The Mets Police

January 22, 2010

Metsmerized asks if the Mets brand is damaged

Metsmerized has a good take here, asking if the Mets brand has been damaged.

I don’t know that there is a brand. It’s a little before my time but based upon what I learned in the late 1970s, and what was mentioned in this SI article from April 1970, the Mets brand once was pitching, fun and a new ballpark. Even in 1986 I’m not sure they had a strong “brand.” Plenty of front-runners from the Bronx came by, but it wasn’t like Mets Inc. really had a brand.

The brand in 2010? Right now it’s whatever NBC’s is.

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January 22, 2010

Pictures: Inside the Mets fan event (part 2)

Peter hooked me up with some photos of last week’s fan gathering at Citi (jeez I almost typed Shea for like the millionth time).

That’s a nice looking room.

Oh yeah, Peter said to thank Johnql of baseball-fever.com, much thanks John!

I thought that actually was Ebbett’s Field when I first looked at it!

There’s the retro again.

There’s more to come…tomorrow. Thanks again Peter.

January 21, 2010

How bad are the Mets ticket sales?

I’m wondering more and more about the Mets 2010 ticket sales.

I have no actual facts, and I don’t claim anything here is correct, but I’m thinking about some things…

Here’s a story from Chicago Mets Fan. She lives in Chicago. Chicago.

I got a call earlier today from Mike in the Mets ticket office wanting to talk about my opening day options at Citi Field.

He proceeded to ask if I plan to make any games this year and I said yes, but that I wasnâ€™t sure which ones because of other things coming up this spring and summer. I did say the August 1st game is appealing for the Mets Hall of Fame inductions, but that Iâ€™ll see if I can make the trip. He took that opportunity to try and sell a 15 pack that included tickets to that game, which he even said probably isnâ€™t the best option for me since I live out of town.

I then took the opportunity to clear up my mailing address. Even though when I login online and see my Chicago information, they still have my New York information attached to my account (in addition to the Chicago info).

I don’t sell tickets. However, I am going to guess that like many salesmen, Mets ticket agents have some sort of incentive to sell more tickets. Maybe they get a bonus, or a gold star, or a parking spot. Regardless, someone tried to sell a 15 game pack to someone who is in the database as living in Chicago.

That story is harmless enough but then I started thinking about the Christmas gifts many of us got from the Mets this week. If it were one or two of us, hey stuff happens and the guy from Mets Police is busting chops again. However, it seems to be many of us.

Here’s what I think happened. They had a figure for 2009 sales. They aren’t incompetent so they made a downward estimate for 2010. Someone said, hey let’s send everyone who renews a nice gift. You’ll recall the initial renew-or-die cutoff was in mid-December. I’m thinking the plan was to drop these in the mail around December 18th.

Many of us didn’t renew. They pushed the deadline to the 31st. Many of us didn’t renew.

Now it’s around January 15th and someone asks how the ticket sales are going. Must be going gangbusters now that we have retro jerseys and Jason Bay, right? The report isn’t so good.

Someone remembers that there’s all these extra framed photos of Citi Field sitting around in boxes waiting to be shipped. Someone decided to mail the ticket list. Send the Mets fans a nice gift, maybe they’ll remember how much they love the Mets and buy tickets. Good plan actually.

My guess is either someone forgot that every box had a season’s greetings letter in it, or just decided it wasn’t worth the effort/cost of reboxing them. Screw it, send them out.

Like I said at the top, everything here is a total fabrication of my brain. For all I know, the Mets are 99% sold out. I’m just wondering what the actual number is.

Oh, Mets ticket office – my idea for a Seven Game Pack is a really good one. Feel free to use it.
…

Housekeeping stuff: I’m starting to think that the Mets will win the World Series before blogger releases my domain name to my new host. I keep dropping hints about the new design not because the new design is so amazin’ (it will need some work, but it will work better, and I assume most of you come here for the words not the pictures or header image) but because I just want to warn everyone in case the site goes down for an hour while I’m in a meeting with Real Job Boss.

