecast, was that Dbacks ownership is charitable, good hearted, community based, etc. Which is fine, to a point. Every MLB franchise has a charitable arm and derives customer good will from strategically advertising that fact. While some hardliners might argue true charity is not boastful, even I recognize the corporate quid pro quo and dont begrudge it, in principle. Charity is charity, and charity is good. But at what point, practically speaking, does that customer good will become compromised by self-service, or even cross over the line into exploitation?
Last night’s nine inning song and dance might prove instructive.
This was not an impromptu sit down with AFLAC, in the signature, off the cuff Walsh style. The rehearsed Diamondbacks’ production went on for several minutes and included taped footage of a pregame celebration for the patients at adjacent Sliders restaurant. Todd even egged on the AFLAC representative, "inquiring" if it was true that one youthful participant came "right from chemotherapy" to attend the event. The pleasant rep hesitated, smiling nervously, before confirming that fact. The live camera honed in on a young, bald child after Walsh had droned on about the newsworthiness of management’s generosity.
It wasnt until the end of the drawn out segment in the middle of a baseball game that we discovered AFLAC has similar partnerships with 18 clubs, including one established with the DBacks in 2001 during the Colangelo era. Does that make this donation any less appreciated by these kids? Of course not. But it does make it less newsworthy, I think. Less a reflection of noteworthy charitable initiative than Walsh’s segment, centered on this "development", tried to convey.
This FO’s reputation has taken a mighty hit here in town. In particular, fans dont care for the righteous piety dripping from the talons of brothers Ken Kendrick and Jeff Moorad – and attendance has suffered accordingly. No big secret. So, last night, they grasped a large, blunt instrument and "designed" an entire telecast infused with nine innings of nuggets beating viewers over the head as to how righteous and wonderful the "brothers" really are.
"Beat over the head" too strong? Well, let’s see. There was a brief "announcement" about the St Mary’s Food Bank Alliance, a longstanding partner with this club and thousands of other valley businesses. (Since I have a blog, maybe I should take this "opportunity" to "announce" that I, too, volunteer regularly @ the Food Bank. Whoop de doo!)
Friday’s Front Row Grill ran a sales promotion where Mark Grace "volunteered" to pay tabs, provided fans shelled out for the appropriate tickets.
There was the extended, over the top, Walsh/AFLAC "interview".
And then there was Mr Derrick Hall.
Under the smarmy guise of "being invited", the Team President strongarmed 
himself into the booth yet again to hand deliver a rapid fire series of carefully crafted, misleading "announcements". It seems he makes a "guest visit" essentially every game now. In forty years of watching baseball, I can honestly say I’ve never seen a baseball exec so cheerfully driven to distort reality, so desperate to shill his product entirely on his own self-servingly fabricated terms.
In order to illustrate ownership’s family values, apparently, Hall went on at length, again with pretaped footage, showcasing what looked to be a chintzy, second rate kid’s play area shoehorned into the least accessible, upper level corner of the stadium, in part, because his languishing titty megabar – with the $20 separate admission just beyond center field – crowded out previous ownership’s play area for kids, established near that more desirable location.
Mr Hall’s big "announcement", however, was that the Diamondbacks will donate $5 of every ticket sold hereon out, to Diamondbacks Charities, up to $500,000. Sounds wonderful. What’s not to like? Well, that’s not all he said. The reason for this, according to Hall, was that current attendance so exceeded ownership’s expectations that they wanted to "reward" the fanbase for their allegiance with an "incredibly generous gesture".
Let’s think about this.
Q: Has attendance exceeded ownership expectations?
A: Only they can say for sure, but it’s highly implausible, given stories in the local and national press about how a first place team is underdrawing a 111 loss predecessor, by about 4K every single night – in the same market, in the same stadium. It’s implausible given Sutton and Grace’s on air campaign that this team "deserves more" and Grace’s recent diatribe that current attendance is "unacceptable". The broadcasters are, after all, company employees, reporting directly to Hall. It’s implausible given Hall’s recent acknowledgement that gameday attendance wasnt commensurate with the team’s high TV ratings as a result of, according to him, a lack of fan awareness that he is evidently rather feverishly trying to rectify. So, this "decision" is not based on exceeded expectations. It is driven by something else.
