Tag: bill veeck

First Step To Help Guardians’ Attendance? Have Fun!

The Cleveland Guardians’ organization is very good in soliciting opinions. As a former season ticket holder (we guess), we are on their mailing list and we get surveys all the time regarding our feelings, usually about the experience at Progressive Field.

We have a confession too. We are probably not the demographic they really want to hear from. At the end of each questionnaire, we are asked for our age. Let’s just say, our favorite player growing up was Sudden Sam McDowell, so we bet our answers go into the “he’s get off my lawn” guy file.

We are often critical about the “game experience” at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, mostly because (we know, this is silly) we go downtown to watch a baseball game.

Most of the surveys have to do with the different types of food or beverages at the ballpark, although recent ones have dealt with the renovations which will occur over the next few years at Progressive Field and the latest had to do with game experience and the franchise name change, a bit late on that one, no?

The attendance for Cleveland baseball spiked under two separate times: The late 90’s when the team was dominant and the Browns did not exist, and the late 1940’s when yes, the franchise won its last World Series (1948) and it was owned by Bill Veeck, who was in touch with things people liked and was willing to take risks.

Many times in sports, the answer is right in front of you.

For instance, the Browns were successful in the late 50’s through 1970 with a running attack led by the great Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly. The current edition of the team is following that path with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt (no, we didn’t forget D’Ernest Johnson).

The late 80’s Browns’ defense had two shutdown corners. The current organization is trying to do the same, although it’s a plus having Myles Garrett.

We doubt the Guardians’ front office can put together a lineup with potentially six Hall of Famers (Jim Thome and Eddie Murray are already there, and you can make very good cases for Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, and Omar Vizquel, while Manny Ramirez would be there if not for PEDs), so why not go the Veeck route in an effort to boost attendance.

Veeck spoke to the fans, asked them what they liked and what they didn’t, and then put that into action. Instead of announcing giveaway days and special promotions, he just did them, so fans didn’t know when they showed up if someone special was going to happen or not.

We greeting fans when they arrived and spoke to them as they departed. He was like a host at a party who wanted to make sure everyone had a good time.

We understand Paul Dolan doesn’t seem to be comfortable doing this sort of thing, but he could hire people who can do it.

This is not to say all of the folks who work at Progressive Field are uncaring robots. Many enjoy the people who attend the games, but it has to be universal.

Once you create fun, then allow people to experience it, lower ticket prices, which are among the highest in the sport. Get rid of dynamic ticket prices. Have ticket deals for the times when the weather is less than ideal in Cleveland.

Alternative jerseys? Fans love them, Cleveland hasn’t done this. When was the last time the franchise celebrated a former player by putting them in the team’s Hall of Fame? Those are just simple things? Why doesn’t the organization do them?

We have said it many times over the past few years, there is interest in the major league baseball team here, the television rating show it. Why don’t folks come downtown? That’s what the ownership should be trying to find out?

It’s not rocket science, but it is about fun. Make it fun to attend a Guardians’ game.

Maybe the front office doesn’t know what fun is?

Next Year, Go Guardians!

Last Friday, the announcement finally came.

After the Major League Baseball season concludes, the Cleveland Indians will no longer exist, and the team will now be known as the Cleveland Guardians.

We understand this is difficult to accept for a great many fans of the team, folks that thought of the name “Indians” not as a racial slur, but rather the name of their favorite baseball team. There was no malice on the part of most of those people, it was a name they grew up with, the team they cherished as they aged.

These are different times though, and the name was no longer appropriate. The moniker will still be part of the history of the franchise though, and the memories of the players who were Cleveland Indians will always be part of the supporters of the team.

The negative reaction from fans at Progressive Field, booing when the Tom Hanks narrated video was played, could be because of the change or it could also be a reaction to the ownership that made the change. There is no doubt about the disconnect that exists being the public and the Dolan ownership, and frankly, we don’t know if that can ever be repaired.

As for the new name, it’s kind of generic to us. When the new name was announced, it was noted that Guardians reflect the pride, resiliency, and loyalty of people in northeast Ohio. Does it? We don’t know, but we do know it could have been handled better.

Why not make the fans part of the process? Why not pick four or five choices and let the ticket buying public vote on the new name?

That it wasn’t tells us perhaps it was going to be Guardians all along, there was no extensive research done.

As we said, we wouldn’t have went with anything Rock ‘n’ Roll themed either, that has become the only thing our area has become identified with recently, but why not an homage to the past by going with Blues, Blue Sox, or Grays, or even Commodores, since we sit on Lake Erie.

We would have even preferred Spiders, the old National League team name from the late 1800’s, to Guardians.

It also didn’t help that the logo unveiled on Friday looks like a grade school art project. We are sure the team paid a great deal of money to some consultant from out of town to design it, but that can still be changed, and we bet it will be sooner than later.

It could be that even if the current ownership announced the coolest nickname that has ever been chosen, it would be met with negativity. That’s where the majority of this fan base is with the Dolan family. There is a huge disconnect.

Perhaps there isn’t room for a Bill Veeck anymore in today’s game, but we think fans want the owner to be invested in the team, and not just monetarily. They want them to hurt when the team loses, and celebrate when they win.

Instead, they are too corporate. We get that they have to be, but it would be alright to act like you identify with what the fans are going through.

The name change was inevitable, and people who still don’t understand why it had to change aren’t being honest with themselves. As usual though for this ownership, it could have been handled better.

So, Guardians it is. If you are a true fan, this will not make you give that up. And don’t hold the name change against the ownership either. It was a matter of time.