We have heard back from a few more teams over the last month, here is a look at what was sent.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES:
The Phillies sent a pair of pocket schedules along with postcards of Chase Utley and Jonathan Papelbon. They also sent a brochure with instructions on how to order tickets.
DETROIT TIGERS:
Pretty odd return for the Motor City. We were sent a letter thanking us for our interest in Tigers baseball along with a black and white photo of Hernan Perez. Perez was hitting .054 when this was sent and has since been claimed off waivers by the Brewers. I guess they had a surplus of Hernan Perez items laying around
HOUSTON ASTROS:
Houston has been a fun team to watch during the first half of the season. They sent a pocket schedule, sticker and a postcard of pitcher Mark Appel
KANSAS CITY ROYALS:
The defending AL Champions sent us a pair of stickers along with a pocket schedule
MIAMI MARLINS:
Huge envelope provided by the Marlins! It included a bumper sticker, pocket scheduled, signed photo of their mascot, a coloring book, latest issue of Marlins on Deck magazine and postcards featuring Jose Fernandez, Marcell Ozuna and Jeff Mathis.
LOS ANGELES DODGERS:
Pocket schedule and a book of Dodger fun facts were sent to us from the West Coast.
Nice to see how generous most MLB teams are to their young fans. Mason received something back from 21 of the 30 big league clubs! The only teams he did not hear back from were:
Yankees
Rays
Angels
Rangers
Mariners
Nationals
Cardinals
Brewers
Rockies
WEEKS THREE AND FOUR:
Not much to report from the last two weeks.
TORONTO BLUE JAYS
The Blue Jays sent along a pockets schedule, stickers, postcard and a pair of items of their mascot "Ace"
We have now heard back from 16 of the 30 Major League teams. I did receive emails from four other teams this week stating that a fan pack will be in the mail soon. Hopefully next week we will have more results to share!
WEEK TWO BLOG:
I am fairly certain our week two blog will not come close to the 20,603 page views generated last week and that is fine by me. I look forward to avoiding any negativity and getting back to the original reason of why the blog was started in the first place....to give credit to the wonderful Major League Baseball organizations that still find the time and resources to invest in their young fans!
It was a busy week at the mailbox as we heard back from eight more teams, lets get right to it!
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Not much to report from the desert. The Dbacks sent along an "Official Fan Pack" which included some fun facts about Mark Trumbo and Gerardo Parra. The last page of the booklet had the 2014 season and promotional schedule.
BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Nice return from the O's. Their fan pack included a Camden Yards postcard, cards featuring J.J. Hardy and Kevin Gausman, Sticker of "the bird" and a Camden Yards keychain. The best item to me, and the reason why this project is a two way street, was the brochure letting me know about Ballpark Tours that take place at Camden Yards every day from April-September. We live about 130 miles from Baltimore, I have been to Camden Yards about a dozen times and even remember going to Memorial Stadium when I was young. My wife was already planning a trip to take Mason to the aquarium this summer, we now plan on taking the ballpark tour while we are there too! Prices are $9 for adults and $6 for children under 14, I will be sure to add photos later this summer. Good work by the O's for including this information!
CHICAGO CUBS
Top notch items sent out by the Cubs! Huge envelope waiting at our front door which included the latest issue of Vine Line featuring new Cub Jon Lester on the cover, a build-a-bear workshop 2014 Clark stuffed bear, a sturdy "clark's crew" bag to carry around the ballpark and a very nice Cubs shirt featuring the Cubs logo on the front and several Chicago Cubs Charities on the back. Wrigley is a great place to see a game and a must for every baseball fan! I look forward to retuning with my son. Great work here by a team that I think will make some noise this year.
SEATTLE MARINERS
We did receive a reply from the Pacific Northwest but it was to inform us that we reside too far from the Mariners "fan zone" to be sent a fan pack. I was a little surprised considering the Mariners run a very fan friendly twitter account.