Tomorrow: more pictures from the rally, a really unnecessarily expensive toy Mets car and hopefully a whole new look. I’m starting to think the Mets will retire Keith Hernandez’ number before blogger releases my domain name to my new host. I’m starting to think there’ll be a Tom Seaver statue before blogger releases my domain name to my new host. I’m starting to think the Mets will Ditch the Black before blogger releases my domain name to my new host. Seriously, the new design is nice enough but you won’t be blown away, so again this is more of a warning than a tease that you’ll be amazed. I’m starting to think the Mets will sign a pitcher before blogger releases my domain name to my new host.

January 21, 2010

Yay, a bar at Citi Field!

Wow, my brain didn’t register this nugget from Mets Blog earlier today when Matt posted:

This weekâ€™s MetsBlog poll, presented by McFaddenâ€™s, which will soon be opening a new bar in Citi Field, accessible from the street and from inside the ballpark…

That’s awesome. We’ll actually have somewhere to hang out before and after Mets games!!! Well, I assume, I mean the Mets couldn’t screw up a bar, right?

Now hopefully McFadden’s will treat Mets fans with respect and not sell us $15 bottles of beer. We all understand it won’t be dollar drafts, but somewhere there’s a respectful medium between ballpark prices and being honorable.

I bet this will be a big hit…maybe we have found a meeting place for the Blue Cap Army Opening Day Gathering, details TBD. Anyone up for meeting at the bar?

Wow I can’t believe I said “meet at the bar” for a Mets game. Let’s see what this McFadden’s might look like…let’s visit the Philly version.

This was the first image in the photo gallery. I will refrain from commenting because I’m hoping to sway McFadden’s to welcome our Blue Cap Army for the opener.

It’s hard to find a shot of the actual bar…or maybe I stink at searching…well, I guess we’ll know Opening Day.

January 21, 2010

Mets official: We’re gonna get hammered for whatever we do right now (Davidoff/Newsday)

Oh Mets official, I’m so sorry. You really don’t get it, do you?

Ken Davidoff has written a pretty interesting piece (which you can find behind Newsday’s paywall). I’m a cheapie so I can’t read the entire thing but from what I’m getting on twitter (source is the awesome @hotfootblog who you should absolutely follow), a Mets official told Ken that the Mets think fans are disappointed that the Mets didn’t get Molina.

I have yet to meet one Mets fan that feels that way.

To Ken’s point, is there that much of a disconnect?

The quote is also scary, “We’re gonna get hammered for whatever we do right now.”

No you’re not.

You’re going to get hammered for stupid things.

Believe me, I’ve become one of the leaders of the cranks and I don’t wake up in the morning wondering how I can bust your chops. I want to love this team. If I didn’t love this team I wouldn’t spend 4 hours a day doing this.

I want your team to succeed. I want to love you.

Did you not see the love when the Mets announced the Hall of Famers?

Mets fans don’t complain for complaints sake. We complain when we walk into a new stadium and are greeted by Dodgertown. We looked for a picture of our heroes and couldn’t find one. We wanted to watch the game but there was plexiglass in our face, and then Dave Howard told us we were wrong. We wanted to wave at the left fielder but couldn’t see him. We wanted to buy some “retro” jerseys but you put dropshadow on it. We wanted to think 2010 would be better than 2009, and it was bad enough that Beltran is still hurt but you couldn’t keep the message straight that day.

You aren’t going to get hammered. Treat the fans with respect. Don’t try to sell us on garbage. The fans that are doing the most complaining aren’t the ones who only showed up in ’86 and ’00 – it’s the fans that were there for you in 1979 and 1993 and 2009.

Finally, please remember, we’re the customers. We’re always right. We didn’t want Molina. We aren’t killing you. It’s amazing that you don’t know this.

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