Category Archives: Opinion

The Politics of Losing

Posted by on 2 April 2018 Comments Off on The Politics of Losing

Eat shift or die trying

Taking “April Fools’ Day” a bit too far, Brian Dozier criticized Chance Sisco yesterday for bunting for a hit down 6 runs in the 9th inning. Believing he had the moral high ground, Dozier felt confident that the Orioles’ veteran leadership would set the offending player straight.

In the end, the only one needing to be set straight was Dozier himself. In a sport where failing to run out a fly ball can get you benched and watching a home run just a bit too long can get you plunked, the unwritten rule about not trying win with the odds stacked against you seems a bit out of place. And in this case, criticism seems even more unwarranted considering that the player in question was bunting to get around a shift; clearly, the other team was doing everything they could to get him out, so why shouldn’t he do everything in his power to get on base? Not playing to the best of your ability is the ultimate disrespect in sports. That message seems to have been lost somewhere.

Read more »

Dear Binghamton Mets, It’s Not Too Late to Fix This

Posted by on 17 May 2016 1 comment

Seriously, just say no to bad team names

I go to about 10 Binghamton Mets games each year, all on the road. As such, some amount of team merchandise is a must for me in addition to the usual big-league Mets gear. The problem with the Binghamton Mets though is that they have no real identity beyond being a Mets affiliate with a boring dark blue base color. After the New Britain Rock Cats moved to Hartford and changed their name to the Yard Goats, the solution to that problem seemed clear. The team didn’t move, but 2016 would be the last year for the Binghamton Mets.

Some people weren’t too happy with the “Yard Goats” name, but it was actually quite brilliant. It has the requisite animal name while also being an obscure railroad reference, making for easy and interesting mascots and graphics with some sort of tie to the area’s history. The merchandise was a big hit, partly due to the use of the colors from the long-departed Hartford Whalers. Like the Yard Goats and other minor league teams, the Binghamton club had a naming contest and selected six finalists. Would they be odd, quirky, clever, or endearing? Um…

Bullheads. Gobblers. Rocking Horses. Rumble Ponies. Stud Muffins. Timber Jockeys. No, I’m not hurling insults at the team for picking bad names, those are the names selected as finalists. Can you imagine wearing any of those across your chest? All hope is not lost though, we might be able to pull a Boaty McBoatface and sneak in a better name while keeping a nod to the fan choices.

Read more »

2014 Biggest Pulls

Posted by on 2 January 2015 Comments Off on 2014 Biggest Pulls

The hobby of diminishing returns

Welcome to 2015.  With Topps and Panini going down to the wire with their 2014 product releases, it will take at least another couple of weeks to finish off all of the year in review pieces here.  With any luck, we’ll have the Best Mets Cards of 2014 post up this weekend.  But before we get to that, let’s look at how my luck fared with packs in 2014.  Spoiler: it was crap.

My spending was down in 2014, with just under $3,000 going toward unopened 2014 product.  That yielded just $540 in eBay sales, though, for a variety of reasons, I ended up not selling quite a few of the biggest hits.  Meanwhile, even the lesser hits were tough sells; cards that would have sold for $20 or more a year or two ago were lucky to go for $10 this year.  Part of the problem is overproduction.  Topps in particular has been pushing out more products with more parallels than ever before (and somehow without featuring more players).  This results in a glut of low-numbered parallels of star players.  That’s great for collectors who buy singles, not so good for sellers.  If a Jose Altuve parallel numbered to 35 isn’t going to sell for more than $1, I might as well hang on to it.  And so now I have piles of 2014 hits that can’t find good homes.

Of course, even the cards that did sell didn’t always sell.  Out of 130 sales on eBay this year, three resulted in non-paying bidders.  We’re not talking about junk cards either, these were big names: Clayton Kershaw, Kris Bryant, and Robin Yount.  All of these cards went relatively cheap compared to other listings, but all three went unpaid.  This seems to be an increasing problem as eBay has become more and more biased against sellers, bending over backwards to placate buyers while making selling more of a hassle.  With Check Out My Cards getting into auctions, it should be interesting to see how eBay fares in the sports card market.  We could see a tipping point in the next few years.

But enough doom and gloom, let’s get to the pretty cards.