ATLANTA BRAVES
The Braves were one of three teams that kindly asked us to mail out a postcard in order to receive a fan pack. Less than two weeks later a letter was sent including a 2015 pocket schedule, a bumper sticker, a picture of Freddie Freeman and a scoop of dirt taken from the infield at Turner Field. I love the idea of sending along dirt from the playing field, very creative from Boston and Atlanta. Braves also sent along ticket information and a brochure for their Atlanta Braves youth baseball summer camps.
SAN DIEGO PADRES
Here is a team that made a lot of offseason moves and should be in contention for a playoff berth. I traveled to Petco Park in 2004, great place to watch a game, tons of nightlife after the game. We were sent a Padres sticker and a signed card from their mascot Swinging Fryer.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS
Very nice letter sent back to us by the A's saying how they "love hearing from fans" and they "hope to see us at the ballpark". We were sent the latest issue of Athletics magazine featuring Eric Sogard on the cover along with two 2015 pocket schedules, cards of Ryan Cook and Dan Otero, and a 2013 AL West Division Champions A's postcard.
MINNESOTA TWINS
I guess I saved the best for last this week. I am not even sure if I can describe the kindness shown by the Twins. The mail had already been delivered on Monday and we were coming back from doing some shopping, my wife noticed a large box on the front porch that I assumed was a box of diapers that I had ordered. Much to my surprise when I looked at the package it was from the Twins. Here is what was included:
2015 Twins Spring Training schedule, (3) 2015 pocket schedules, (3) Twins stickers, a plush TC Bear (Twins Mascot) a book entitled Hello, TC Bear which tells the story of the Twins mascot and how everyone was so nice to him on game day! The game ends on a Twins walk off HR in the 9th! This was my favorite item, it included a note inside the book that reads "For Mason- Happy Baseball- Come see us at Target Field in Minneapolis" You would think kindness ends there but there is more, they also sent:
A Twins kids size 47 brand hat, a team media guide with a sticky note saying "this is for Mason's dad" a 2014 Kurt Suzuki all star t shirt, a Glen Perkins 2014 All Star Game Bobblehead doll and another very cool item, a Joe Mauer growth chart standing a full six foot five! It has already been hung in Mason's room and pretty much takes up an entire wall!
I am not even sure what to say to the Twins organization other than Thank you! We are already planning a trip to Baltimore when the Twins come to town in August....Mason will be wearing his Twins gear for sure that night!
Two weeks in and we have already heard from 15 of the 30 Major League teams. I wanted to address one more thing from last week and then hopefully move on. I had no problem with the attacks on twitter from random people, I am not sure where the hatred stems from but it was very easy for me to block people and let them go on with their miserable life.
The one person I do have a problem with is Tom Ley from Deadspin. I wish he would have tried to contact me before writing a complete hatchet job on my intentions. I would had had the chance to inform him that if we were lucky enough to get "free swag" I already had some of it earmarked for local fans around my hometown like 12 year old Jason Slifko who loves watching his Pirates.
I hope to have a few more "fan pictures" up next week. Tom Ley can sit at his computer and continue to bully people with his 135 pound frame but anyone that considers me "greedy" has completely missed the point.
Don't forget to check back next Tuesday for more updates from around the majors!!
UPDATE:
My plan was to update this blog once a week, I was not expecting to have close to 20,000 page views at this point. I thought this information would be something fun to share with friends of mine that share an interest in our national pastime. I never expected the flurry of activity that transpired on Thursday.
I finished up the blog on Tuesday night, shared it on Facebook and made a quick twitter post and attached the link. I went to bed and really didn't give it much thought, I was hoping to have maybe 100 or 200 views by next week. I have always been a huge fan of the New York Mets, many of my twitter contacts are also Mets fans. The link to the blog was shared by several Mets fans who, much like myself, were a bit disappointed at the Mets response. It started out very small and innocent and was merely a conversation among a few fans. Keep in mind this wasn't a blog about the Mets, it was simply a way to look at how ALL teams would respond. I did not bash the Mets or complain that I didn't get "free stuff" I just wrote what happened....the Mets said they no longer offer fans packs. It wasn't the end of the world, I was ready to move on to the next team...I am sure the Mets will not be the only team to decline sending something who knows maybe a team will just completely ignore the request. Then things started to get very strange.