Q: What is really driving this decision?
A: If I’ve accurately described management’s true position, it would seem that perhaps low attendance is driving their decision, exactly the opposite of Hall’s claim.
Q: Why would he "lie" about such a thing?
A: Only Derrick knows for sure. Maybe pretending that attendance is excellent deflects from the fact it is not. Maybe pretending that fans already in attendance are somehow being "rewarded" deflects from the fact that this is a sales gimmick targeted at people who dont currently attend games. Perhaps a local journalist will inquire about these seeming contradictions.
Q: How does one "reward" fans by charging them the exact same price for tickets as before?
A: There’s no reward or tangible benefit to the fans here. One could argue there’s a psychological benefit, a philanthropic feeling of self esteem, but remember what Hall said. It’s not the fans who are "incredibly generous" here – it’s the owners. The fans role is to buy more tickets at regular club prices.
Q: Why is the donation limit set at $500,000? Why cant it keep going if we keep buying tickets?
A: Most likely, because ownership has already earmarked this particular amount for charity and is now merely "tying" additional ticket sales to the previously budgeted write off. Basically an accounting gimmick to try and sell more tickets under false pretenses.
Q: You mean, if I buy these so called "Charity Tickets", I’m not really donating to charity?
A: It’s hard to say, without looking at the books. Even the US Congress had difficulty with that. But if it’s on the up and up, you’d think the team would be more than happy to open up the books to an inquisitive reporter who pursued the issue. And I wouldnt bet on that happening anytime soon.
Who’s Your Padre?
The San Diego Padres held one of them thar old fashioned, "*** Lesbian Transgender" Days, on Sunday no less, which drew more than 40,000 men, women and unclears. About 75 nervous Nellies picketed outside Petco Park, sporting melodramatic T-Shirts, beseeching ticketed passers-by to turn tail in order to "Save Our Kids". The nation’s moral lynchpin, Bill O’Reilly, got hold of videotaped "displays of affection" inside the venue and had a predictable field day blaming most of the wrong people.
Why do the Padres hold a "*** Day " in the first place?
It’s in the club’s interests, as both a capitalist enterprise and publicly funded concern, to appeal to a wide cross section of the local population, hopefully without alienating its core fan base. In a progressive city like San Diego, it seems reasonable and appropriate, to Diamondhacks, that the Pads invited the SD *** Men’s Chorus to perform the anthem – and to have a *** community activist or two toss out first balls on something earmarked "*** Pride Day". Not everyone’s cup of tea – but neither are frequent and conspicuous military observances that strike some Americans as overly jingoistic. No ceremonial salute floats all boats. All things considered, most of these recognitions are fairly innocuous reflections of living in a pluralistic society and rather puny prices to pay for offending individual sensibilities.
What’s the meaning of "*** Pride" at the ballpark? Evidently, it means different things to different people. To most, it means enjoying the game and the SD *** Men’s Chorus – maybe wear a rainbow patch as a show of solidarity for the cause. For others, it means just another excuse to get drunk and publicly French kiss and grope one another in full view of the public.
As an American, I dont have a problem with the Padres setting aside a "*** Day", but as a baseball fan, I object to the behavior of some *** people amongst a diverse body of paying fans. In their own way, they’re as insensitive and rude as the fearmongers in the "Save our Kids" T-shirts – and childishly selfish in undermining the political cause they ostensibly came to celebrate.
