Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Minor league baseball promotions nuttier than hockey

I have previously noted "Shred Rich Rodriguez night" by the ECHL Wheeling Nailers. Well, in nearby Macon, Georgia, you can attend Eliot Spitzer night hosted by minor league baseball team Macon Music.


The team announced Wednesday that Luther Williams Field will play host to Eliot Spitzer night on June 13 in honor of the disgraced New York governor who announced his resignation Wednesday after allegations surfaced about his involvement in a prostitution ring...

- The Music will give away a trip to New York and a one-night stay at the Mayflower Hotel.

- The ninth fan – or Client No. 9, as Spitzer was known in the prostitution ring – into the ballpark will receive a free Music prize pack.

- Fans with the name Eliot, Spitzer or Kristen, along with any fan from New York, will receive $1 off admission. Any fan who has ever resigned a position will also receive $1 off admission.

- The Music will play Frank Sinatra songs throughout the night.

- Wire taps will be placed around the stadium.

- Fans will be able to use ATMs in the ballpark available for cash withdrawals not to exceed $5,000 per hour.

- The 871st fan through the gates will receive a gift certificate for the team store.


Blogger Jason Pye (of jasonpye.com) had a great line in response, which hockey fans will appreciate. "It would be funnier if the Macon Whoopee were still around and they [were] doing this." Indeed.

Continuing in the article linked above from the Macon Telegraph, it talks about some previous crazy promotions other teams have done. I don't pay much attention to other sports so these were all new to me, and pretty funny. Maybe it's old news to you, I don't know.

The Charleston Riverdogs from Charleston, S.C., had Nobody Night in 2002 when the team locked fans out of a game to record professional baseball’s lowest attendance in history, according to SI.com. The Fort Worth Miracle baseball team had a George Costanza night in 2003 in honor of the "Seinfeld" character who refused to follow the norm, also according to SI.com. The team paid its fans to park and ran the scoreboard backward during the game.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How can you write an article about crazy minor league promotions and not bring up "Runaway Bride Bobblehead Night", a promotion which got our own Gwinnett Gladiators national acclaim?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11700328/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-06-runaway-bobbleheads_x.htm

http://lawnrangers.blogspot.com/2006/03/runaway-bride-bobblehead.html

They've got a copy of that doll in the team trophy case, right there with the MVP trophies, Daley Memorial Trophies, the Gingher Memorial Trophy from 2006, and the various awards won by the Gladiators' front office since the team's relocation in 2003. True story.