Read more »

Selling Out at Citi Field

Posted by on 24 September 2014 Comments Off on Selling Out at Citi Field

In which I make my case to be the next Mets Executive VP of Ticket Sales

Another dismal season is coming to a close in Queens this weekend and it’s hard to come up with reasons for people to buy tickets to see the Mets wrap things up.  Jacob deGrom?  Shut down, as is former Met and fellow breakout rookie Collin McHugh.  Juan Lagares?  Yeah, he’s shut down too along with Dilson Herrera.  David Wright?  You get the picture.  Even the Mejia stomp is likely off the menu with his sports hernia surgery scheduled for next week.  Even if the product on the field doesn’t entice, at least there’s all the team history at the park.  The Ebbets Field exterior, the Jackie Robinson Rotunda…  If you’re lucky, you might be able to squeeze into the tiny gift shop before grabbing a burger at Shake Shack and hanging out with fellow lost souls on the “we seriously needed to poll the fans to figure out what to name this thing” Shea Bridge.  Anyone who can sell people on this “experience” deserves a hefty bonus…

But that particular spot is vacant right now in the Mets front office.  We’ll let the courts sort out just how that vacancy came to be, but for now I’ll take a stab at how to market the Mets to fans who are struggling to keep from jumping ship to the Yankees, Blue Jays, Nationals, Orioles, Pirates, Rays, or reruns of the 1994 Expos.  And since I have never had a child out of wedlock, I at least meet that qualification.  For everything else, I worry that being a fan of the team might actually be a strike against me, or at least that’s the picture I get from watching the way the organization is run.  In any case, here are a few quick ideas for selling tickets to whatever team takes the field next year.

Season Ticket Holder Freebies

I may not know much about ticket sales, but I know that it all starts with the season ticket holders.  These are the people and/or corporations that pay up front for a guaranteed seat at every home Mets game.  Even smaller ticket plans are getting the royal treatment these days; buying tickets to 10 New Hampshire Fisher Cats games practically makes me a VIP.  Season ticket holders (and, to a lesser extent, ticket plan buyers) need to be treated properly to ensure that they keep coming back.

But that’s not what happens at Citi Field.  The most glaring example of disrespect to STHs is when seating-limited promotions are announced.  These special offers promise a limited item like a bobblehead with tickets in a particular section.  If you already have a seat elsewhere, you are told to buy another ticket and try to sell your usual seat if you want to get in on the deal.  The message this sends is clear: “We already have your money, we have no motivation to keep you happy.”  Other teams make sure that STHs are taken care of, why don’t the Mets?  The last thing you should be telling someone who has given you thousands of dollars (tens of thousands in some cases) is that they need to buy another ticket if they want a promotional trinket.  Maybe make it an option for an additional fee if the logistics are too complicated, but this needs to be fixed.  This wouldn’t apply to ticket plan holders, but we’ll make sure they’re taken care of too.

Ticket Trade-Up Program

How many times this season have there been empty field-level sections while the unwashed masses crowd into the upper deck?  That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but if nobody is buying the good seats, why not let the people who showed up sit down there without having to bribe an usher?

Here’s how it works: put a few kiosks by the entrances with flashing lights or something to make them look exciting.  Starting a set time before the scheduled game time, people can scan their tickets for a chance at an upgrade.  Only a limited number of seats will be made available and upgrades will be awarded at random.  Each ticket or group of tickets (whatever was purchased together) gets one chance at an upgrade.  If they win, they can get a seat upgrade for just a small processing fee (because everyone loves processing fees).  If they lose, they get a coupon.  Everyone’s a winner!

Ticket Trade-Down Program

Let’s say you’re a devoted fan and the last person you know who will still go for a ticket plan at the start of the season.  There’s a game this weekend with a special 4 for $48 offer and your family is up for a game as a change of pace.  The problem is that your lonely plan seat cost nearly that much by itself and you would have little chance of getting much more than $10 back if you sold it.  You’re stuck choosing between taking the loss and going to a game with the family or going by yourself and letting the family watch on TV.  Or just giving up on the team entirely because your plan tickets lose most of their value long before the game.  But what if there was another option?