The Padres’ "Pride day" didnt directly facilitate inappropriate behavior at the 
ballpark. I think to suggest that it did, is unfair to the Padres, and to many *** fans who enjoy ballgames year round, absent incident or controversy. The problem, as I see it, is that any earmarked "day" is inevitably glommed onto by some advocacy group- in this case SD LGBT Pride – which not only bought up a block of 1000 tickets (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but who also cheekily promoted the event as "Out At The Ballpark".
Keyword: Out.
For them, apparently, it wasnt enough to "be" *** at the ballpark – that battle was won long ago – this was a demonstration of "otherness", about acting *** freely, in numbers, in a setting where the biggest division between people, traditionally, has been which team you root for. It’s not enough, it seems, to enjoy the game and the SD *** Men’s Chorus. No, for a minority of misguided, self absorbed dorks, under the auspices of SDLGBT’s "Coming Out" party, this day provided just another excuse to engage in what amounts to foreplay at the ballpark.
Look, I get it. Straight fans act inappropriately. *** fans act inappropriately. But straight fans dont have a "day", or "pride" advocacy groups, coaxing an expressive fringe element to get hot and bothered in close quarters with other fans who paid to watch action on the field.
The *** lobby might argue that every other night is implicitly "hetero" night, but that’s not really true. The more accurate, default promotion quietly running across America’s ballparks for the past hundred summers is "Down In Front, & For God’s Sake, Enough With the French Kissing" night. Applies to everyone.
If one really advertised a "Heterosexual Pride" night, I imagine most straight couples would act pretty much the way they do now, but you’d also likely attract boors looking to make a statement – a scene – not merely by their presence, their fandom – but by their particular, demonstrated sexual affectations.
(photos courtesy of ridingsun.com & http://garsia.math.yorku.ca/)
Get Involved!
According to Shaun Rachau, the D-Backs’ vice president of communications:
The fan experience was a big focus for us this year. It wasn’t just about new colors. We want fans to be more involved, and so each visit to the ballpark will be different from the last."
More involved?
The Republic’s Scott Craven:
What’s more difficult than hitting a Brandon Webb sinker? Figuring out the best way to get to the game, thanks to the curve thrown by light-rail construction. Rule No. 1: Avoid Washington and Jefferson streets at all costs.
Not "involved" enough for you?
Visitors also can explore Baxter’s place in the family photo album. In the fourth and fifth innings, the mascot will pose for photos with youngsters. Each shot costs $5.
Wow. A $50 ticket doesnt quite buy what is used to at the ole ballpark . Still looking for more involvement?
The D-Backs no longer are making players available for autographs, as in past seasons. Instead, team members are urged to saunter over to fans when players have a spare 10 or 15 minutes.
See, Chase Field positively oozes "involvement".
Yours.
How about watching batting practice from the dugout, handing in the lineup card at home plate or announcing players coming to bat for an inning? Such one-of-a-kind experiences can be had starting at $500.
Note these start at $500 a pop. It’s terrific to see kids from Paradise Valley get these one of a kind experiences, or eight of a kind, if their dad has four thousand dollars handy.
For $100, your name will appear for a few seconds on the scoreboard.
I believe this was $50 a couple years ago. The relative good news is that this increase is actually laggging the hike on single game ticket prices 
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In other news, today’s ceremonial first pitch will be thrown out by survivors of a deceased ironworker who helped build Bank One Ballpark. Nice touch. On a day the Dbacks are symbollically trashing their origins - chucking purple, turqoise and copper in the proverbial dumpster – this is a marvelous piece of damage control from the public relations dream team. This reverential reference to the stadium’s construction will surely resonate with fans, many confused and conflicted about the current organization’s direction.
When the honored guests bolt out to the mound, see if they’re donning the new corporate colors. I’d be surprised if that’s not a quid pro quo here. And if it is, ask yourself if the Diamondbacks are honoring a man’s contributuon to this franchise, or if they’re using his memory to further their own marketing agenda.
Or perhaps both.
Let’s hope the F-16′s get out of the gate OK this year. Wouldn’t be opening day without ‘em. Excuse me, opening night. Must fill the stadium, dontcha know 
.
