Buying history
How desperate for money are the New York Mets, a team that slashed $90 million off their payroll in one winter in preparation for the worst case scenario of a lawsuit filed against them by the victims of Bernie Madoff? They're this desperate: the team is selling tickets to Johan Santana's no-hitter* that took place last week. Yes, the game has already been played, but now you, dear reader, can own one of these $50, limited edition tickets (limit 4) and tell everybody you know that you were there, June 1st, 2012, when history was made, even though you were probably at Cousin Mario's unfortunately-scheduled graduation party and thought that was better worth the time since you've only heard of two of the players left on the Mets this year, Santana and David Wright.There were actually about 14,000 unsold tickets to the game that night-- the Mets and Cardinals played to a stadium that was about two-thirds full-- but the box office is still open for as long as supplies last! Here's what this ticket offer means to 'jetsfan468' at the ESPN website: "this is the dumbest thing i ever heard. i guess this means the tickets of mine, and the other 20 something thousand people who went are now meaningless, anyone with 50 bucks was 'at the game'".
According to Adam Rubin, at ESPN New York, the then-Florida Marlins offered the same kind of re-sale after the Phillies' Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter at their ballpark in 2010, so there is precedent from other intradivision grifters. At ESPN St. Louis, the presses were silent today in regards to the controversial promotion because, again, ESPN St. Louis doesn't exist.
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The Cardinals, though financially-solvent, have sunk deeper into their chiseling ways as well. I bought tickets to this weekend's series at Busch against Cleveland, and on top of the price of the ticket, and the usual accompanying, mysterious fees, I also turned over $1.50 for the honor of picking up the tickets at Will Call. Shouldn't picking up the tickets save the team the cost of mailing them? Yes, it does, but see, they now want you to print off your own electronic ticket at home. Of course if I do that, and Jake Westbrook pitches a no-hitter while I'm there, I'm stuck with an 8 1/2 by 11 inch photocopy of a ticket from a laser printer in Des Moines as the principal historical artifact of this once-in-a-lifetime evening. The Cardinals aren't showing a lot of confidence in Jake Westbrook.
I do have confidence in him, and that hard sinking fastball of his, so I'll pay it, but that dollar and a half better get put towards shoring up the bullpen.
posted by CM @ 6:42 PM
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