Queens Baseball Convention

[G-Fafif]

It's real and it shapes up as spectacular! Queens Baseball Convention coming to McFadden's Citi Field Saturday Jan. 18 -- a little FanFest, a little Comic Con, a little Hofstra, if you will. As presenter and attendee, I'm excited. Hope you'll be there, too.

[Ceetar]

Should be fun. I plan to be there, haven't mentioned it to the wife yet, so I should probably do that.

[Guest themetfairy]

It's a great way for us to celebrate D-Dad's b'day - we'll be there!

[Ceetar]

Perhaps with a CPF MC?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Don't tell anybody I said this but the admission price, even tough I'm sure it accurately reflects the cost of putting the thing on, and the organizers will likely take a bath, etc etc etc is way too high.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Don't tell anybody I said this but the admission price, even tough I'm sure it accurately reflects the cost of putting the thing on, and the organizers will likely take a bath, etc etc etc is way too high.

You think so? In relation to what's going on, or just in general for an offseason get together type thing?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Relative to my vague expectations of value.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I just got a ticket online. I was hesitant because the site says the
ticket will be mailed and I was like what if I don't get it on time?
Anyway, they emailed the ticket bing bang boom done.

[bmfc1]

I'm looking forward to the event AND to seeing some of you. I'm one of the MC's so you'll hear me. You will be able to recognize me because I will be wearing my Mets jersey with "HYSEN" on the back from Fantasy Camp.

[Guest themetfairy]

I want to see whether Ed will pose with my mug on Saturday (minus the beads) -

[Guest sharpie]

65.

What are we waiting for anyway? Could the contests where both parties have submitted go up earlier or is that a violation?

[Guest themetfairy]

sharpie wrote: 65. What are we waiting for anyway? Could the contests where both parties have submitted go up earlier or is that a violation?

(psst sharpie - wrong thread)

[Guest d'Kong76]

themetfairy wrote: I want to see whether Ed will pose with my mug on Saturday (minus the beads)

Probably cost you $10

[Guest themetfairy]

Kong76 wrote: I want to see whether Ed will pose with my mug on Saturday (minus the beads) Probably cost you $10

In that case I'd just fill it with something on tap instead

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Is that a real mug from that joint?

Artifacts from the Outfielders Lounge in Queens probably harder to come by.

[Guest themetfairy]

It is indeed a real mug from The Dugout. My family used to go there every so often when I was a kid.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Highlights for those of us unable to attend?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Jason Fry did a fantastic interview with Ron Darling. Good questions, good answers, good stories, etc. Talked about his admiration for Gary Cohen and working with Keith; the St. John's-Yale game; the story of being traded from Texas to the Mets; the struggle of possessing a jock mindset; the difficulty of a Yalie gaining acceptance among MLB teammates (Seaver dropping a NY Times crossword at his locker rookie year with an instruction to finish it that week); the intangibles of being on a winning team (like Gary Carter had, he described what the 86ers had as love for one another). Some jocksniffing douchebag asked him to review why he changed numbers and he had a good answer for that too.

The uni panel I felt went pretty good, especially after a kinda slow start we got people's attention and eventually had to be hooked off the stage. Russ Gompers, who does the Mets' uni embroidery, was terrific fun and a good guy to know.

The Kranepool interview was in the middle of the expansive part of the joint where everybody was milling about and chatting and as a result was hard to hear. It sounded as though they were chatting away pretty good.

I also saw Mark Simon's talk on unusual wins -- very good, and well prepared -- and part of the blog panel and Greg's history thing. I missed the interview with Met execs and would be interested to hear a recap of that. They had some stuff for kids although not 5 hours of it -- Wifey had to whisk Lunchpail away after 2. But he won a cool tshirt I'm going to take from him, met Mr Met, and got a compliment from Ron Darling ("keep throwing strikes").

Overall, a fun day. Attendance was bigger and events ran smoother than I might have expected. Wonder a bit still about the price point although I know they were hoping to break even.

[G-Fafif]

Some overriding impressions offered here. Seconding JCL's take on Darling & Fry (riveted by the former, kvelling from the latter), Simon and Gompers. It struck me how Kranepool, while he attracted a nice audience, didn't draw total focus. C'mon, this is Ed Kranepool, and the median age didn't preclude knowing what that means. Maybe it was the logistics of the space but I think it was more about how those attending weren't necessarily in it for this or that speaker but just the chance to be in Metsland for a few hours in winter. MC bmfc1 (an excellent choice) and I agreed that you probably could have put out the word that Mets fans were welcome, thrown the doors open and still collected a healthy admission and gathered a decent group.

That may not be a business plan, which would explain why organizing a QBC is best left to those who actually did it, and they're terrific at it.

I caught only the tail end of the panel with second-line Mets execs, just enough to hear them say, when asked why they don't put one of these on themselves, that, nah, you don't want that, it wouldn't be as authentic as you guys doing it. There was both patronizing piffle and truth in that sorry response.

