Giants Try Their Sales Pitch Again -- and Whiff

A short while ago, a well-meaning sales rep from the San Francisco Giants called and wanted to make a deal. He knew I loved spur-of-the-moment decisions to get cheap tickets to go see the team's sensational young pitcher, Tim Lincecum. So, how about this offer: Four-packs (kills the spur-of-the-moment element) at a modestly reduced rate (kills the cheap element) to go see the rest of the Giants' pitching staff (kills the chance to compete in the National League West).

This week, I got another call: If I didn't like the overly structured nature of a four-pack of games, how about an even more complicated six-pack? And, even better, this six-pack seems to specialize in weekday day games. "Manfred" the sales rep seemed to think this was a selling point (and that this offer would be super "hot" once it hits the Internet in a couple of days).

Hey, there's not much finer than day baseball -- but former Cubs manager Lee Elia wasn't so far off the mark when he noted in a now-infamous rant that most people work during the day (Elia's exact words regarding hostile Chicago fans were, "The motherfuckers don't even work. That's why they're out at the fucking game. They oughta go and get a fucking job and find out what it's like to go out and earn a fucking living. Eighty-five percent of the fucking world is working. The other 15 percent come out here.").

In other words, as far as making a convincing argument to buy tickets: Strike Two.

Interesting to note: Manfred said that the Giants will likely be giving away knit caps during their ethnic heritage nights (I still have a Croix de Candlestick knit cap from 1999 and carry it with me at all times). Also, we will likely never see a kids' bat day of the sort we grew up with ever again -- thanks to liability issues and the perception that society has grown less polite than back when Dave Dravecky was throwing strikes at the 'Stick and yours truly was handed a beautiful, 30-inch Louisville Slugger.

Yeah, I've still got it.