One thing’s for sure – a team in red will be a winner tonight.
Men Banging A Drum
Rather than burn myself out during the preseason, like a second division team desperate to fabricate buzz, today we simply point to other baseball bloggers you might have missed, and who are worth paying a visit.
Seeing as we’re theoretically Deadspin’s sister site in so many, inconsequential ways, we’re happy to reciprocate their recent link to Diamondhacks with this inspired if offbeat R rated preview of the NY Yankees. It’s a hoot and only seems fair, so somebody be sure to tell Leitch there’s no need to thank me for all his extra hits this weekend.
Speaking of Yankees, their minions are advised that Geoff of Bleeding Pinstripes(BPS) is awaking from seasonal slumber to once again chronicle the Bombs…er, Bombers..if only once a week til games move north. There’s actually several good Yankee MLBlogs, something we’d prefer to say about the Red Sox or Mets, but in good conscience, cannot.
Another sporadically promoted site whose return we cherish is the philosophical stylings at Some Ballyard. It’s easy to miss Mike Norton, as he doesnt write as frequently since he almost croaked, but I’m wealthier beacuse he still does…and didn’t.
More frequent, and worthy contributors to the local scene include baseball novelist Prince of New York and the Hall of Fame’s Bruce Markuson, whose pithy recaps of lesser known and recently departed figures fill a gaping hole in this forum.
My producer, Babs, is yammering in my earpiece not to "forget the ladies" before I go. The gals certainly have some good blogs, but if last year was any indicator over on Mark’s Big Board o’ Luv, I dont think the fairer sex will be wanting for face time. So, in the interest of fairness, let’s move on.
There are many other blogs of interest. This guy really knows his stuff, despite 
being a Pirates fan, and here’s something refreshing: a stadium ballhawk below the age of thirty.
And fans across the pond, who watch the Devil Rays at 3 in the morning, will always hold a special place in Diamondhacks’ heart, such as it is.
Wherever you are, there’s little doubt that MLBlogs is the place to be this spring. So you can "to be" or not "to be".
That is the question.
Cobranding Death
A blessed end to the seemingly eternal poll soliciting your take on MLB licensing their logos on caskets and human ash urns. Manufacturer Clint Mytych claims to have received at least 1,000 calls since June, a figure no doubt buoyed by incessant "Are you nuts?" inquiries.
Q: MLB’s licensing of their logos on caskets and crematory urns:
| Answer | Votes | % | Chart |
| is a shrewd marketing partnership | 5 | 15.6% |  |
| helps trivialize loss of life | 5 | 15.6% | |
| will play bigtime in Philly | 6 | 18.8% | |
| is a revelatory mark of the beast | 0 | 0.0% | |
| means your Christmas shopping is done! | 2 | 6.3% | |
| is repugnant and beneath baseball | 14 | 43.8% | |
| Total | 32 |
No issue taken here with deceased’s adornment reflecting passionate affiliations; this ancient desire is already fulfilled whenever a corpse is buried in an authentic MLB Don Mattingly jer$ey or laid to rest clutching an 1887 Old Judge King Kelly. MLB’s di$$ati$faction with thi$ market $hare of "funereal" acce$$orie$, was $ufficient – apparently – to introduce, cobrand, target, and profit from, a pricey new line of death specific products.
Is there demand for these vessels? How could there not be some demand out there nowadays, given the popularity of child pornography and David Hasselhoff CDs. A thousand years from now, we see irate archeologists discarding ash laden Phillies urns, muttering "get a life" and "loser", in their vain search for this era’s intelligent life.
King For A Day
Diamondhacks doesnt pretend to know if JJ "Buck" O’Neil belongs in the Hall of Fame, but we think this O’Neil Legacy Seating program is an appropriate and marvelous thing that the Royals are doing. Unlike most other MLB Legacy Seat setups, where deep pocketed season ticket holders purchase their own ‘legacy’ much like a timeshare or Ski-doo, Kansas City opted to generously fund the memory of a beloved baseball icon – by treating a season’s worth of fans, selected for their community service, to a complimentary Royals game in the field level box formerly occupied by the late KC Monarchs legend.