There is another faction of Mets fans on twitter that for some reason felt I attacked the team. One "gentleman" went as far as to tweet a photo of my son wearing a Phillies shirt and asked "So called Mets fan dresses son in Phillies shirt and bashes Mets for not sending free stuff" Not that I need to explain myself but we took Mason to a Phillies vs Astros game in June, his grandparents grew up in Philadelphia they have purchased several Phillies, Eagles and Flyers outfits for him. This guy could not get over the fact that me, as a Mets fan, would let my son wear attire from a rival like the Phillies. Keep in mind, it was the Astros in town....why in the world would I put my son in a Mets outfit during a Phillies game vs Houston? It might seem silly but that is when the complexion of the afternoon changed, now I was being called a fraud and "not a true Mets fan" once again losing focus on the fact that this blog is only 1/30th Mets related. Then the bottom fell out............
I am not sure if one of the radical fans has connections with deadspin but suddenly the blog was picked up by them and they wrote a horrific article calling me a "greedy dad" and a whole bunch of other things, I didn't even read the entire article....I stopped right around where he accused me of using Mason as leverage to "get free swag from teams" A good friend of mine put it best saying "deadspin is the bathroom wall of the internet" this article gave ammunition to twitter tough guys all over the country to voice their opinion. I found it comical how someone I will never meet can get so bent out of shape over a little blog I am doing about fan interaction. One of my favorites was a guy that said "check Ebay in a month, this dude will be selling everything." I guess people were looking for a reaction from me but that is not what I am all about, I didn't respond to any of the trolls...they just got blocked.
The strange part to me is that I have found 100's of blogs about people that send cards TTM (through the mail) to players and ask for their autograph. They track results and will say things like "Just got Wade Boggs back today TTM only took 17 days, what a great guy! So glad to add a hall of famer to my autograph collection" or "I sent to Mike Trout over a year ago and haven't heard back...save your stamps" How is this blog any different? For people in the TTM autograph world this information is valuable, it can save them time and the cost of stamps if they know a player wont sign or better yet that can find players that do sign and write to them. It doesn't make Mike Trout a bad guy if he is unable to keep up with what I am sure is a tremendous amount of fan mail....it just sharing the information. It was the same with the Mets, I was not trying to make them look bad, I was just sharing information.
I will admit that the word "greedy" did bother me for second. I have been to countless MLB games, what about the grown men that stand outside the team hotel with stacks of items that they expect players to sign? How about grown men that will get in front of a child during BP in order to try and get an autograph? That is their thing and they can do as they want but I would think that could be categorized as "greedy" compared to what I am doing.
The story continued to gather more steam as the day went on and I was contacted by more than one MLB team to let me know that they get requests like this all the time. I am not sure why people think I am the first person on earth that has contacted a professional team. Once again the Giants front office sent me a very nice email....I really wish I could mention the person in their PR department by name but I am almost afraid that she would get some crazy twitter backlash and she certainly doesn't deserve that.
If there is one thing I would have done differently, I would not have handed out grades to the teams. Like I said, I thought maybe 100 people would see this not 20,000. The point of the grades was not to try and embarrass a team but it was more to give credit to PR departments like the Giants and Indians who could not have been nicer and went so far our of their way for a simple request made by a fan! They deserved to hear they did a great job! We were thrilled to get anything back and maybe in hindsight some of the grades were a bit harsh. I will continue the blog but I will not be handing out grades for each team, the last thing I wanted to do was come off as ungrateful.
I would like to thank Brian Mangan for taking time out of his busy day to pen this great article
http://thereadzone.com/2015/02/19/mets-do-not-do-fan-packs-a-fake-controversy-on-twitter-also-deadspin-is-literally-the-worst/
He gets it, this to me was nothing more than something to do for fun.
UPDATE #2
Since almost all of the banter today involved the New York Mets, I am happy to say I was contacted by a high ranking member of their front office. He could not have been nicer! He assured me this was merely an oversight and they will be happy to send something to young fans moving forward.