Paying for a plan up front guarantees a sale for the team.  So why shouldn’t they guarantee the value of your ticket?  Like with the bobblehead fiasco, this issue associates buying tickets early with losing money.  That’s not a good way to do business.  Instead, why not let plan holders trade the face value of their tickets down for multiple cheaper seats? (Exclusions and fees apply, excess value left unredeemed will not be refunded, all trade-downs are final.)  You could also potentially turn this into a trade-up, putting the value of one ticket toward a more expensive seat or even combining multiple tickets (if originally purchased together) to make the most out of a cancellation.  When the park isn’t selling out and the team isn’t winning, you need to sell your customers on value somehow.

Home Game Road Trips

Now we’re getting to the potentially LOLMets desperation moves.  If we can’t get people to come to the games, why not just bus them in?  After all, one of the biggest hurdles when it comes to going to a game at Citi Field is just getting to Citi Field.  Between train fares, tolls, parking fees, etc., there really isn’t any way to get to a game from outside of New York City for much less than $50.  There may be lots of fans out there in the tri-state area, but most of them would rather just watch on television.  Why not try to turn them into paying customers?

This would take a fair amount of market research and logistics to pull off.  Multiple bus routes, multiple stops per route, etc. would need to be figured out.  Maybe throw in some refreshments or a t-shirt or promo item or something.  And when everyone gets there, walk them up to the Pepsi Porch like they do for Bark in the Park so nobody gets lost.  The game becomes just one part of the experience.

The Elephant in the Room

Now, none of this addresses the big problem, the matter of what happens on the field.  Winning will put butts in seats more than any gimmick.  Well, winning or hosting Derek Jeter’s final game.  But since we lack the technology to scatter the end of Jeters career across the infinity of time and space, winning is all we have to work with.  And winning just hasn’t been happening much lately.  Maybe next year will be different.  Maybe ownership will start spending.  Maybe prospects will pan out and veterans will return to form.  Maybe the tickets will sell themselves and the problem will be that people can’t get tickets rather than that they don’t want them.  Until then though, the Mets need to embrace the fans who still stand by the team and do everything possible to make sure they enjoy the stadium experience.  Because blaming low spending on poor attendance doesn’t help anyone.

2014 Mets Card Spring Preview

Posted by on 9 March 2014 Comments Off on 2014 Mets Card Spring Preview

What’s in the cardboard for the 2014 Mets

Another offseason is coming to an end, so it’s time to take a look at what it all means for card collecting. 2014 was supposed to be the year Sandy Alderson’s plan came together, but significant gaps and questions put that in jeopardy even before Matt Harvey was lost for the season. In terms of cards, the lack of notable veterans has left most sets a mix of David Wright and various prospects and young stars. Are there enough new veterans and rising stars to give the Mets respectable representation in this year’s products? Or, like the master plan, will it take another year for everything to fall into place?

Farewells

Alderson’s big trade of 2013 sent Marlon Byrd and John Buck to Pittsburgh for infielder Dilson Herrera and MLB-ready reliever Vic Black. Byrd and Buck went on to the postseason and, as expected, didn’t return to the Mets. Buck was no longer necessary with the arrival of Travis d’Arnaud, but Byrd was the Mets’ top outfielder offensively.

As I predicted, the 2013 Topps Series 2 Mets team set is a “Where are they now?” article waiting to happen…

The non-tender deadline gave us another batch of departures. Jordany Valdespin, Omar Quintanilla, and Scott Atchison were cut as expected, with Justin Turner and the injured Jeremy Hefner joining them unexpectedly. Hefner and Quintanilla were re-signed, Jordany Valdespin gave in to destiny and signed with the Marlins, Scott Atchison signed with the Indians, and Justin Turner joined teammate Mike Baxter with the Dodgers.

On top of that, oft-injured pitchers Johan Santana and Shaun Marcum also landed elsewhere, Santana with the Orioles and Marcum with the Indians. Santana missed all of 2013 after his second shoulder surgery and Marcum saw his season end early after a shoulder surgery of his own.

Hails

As mentioned before, the Mets bolstered the ranks of their top 20 prospects with the acquisition of Dilson Herrera and Vic Black from the Pirates in August. Black should get a good amount of work as a late-inning reliever this year while Herrera is still a few years out. Not a bad return for a few weeks of a couple of players who wouldn’t be back this year anyway.

And here are the big offseason acquisitions. If nothing else, these guys bring a veteran presence in cardboard dating back to the late ’90s. More on that later.