The Royals are in last place on the field, but they may be the first MLB front office to recognize that our most resonant, lasting legacies are human, indeed spiritual, in nature – independent of revenue streams.
Inseparable
In response to MLB’s Hometown Heroes promotion, we’ve taken the liberty of compiling the following names most linked to baseball’s thirty hometowns. This is not a list of best players, nor an attempt to quantify heroism. These are simply the characters Diamondhacks most closely associates with each franchise.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore: formerly Brooks, now Cal Ripken Jr
Boston: Ted Williams. Forever.
Chicago White Sox: Aparicio & Fox
Cleveland: Rapid Robert Feller
Detroit: Fading, but still Cobb
Kansas City: George Brett
LA Angels: fans under 40, Salmon. Fans over 40, Nolan Ryan.
Minnesota: Puckett, formerly Carew / Washington: Barney
NY Yankees: George Costanza
Oakland: Charles O Finley / Phil A’s: Cornelius Mack
Seattle: Ichiro
Tampa Bay: Lou Pinella
Texas: George Bush
Toronto: Joe Carter
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Arizona: Todd Stottlemyre (j/k)…Luis Gonzalez
Atlanta: Henry
Chicago Cubs: Ernie
Cincinnati: The Gambler
Colorado: John Denver
Florida: Alligators
Houston: Craig Biggio
LA Dodgers: Koufax/Fernando(tie) / Brooklyn: Jackie Robinson
Milwaukee: Yount
NY Mets: Tom Terrific
Phillies: used to be Ashburn, now Schmidt, soon to be Howard
Pittsburgh: Wagner to Clemente to Stargell, back to Roberto.
St. Louis: used to be Stan Musial. Still is.
San Diego: The Chicken
San Francisco: used to be Willie, now Barry / NY Giants: used to be McGraw, now Willie
Montreal, D.C.: Le Grande Orange
Stitch n Pitch
What better way to spend this Saturday Night than at Chase Field’s annual Stitch
And Pitch event held during the Diamondbacks/ Cardinals game? Knitters, crocheters and inveterate cross-stitchers may purchase normally empty $20 upper deck reserved seats for the bargain price of $15, and receive a nifty pink tote bag full of needlepoint goodies.
Needle artisans of all ages and skill levels are welcome, provided they adhere to the following TNNA guidelines:
- All participants must sit in the sections(318-322) designated for the event.
- Knitters may not cheer during the game, lest they poke someone’s eye out.
The Diamondbacks ongoing shadow promotion, "Pitch And Bi+ch", will run concurrently and is expected to draw the usual fourteen thousand season ticket holders.
Slumber Party
The Diamondbacks are hosting a slumber party tonight at Chase Field.
[ Insert joke here.]
Seriously. There’s going to be a slumber party tonight at the ballpark.
Sounds like a cool, quirky idea for the kids, right?
Well, the cost for lugging your own sleeping bags, pillows and tents to spend the night on the warning track and departing promptly at 8AM before you’ve fully digested your pancakes?
Only $100 a head. Before one cries, "Exorbitant!", understand that groups of ten or more enjoy the bargain price of $80 per head, and toddlers two and under are free.
Also recognize that event proceeds go to something called Diamondbacks Foundation, which as far as we can tell is not ‘shaky pitching’, but some sort of charitable endeavor.
All the same, $100 a pop doesnt exactly scream "self-service family outing" to us, 
or we imagine, to most valley families.
Besides, do people, who would pay $100 for this, even know how to camp?
"Darien! Cambria! Finish your pancakes, dahlings! Cornwallis has loaded your bed rails into the Mercedes and we must get back to the estate!"
Diamondhacks
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