Your New York Yankees have now begun selling ad space on their uniforms.
There was a time -- almost 20 years ago -- when Bud Selig wanted to sell Spiderman advertising space on the mound, specifically on the pitching rubber.
The Yankees, to their credit, declined to participate. Everyone's favorite Yankee Executive, Lonn Trost*, was quoted as saying "...if we think it's something that's not good for the Yankees and Yankee Stadium, we're not going to do it."
Mike Mussina had a great quote at the time. He said: "Where do we go from here? Chico's Bail Bonds on us? Somebody's making money. They're using every place they can to advertise."
<sigh>
I'd like to write a poem about all this but I can't think of anything that rhymes with "slippery slope".
*Everyone's favorite Yankee Executive after Randy Levine, of course.
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40 comments:
"This is New York City. Fans want the stars"
"The New York Yankees are proud to welcome Starr Insurance as our new signature partner."
...
So that's what Hal meant.
I think that I would a Bad News Bears Jersey with Chico's Bail Bonds on it rather than a Yankee jersey now.
Naw, I DON'T THINK I KNOW.
Amen Brother DougK.
I grew up near Seton Hall. There’s a chicken place there… Cluck University. They honest to god put little kids in “Cluck U” shirts for T-ball.
JM
A ball club constructed to engender despair.
Its once proud traditions extend only to hair.
With ads on the unis a slippery slope,
soon tats on the players for gambling and dope.
They sold space on the jersey for a mere 20 mil.
But still not the caps, that'd be overkill.
But we know there's no end, to what they'd do for buck.
And they don't understand why we don't give a fuck.
So Hal, take the money, the moo-la, the cash
and add it on to your formidable stash.
You think it won't matter that you sold out us all.
And turned a great ballpark into a bad mall.
At making the dollars you've shown that you have the smarts.
Doesn't matter you break New York Yankee fan's hearts.
Your team is horrific and I'm telling you dude,
For the rest of your life you will ALWAYS be boo'd.
Archie,
Thanks.
ZakA
Funny.
I agree, Zach. Good one.
And Doug...what can I say? This latest shit move by the organization just makes me feel so lousy, like 57 years of being a Yankees fan has all been for nothing. Well, not nothing, exactly. It's all ultimately been for the end-game, money-grubbing, cashing-out crap of the younger Steinbrenner. He's managed to hollow out the traditions, the history, and the greatness of this franchise, aided by his trusty incompetent GM and a group of greedy, soulless, money-grubbing executives.
Yeah, yeah. Sports are a business. But I've never felt my nose rubbed in that to the exclusion of all else like I do now. It's just like everything else that's been commercialized to the point of disgust, including nearly anything associated with the city of New York. I guess we're the odd ones out during this era, with naive ideas and silly ideals that can't be monetized.
“Religion is like baseball,” said Steve. “Great game, bad owners.”
― Jim Bouton, Ball Four
This might be the most depressing news in decades. Even worse than losing the 1981, 2001, & 2003 World Series combined. Forty or fifty years from now, people will look back and say this was the moment when the New York Yankees completely sold its soul to the devil and became a corporate shill.
Nothing is sacred anymore, not even the pinstripes. Would Lou Gehrig still feel that he's "the luckiest man on the face of the earth" to sport a Starr Insurance shoulder patch on his uniform? The uniform that doesn't even put the names of its players on the back of the jersey, due to the sacred nature of the pinstripes denoting team standards of excellence and franchise greatness, now sold out to ... a freaking insurance company.
Starr Insurance? Who the hell are they? Never heard of it. Probably a humongous conglomerate, an umbrella covering smaller conglomerates of insurance companies.
It would be like the U.S. Marine Corps putting on "Starbucks" coffee patches or Dunkin Donuts patches on their uniforms. Really? Is this what we fought and died for on the sands of Iwo Jima?
Actually, I think it could've been forgiven if HAL had taken less money and sold the patch to JEEP, with some promotion about buying made in USA (or Canada). Or if he'd donated the patch to Catholic Charities, or some such.
But he chose to sell out to financial concerns. More finance. Because that's all he ever was. That's all Yankee fans are in his eyes. Each of us is just a walking $ sign to him.
Hammer, you said it more eloquently than I would have.
I would have simply repeated that Hal is actually worse than dog shit, because , in some parts of the world, dog shit is utilized for fertilizer.
May be this is the tipping point where people say fuck you and stop giving him money.
Yeah, Hal donating it to charity. Good one.Like Hope Week isn't just a PR masturbation for Yankee Exec.
Filthy unless scum the they are.
Commercial patches on the Pinstripes?
Next thing you know they will put advertisements on the Plaques in Monument Park.
"Joe DiMaggio, brought to you by Ragu."
This sickens me. No snark, no jokes,
It just flat out sickens me.
Great work, Doug!
And glad to see everyone else is as upset as I am. It's a little thing, I know. But it means so much. I know this is a business. I know the Yankees probably mean less than nothing to HAL.