I decided to contact all 30 MLB teams on behalf of my 20 month old son, Mason. I simply sent an email to the franchise and asked if they would be nice enough to send him a fan pack. I also included a photo of Mason in my email.
WEEK ONE:
CINCINNATI REDS
The Reds were the first team to have a package waiting for Mason in the mailbox. The total turnaround time was an incredible four days. A nice fan pack was sent which included (2) 2015 pocket schedules, a Ken Griffey Jr poster, (2) magnets for the refrigerator, (5) other Reds stickers and Reds lanyard.
BOSTON RED SOX
Very fast work from the offices at Fenway Park, total turnaround time here was seven days!
The Sox sent along (1) 2015 pocket schedule, (2) Boston strong stickers, an autographed photo of team mascot, Wally, a hand written letter thanking Mason for his interest in baseball and the Red Sox. The coolest item was a bag full of dirt from the ballpark labeled "Fenway Dirt"
PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Only took a week to receive our fan pack back from the Pirates! This one was speedy but it didn't quite make me raise the Jolly Roger! (3) 2015 schedules were sent along with cards of Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Francisco Liriano.
CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Only took a week to receive our letter back from the pale hoes. Pretty basic stuff here (2) 2015 schedules, a letter to thank us for the support and a sticker.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
This has been one my favorite interactions to date. The Giants put out a World Series product on the field and it carries right over to the front office! I received an email right away thanking me for taking the time to write, they also mentioned how cute Mason was....this always goes a long way with parents! A few day went by when I saw another email in my inbox just to notify me that our fan pack was on the way! Here is where it gets even better, the Giants took the extra step and sent our items via FedEx....total time from San Francisco to Pa....one week!!
So much was stuffed in our package that its hard to list! Mason was sent a Giants coloring book, (4) Giants stickers, cards of Roberto Kelly and Bruce Bochy, a very cool commemorative pin and photo from the perfect game tossed by Matt Cain on 6/13/12, a Giants key chain, a button saying I was there for a Bonds HR, a felt we're #1 finger and they even took the time to print out the photo of Mason and made a card thanking him for being a "Giant of a fan"
This is about as good as it gets! You can see why the Giants are a world class organization! I plan on visiting every ballpark with Mason and a trip to SF will be high on our list!
CLEVELAND INDIANS
I was so impressed with the Giants I thought they would be the only team to garner an A+....then along comes Cleveland! Tribe fans have been waiting for a World Series title for quite some time but their front office has set the benchmark for customer relations! It only took seven day for a huge envelope to show up for Mason. Instead of a fan pack they sent more of birthday pack....Mason turns two in June but this return was like Christmas and a birthday all on the same day!
I was shocked to open the envelope to find a Cleveland Indians mini bat along with a signed card from team mascot, Slider. The front office also made a custom Birthday card reading Happy Birthday Mason and was signed by the entire office! The real treasure here was the Indians T-shirt that they sent along! This has to be a $15 or $20 item at their fan shop! Top notch return from Cleveland, this one will be hard to beat!!
NEW YORK METS
It is no secret that I have been a Mets fan since 1985....this one was a tough pill to swallow! I sent the same email to all 30 MLB clubs, I did not mention in my Mets email that I was at Game 3 of the 2000 World Series or Game 5 of the 2000 NLCS. I also left out my countless trips to Big Shea and road trips to Chicago, Boston, Baltimore and Atlanta to watch my favorite team play! I received an email back from Queens simply saying "we no longer do fan packs for our fans" and that I could "write if I would like a pocket schedule" I don't want to be a father that forces his son to root for the same teams just because it is the team that I like. I thought it would be great for Mason to grow up pulling for the Mets so I was really let down knowing that we would not be getting a package featuring the Mets logo!
METS UPDATE:
Mr. Met reached out to Mason on twitter and was nice enough to send a "Mets Fan Club for Kids" package. It included a felt pennant, signed Mr. Met card, Mr. Met coloring book, crayons, lanyard, pencil, pencil case, and a letter from Mr. Met saying he hopes to see us this year at Citi Field. Great items and all kid friendly!
That is all we have for now but keep in mind this project is only a week old! I will be back next Tuesday with more updates from around the majors!!