So this one makes my blood boil. Good job outta the Daily News getting these quotes.
The News is with the rest of us in thinking the Mets should have Old-Timers Day. Get ready to throw somethig in anger. Once again, Mr. Fan Friendly David Howard, the man who doesn’t think there are any obstructed views at Citi Field (he may want to look at these pictures) is the man with the golden tongue:
“It wasn’t popular, it wasn’t effective, fans weren’t responding and it wasn’t selling very many tickets,” Howard says. “The fans spoke volumes. It’s a very expensive promotion and it wasn’t producing the sales and marketing results we wanted for that investment.”
Note that last word: investment. That’s all you need to know.
You are a cash register. Whether you like Tom Seaver, Lee Mazzilli or Mike Piazza doesn’t matter. Whether the Mets win the World Series or not doesn’t matter. Whether the 2010 Polka Dot Uniforms look stupid or not doesn’t matter as long as someone buys them.
What Mr. Howard overlooks, but he will come to learn in 2010 is that Mets fans didn’t like the team in 1994. when they last had Old Timer’s Day. Although Gooden was still around, the team was playing such beloved players as Jeff Kent, Ryan Thompson and Bobby Bonilla. (I still would rather have Coney than those first two, and I mean today’s Cone than those two in their prime). The Mets would go 55-58 that year – oh yeah there was a strike/lockout/whatever – we all felt great about baseball in 1994 didn’t we?
I found a Times article about that last Old Timer’s Day in 1994:
The 1993 Mets went 59-103 with awesome guys like Eddie Murray and Vince Coleman in the lineup. Mr. Howard is surprised people weren’t buying tickets in 1994? He’s in for one heck of a surprise come April 2010.
Mr. Howard told the Times:
“It was particularly unpopular as a promotion. We didn’t see an increase in ticket sales or interest from sponsors or even from people who already had tickets. It died of its own unpopularity in the early ’90s.
“We felt we were better served by bringing our alumni back over several days instead of one day.â€
Again, note where his head is at. Money. Sponsors.
Claiming unpopularity of Old Timer’s Day is a nice spin, but the 1993 Mets (using that year because it was a full season) drew 1.87 million fans. Since none of the games were drawing why didn’t the Mets just go out of business or move to Mercury? The Old Timer’s argument doesn’t hold water unless you just come out and say “we are too cheap to do it.”
Howard argues that it isn’t dignified to have the old guys play a game. Maybe it isn’t. However, I don’t see anyone arguing for a game just a day. I enjoyed the (concept of) Closing Day at Shea. Just intro the guys and let us cheer. The best parts of Opening Day or the All-Star Game are the intros. Just introduce our heroes and let us cheer. I understand it may be pricey, but you have some friends at Delta and Acela who might be able to help.
This is just another in a long long line of the Mets not understanding their fan-base. Never mind bloggers like me, when the News and Times and WFAN are talking about it, certainly something is there.
Since 1994 they have been more memories, another World Series team, quirk heroes like Todd Pratt, another Hall of Famer spending time here, and Tom Seaver is back in the fold. Comparing 2009 to 1994 is like comparing 1994 to 1979.
If you are taking the time to read this remember – the Mets want you safe, because they want you back, because they want your money. Don’t get emotionally attached to anything on the field because David Howard sure isn’t.
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