I know they already charge extortionate amounts of money for everything. I know they puts ads all over the Stadium, and blast them at us between innings, or whenever the "action" stops. I know they charge us ridiculous amounts to see each game on TV—then make it next to impossible to find them on TV.
I know that they received huge public subsidies for their last two stadiums—and, in each case, REDUCED the number of seats available.
Fact: by 1927, counting standing room, you could fit 82,000 people into Yankee Stadium for a baseball game. Today, the total capacity is what? 47,000? They have removed an entire Fenway Park's worth of seats—all so they could fit in more luxury boxes.
And now this...
Jerry Seinfeld used to joke that in sports, you were rooting for the laundry.
Now, even the laundry stinks.
Only thing that I can say is . . . what's next?
@Hoss...the other thing is that the seats are wider because our population is more obese now than in 1927...
Can they get Gary US Bonds to throw out a first pitch?
Reposted from the other thread, because I'm lazy and hadn't looked at this one:
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Draft Kings field at Bank of America's Yankee Stadium.
Please rise and remove your caps for the Blockchain national anthem."
Radio is the last refuge. But after John, the deluge.
Gentlemen, I wonder if our collective disgust is more about us becoming more cynical as we get more, ahem, "Golden" . We still remember when sports (at least for the athletes and fans) took on a true mythos, a battle of Wills which transcended money. I have to wonder how the latest Gen views this sort of greed. I am constantly amazed at how the youngins view things today! 😰
@ DAllen - I'd say that I still watch about 75% of 80% of the games.
I still try to watch most of them and often I am multitasking during the games - so I miss a bit here and there.
Can't help myself because LOVE baseball and I am still strangely a Yankee fan.
Serious question: if you hate the owner, management, ballpark, and most of the players, why do you still root for this team?
Ominous news, especially in the demo breakdown. Is baseball heading in the same direction as boxing and horse racing?
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/07/mlb-all-star-ratings-record-low-viewership-fox/
Beau,
I would seriously want one of those shirts if I ever thought it would fit me.
Reminds me of the hospital wing they were building at the place I worked in the 80's. Because it was the next letter available it was the Q building (long before the play). Several people expressed interest in working on the fourth floor, just so they could answer the phone "4Q"!
AA,
Is your avatar Zim?
RTF- yessir
Rounder than Kruk
Needed to DeBoonify myself.
Zim has always been a Favorite
Figured it was time
EBD....I don't know. Honest.
JM - is there A god?
I haven’t watched a full game on TV all season. I’ll tune into the last couple of innings if they’re still playing when Mrs. Haines bails out for the night. Probably caught a few on the radio, chilling out on a weekend afternoon. But it’s certainly not appointment viewing / listening anymore. Wouldn’t have renewed the MLB package if T-Mobile wasn’t offering it up for free. I’m going to try & treat the patches the same way: basically ignore them. Tough to break away after 50 years but they’re (ownership / management) doing everything they can to make me indifferent.
One more reason to avoid Yes & the insipid commentary: won’t have to look at those effing patches.
Rufus - Chico's bail bonds shirts are available on ebay
@Dick Allen, I have Yankee only subscription with Mlb.com. I had totally cancelled my fifteen plus years after the season because of apple, Netflix, whoever bullshit that MLB pulled last year. I re-upped on opening day hoping to watch Volpe's career blossom. Unfortunately,I quickly realized that our team is unwatchable. I don't believe that I've seen a full game, I have seen bits and pieces of games that I deem watchable.
I am damned sure that I won't subscribe next year unless Hal puts together a good team . I'm not going through feeling like I've been ripped off by billionaires again, plus it's dawned on me that I probably won't live forever. Funny how that I used to loathe hearing about the long sufferings Cubs and Red Sox fans. "Chumps" thought I. Fuck that!
TBH, I watch every chance I get. Not saying I watch every pitch, but I’m still invested.
Also visit several blogs (this one my favorite) and various sites almost every day.
Baseball is part of the daily rhythm of my life.
However, My level of disgust has been rising ever since they opened the new stadium.
The embrace of cashman as GM for liife, steinbrenner’s elitist corporatist proclivities
And the hiring of the the dullard boone have wounded my fandom, perhaps fatally
Best idea I ever heard about wearing the names of "sponsors" was that Members of Congress should be compelled to do it -- just like NASCAR drivers.
Ever seen a NASCAR driver's outfit? It looks ridiculous. I did a little bit of work, years ago, in racing. The bigger the sponsor ($-wise), the bigger the patch put on the driving togs. There are actually standards on this, and negotiations about it.
You can imagine Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnell in such an outfit. Lots of big logos for pharma companies, banks, other countries, and worse.
Sorry to inject politics in here. But I've always found this idea to be worthwhile. No, not for baseball. But for our common representation. So when Congressman Wackadoo is in front of the camera in an interview, you'd have a wide-open view of who was paying him (and the relative enthusiasm of the contributors).
Joe, Brillant Idea!
btr999, I'm just like you. And I do enjoy viewing the MILB sites too.
Archie and BTR,
I am the same.
The Yankees will make even more money then they already are doing. But no money for star players. It costs alot to operate a team in NY. Ask Hal, he will tell you.
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