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Two Fridays ago, a friend and I were sitting in the third base club seats at Nationals Park on the cheap, thanks to the team's recent dollar seat offer. It was then that a thought that I've had numerous times in the past struck me once again: why don't the Nationals -- who obviously have little to offer in terms of the baseball on display -- take the remainder of the season and host a few crazy, off-the-wall promotions? Where are our "Jay Buhner Buzz Cut Nights", our Free Money Night, our own Veeckian brand of happy insanity?
Next weekend is Pups In The Park at the stadium, which is a start, I guess. (We'd make some jokes about the Nationals performance and dog poop, but it appears as if NBCWashington.com's Chris Needham has already exhausted them all.) Humans can purchase a ticket for their canine friends for $5 in sections 201 through 205 -- and there will be folks from the Humane Society advocating adoption. This is great and all, but it's not like every other team in the bigs doesn't also have this promotion.
The Nationals desperately need something to connect the franchise to the city, and injecting some life into the stadium with something unique and fun could do the trick. After all, there's got to be plenty of ideas out there for the Nationals to do besides the ubiquitous "dogs at the ballpark." How about this: the first 100 fans who can correctly guess Dmitri Young's current weight get upgraded to the seats behind home plate. Or how about fans who buy tickets to an entire series get them for a price discounted by the team's winning percentage at the start of the series?
Personally, I'd prefer it if the Nationals would do as German football club Bayern Munich did earlier this week -- giving fans free beer as atonement for the team's poor start to the season. Hey, a man can dream. Surely, the commentariat has some ideas; be sure leave yours below.
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Problem #1 with pups in the park, No pets on Metro....I guess they are going to make a fortune in parking that day.
Dead Presidents night. Come as your favorite expired chief executive, and join the team mascots in a mass mob race around the field after the game. Of course all Teddy's would have to prevented from winning...
Marvin Gaye night: With impersonators, his music played on the organ, etc (like the Elvis night I went to at Comerica Park but better). Play the recording of him singing the national anthem.
Quadrant nights: 4 separate nights, with discounts if you show ID that you live in NW, NE, SE, SW. Flash scenes from different parts of the quadrant up there, have local councilmembers or ANC folk throw out the first pitch, etc.
Democrat v. Republican night, with a choice of red or blue shirts & voter registration booths. Local democratic & republican clubs could get discount blocks of tickets. Have a Dem v. Rep. dance-off on the jumbotron.
Passover game: Passover's a little early for it in 2010, but the 3rd-6th day of the holiday are called chol ha'moed and it's a time that observant Jewish families do fun things with their families. A Sunday afternoon game would be perfect--market it through synagogues and day schools. Here's an article about a circus planned for it in NY: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/09/nyregion/09CIRC.html
Zombie night.
Girl & Boy Scouts Day.
DC colleges night: sell blocks of tickets to local colleges to re-sell to alumni clubs or use as freshman orientation activity. Play the different schools' fight songs or have their marching bands, cheerleaders, etc. come, and let the admissions offices set up tables along a concourse or something.
Celebration Graduation: a pre-game ceremony for all the valedictorians at DCPS schools, give away Nationals pencils or something, and have the Nats give coupons to graduating seniors from DC. Also have info about college, scholarships, GEDs, the military, dropout prevention, vocational schooling, etc.
And something with unions on labor day weekend. Also, there was a father's day but not a mother's day promotion...what gives?
Dude, the Nationals should just hire me to plan their promotions.
thanks! I hope someone from the Nationals reads DCist...and that they listen more than when I voted for "Washington DC" by the Magnetic Fields as the 7th inning stretch song. I mean, Sweet Caroline? Really?
They finally ditched Sweet Caroline - thank God.
And great ideas (above)!
They haven't completely ditched Sweet Caroline. They still play it occasionally during pitching changes. I heard it last I believe on August 23rd.
I so wish they'd incorporate the Magnetic Fields' "Washington DC" into the game too.
Some solid ideas here, but I'd be wary about scheduling a Boy & Girl Scouts day/Zombie night double-header. Natural enemies in the wild, no way of getting around that.
Well, way back in 1974 the Indians had Ten Cent Beer Night. Big crowd that night! Of course, there was the drunken fan riot, and cups, rocks, bottles, batteries from radios, hot dogs, popcorn containers, and folding chairs were thrown. And then fans surged onto the field - some with weapons or parts of seats - to confront the Indians and Rangers, who were on the verge of a bat-armed brawl themselves. But, hey, it was memorable!