Autographs

The last few months have given us plenty of new autographs. Bowman Sterling closed out 2013 with the first autographs from L.J. Mazzilli. Panini Elite Extra Edition started 2014 with the first autographs from Jared King and Akeel Morris, plus the first live autographs from Rainy Lara. Last month’s 2014 Donruss was largely a bust but did give us Andrew Brown’s first autographs. Notably absent is Juan Lagares, who should be in line for a lot of attention after his performance in 2013.

Autographs are also plentiful further up in the system. Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero should get called up sometime in 2014 and will hopefully get some more autographs along the way. Travis d’Arnaud and Wilmer Flores are the first of the top Mets prospects with autographs in 2014 products.

Notable autographs in upcoming products include the first from Dallas Green and Frank Lary in 2014 Topps Heritage (though not as Mets) and the first from Jeremy Hefner in 2014 Topps Gypsy Queen. More will hopefully follow in 2014 Bowman and 2014 Topps Archives, though the lack of Mets autographs in Heritage is troubling.

Game-Used

One of the big surpises so far this year was the pair of Rookie pinstripe jersey cards in 2013 Panini America’s Pastime. These (along with camo patch variants) are the first memorabilia cards from Juan Lagares and Scott Rice and mark the first time that multiple current Mets have had Mets pinstripe jersey cards in the same year since 2009. Travis d’Arnaud was the first 2014 Rookie with his first MLB-worn material in 2014 Topps Series 1 and 2014 Topps Tribute. It’s a good start after some pretty rough years, but there’s still more ground to cover.

2014 Donruss has given us the first oddity of the year in the form of pinstripe jersey cards from Ike Davis, Dillon Gee, and Jon Niese. Their Game Gear cards all contain a type of pinstripe only seen at the MLB level back in the ’90s. This would mean that they could only be from the 1993 throwback home jersey worn on the road in Colorado on April 16, 2013.

Autographed Game-Used

Leaf had a couple surprises of its own in 2013 Leaf Trinity. In addition to autographs from Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, Dominic Smith, and Domingo Tapia, Leaf released autographed cards with memorabilia from Smith and Tapia. These all included piping or patches, a rarity for minor league players.

At the big league level, Travis d’Arnaud had his first autographed patch cards in the Strata insert set in 2014 Topps Series 1. Numbered to just 25 (and released as redemptions), these are not easy to get a hold of. Hopefully we’ll see more from him later in the year.

Playing Pepper 2014: New York Mets

Like last year, Daniel Shoptaw from C70 At the Bat polled the Mets blog community to get a picture of where the team stands as of spring training. Also like last year, I offered up my unique insight that may or may not be particularly insightful.

You can read all of the responses here: Playing Pepper 2014: New York Mets.

1) How would you grade the offseason?

It’s hard to go much higher than a B considering that the team still has some big holes and big questions, but the moves the team made should be at least enough for a B, so… It’s another year in a holding pattern, so a B it is. The outfield needed an overhaul, which it got in the form of Curtis Granderson and, to a lesser extent, the other Chris Young. The rotation needed a veteran and some Mejia insurance, which Bartolo Colon, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and John Lannan should provide. The bullpen has a few cheap new options, which is probably the best that could be expected. First base is still unresolved and shortstop… No shortstop solution equals a B.

In a different light though, this offseason earned an A for filling some of the Mets’ most glaring holes: All-Star memorabilia. Since All-Star workout jerseys started getting sold into tiny cardboard prisons in 2000, the Mets have had a representative from each AL All-Star team no later than the following spring each year. Sometimes it was a former player stepping up with a new team (Jason Isringhausen ’00, Melvin Mora ’05, Ty Wigginton ’10), other times it was a big-name offseason acquisition (Johan Santana ’07, Francisco Rodriguez ’08, Jason Bay ’09). This ended with the start of the Alderson regime. With no big free agent signings and an emphasis on building the farm system, there were no former or future Mets to be found on the AL All-Star Roster. It looked like 2013 would turn things around with both Jose Reyes and R.A. Dickey in Toronto, but that didn’t quite work out.

That all changed with this past offseason. In the span of a few days, Sandy Alderson checked off the 2011 (Curtis Granderson), 2012 (also CG), and 2013 (Bartolo Colon) AL All-Star teams and threw in the first Met from the 2005 Futures Game USA team (Chris Young) for good measure. Later, the signing of Jose Valverde to a minor league deal added a possible second 2011 AL All-Star. A bounceback season from Reyes and/or Dickey could put us back on track to have a Met on every AL All-Star team.

2) Can Zack Wheeler step up and fill the gap left by Matt Harvey’s surgery?

Yeah, about that… Over the years (well, two of them at least), I have identified two predictors of doom that can be found in cardboard. From 2010 to 2013, only one player each year appeared with the Mets and had a Mets pinstripe jersey card released in the same year. None of the first three played a game with the Mets in the following year. The fourth is Zack Wheeler. In 2013, I noticed that a lot of Mets pitchers who signed a lot of autographs that year suffered from arm injuries. Zack Wheeler was one of the few who has, so far, remained injury free. Does this mean Zack Wheeler is now cursed and has no chance of throwing a pitch in 2014? Of course not. But with the run of injuries Mets pitchers suffered in 2013, nothing is certain.

Seriously though, you can’t really look at it is having a gap to be filled. With or without Harvey, the rotation needs five pitchers to start with and some depth to fill in as needed. The Colon signing added a much-needed veteran and 200 innings from Wheeler would certainly help, as would strong seasons from Jon Niese and Dillon Gee. That just leaves the #5 spot, which has some decent (and cheap) options that could also provide depth later in the season. Add in possible appearances by Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, and/or Jacob deGrom in the second half and the Mets might just have a legitimate group of starting pitchers to work with while Harvey rehabs.

3) Which roster battle will be the most intriguing during spring training?

I’m not really intrigued by it, but the one everyone seems to be interested in is who will be batting leadoff. “Leadoff Hitter” isn’t really a position, but you wouldn’t know that from the reporting these days. Eric Young Jr., the reigning NL stolen base champ, is the favorite for the job, but he’s a 4th outfielder at best. Do the Mets demote Juan Lagares to give EY a starting job to put him (and his mediocre OBP) at the top of the order? Or do they keep EY as a potent weapon off the bench and pick a leadoff hitter from the remaining options? This is the classic case of logic (EY’s value is highest as a bench player) vs. emotion (stolen bases!).

4) What rookie, if any, will make the most impact on the team in 2014?

That would be Travis d’Arnaud. Wilmer Flores will probably start the season in AAA and there’s little chance of seeing any of the big pitching prospects until late June or July. That puts d’Arnaud in the rare position of spending a full season with Rookie eligibility. He has already shown that he is ready behind the plate, but he didn’t impress much with the bat in his brief stint in the majors last year. If his bat comes around (and if he can put injury questions to rest), he could provide significant value at a position that hasn’t produced much for the Mets in recent years.

5) What will be the final record of the team and where will they finish in the division?

I’ll go out on a limb and go with 80-82, 3rd place in the NL East.  As with last year, this will depend more on how the other teams in the division perform than how the Mets perform.  Will the Phillies continue to falter?  Is the Marlins’ emergence still another year away?  Did the Braves and Nationals make the right moves to stay at the top of the NL East?  If everything breaks right, the Mets could stay relevant past the All-Star break.  If not, well, pick any recent year to see the result.  I’m not quite sold on 90 wins, but 80 is still in play.  Of course, so is 70.

6) Which player from your team do you most enjoy watching?

Sigh. Will Matt Harvey’s rehab be televised?

Inside the Lines at the White Plains Card Show

Posted by on 20 February 2014 Comments Off on Inside the Lines at the White Plains Card Show

Back in the game a decade later

Last month, I shared my story of my trip to the 2014 Queens Baseball Convention.  After 7 hours at the event and another 4 hours spent in transit, that should have been enough for any weekend, especially when you consider that it included appearances (with autographs) from Ron Darling and Ed Kranepool plus a surprise appearance by Art Shamsky.  At least, that was the plan.

Backing up to Friday, January 17, a tweet from Matt den Dekker announced that he would be at the White Plains Card Show on January 18, the same day as the Queens Baseball Convention.

The timing was unfortunate, to say the least.  Former Mets Rusty Staub and Jason Isringhausen were among that day’s other guests, with autograph prices starting at $20 for den Dekker and going up from there (the full list of signers is unfortunately lost to history because the event promoter took all show information offline immediately following the event and nobody seems to have copied it down anywhere).  The show, however would go on.  For one more day at least.  It had been a decade since I had been to a card show, I was within driving distance, and there were two Mets on the autograph list for the final day.  Might as well stop by.

Read more »