The event was capped in classy fashion by Gil Hodges, Jr., and semi-surprise guest Art Shamsky joining us to accept the first Gil Hodges Unforgettable Fire Award on behalf of Gil's dad. (GHJ asked me on Friday if it was OK to bring Shamsky; I checked our policy on accepting unsolicited World Champion Mets and said, oh, fine.) I had the honor of presenting, but I credit Shannon Shark -- the Mets Police and QBC mastermind -- for the impulse to recognize Hodges in the first place. My microphone gave out in the middle of the presentation but Shannon found a working mic at the very end so we could finish on high/loud note, which indicated that like 1969, this, too, was meant to be.

Or he just found another microphone.

Fun day. Look forward to its 2015 incaranation.

[Ceetar]

the mic giving out and the the Kranepool audio were both a tribute to how crappy McFaddens is. The audio pipes nicely into the elevated bar area, but not to the rest place.

A lot of it's on video too. memory cards filled up and batteries died, so probably not all of it, but a lot. I assume that will eventually be parsed and shared.

I caught some of the Mets execs panel, and it was mostly ticket fluff and thought processes of some of that type of stuff. I rolled my eyes a few times. Why they don't do a fanfest was their typical "don't want to tax the alumni would rather them come spread out during the season. And it's not authentic if we do it (i.e. you'll make fun of us)" You think they'd learn that it doesn't have to be Seaver every time, that you could call up Cliff Floyd or John Olerud or Glendon Rusch and it'd be fun. (and yes, I'm sure there would be someone that would say "why are they giving us these guys and not 'real' guys?'" screw em.)

[Guest themetfairy]

I agree that the team shouldn't use this as an excuse to avoid having official FanFests. Several other teams have them, and it's a great way to get the fans pumped for the upcoming season.

That said, Greg's column sums up yesterday perfectly - there was a variety of events that fans could attend, and plenty of time where friends could just hang out with each other. Spirits were high and fun was had - I'm already looking forward to next year's gathering!

Photo that I haven't taken yet but will in the next few days - Ed Kranepool's autograph on my glass mug from The Dugout

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: The uni panel I felt went pretty good, especially after a kinda slow start we got people's attention and eventually had to be hooked off the stage. Russ Gompers, who does the Mets' uni embroidery, was terrific fun and a good guy to know.

Definitely going to need buffer time between panels next time.

What was that kid asking out about at the end? Sidd Finch's uniform number?

[Guest d'Kong76]

I saw you yesterday Ceets, wasn't sure it was you until I saw
your picture on facebook. Sorry for looking you right in the eye and
ignoring you! :=(

It's amazing to me trying to take everyone in and how GIGANTIC the
Mets online community has become since The Hochster got his
cease and desist order from MLB over the site where so many of
us first me ... what, now almost fifteen years ago for some?

McFadden's was sadly ill-prepared to handle all those people.
Maybe next year the Mets can be implored to set up some giant
circus tents in the parking lot or something and have Aramark or
whoever handle food and drink. I suppose The Ceasars Club (if I'm
thinking of the right one) is bigger than McFaddens too but that's
probably not going to happen.

Hopefully this tradition can continue and grow. Nice to have a small
blast of baseball in January.

[Ceetar]

Kong76 wrote: I saw you yesterday Ceets, wasn't sure it was you until I saw your picture on facebook. Sorry for looking you right in the eye and ignoring you! :=(

I didn't even see you. Or maybe I did? I don't know. I was sorta in a daze the last couple of hours. Too much socializing, I'm not cut out for it. It's alright though, I'm pretty sure I had a conversation with at least 2 people without introducing myself.

McFadden's is a nice space, but it's not really run or wired real well. That new backroom 'beer garden' (garden's have trees. and are outside. with benches. sorry, different rant) was nice to be able to have two things going at once though without audio clashing. They haven't cleaned the place since the last days of the season (if they cleaned it then) we found all sorts of junk setting up. ticket stubs, plastic cups, umbrellas.. seats put on top of tables were stuck to the tables when we peeled them off. There was mold growing in some of the mixer bottles behind the beer garden bar and fruit flies in the tequila. The first Guinness I had was okay, but the second one didn't taste right. old dirty taps.

Who knows, the Mets support the idea, at least most of them do. They had a booth and a panel. The media relations folk like it. Will Carafello was apparently walking around tweeting pictures. That's probably the coolest part actually. He's the new social media guy, and he went basically anonymously, I assume he genuinely wanted to get a feel for the Mets fan community.

Maybe some bigwig gets squeamish about the idea of getting involved more formally, because there are so many damn layers to the organization and it only generally takes one guy to get squeamish to kill something, but it wouldn't kill them to just let us use the Caesar's Club. You'd have to pay a couple of employees or whatever but they do stuff like that all the time. They obviously already have all this stuff set up, because they do corporate events and gatherings in the club. Even if you make QBC pay cost and didn't make a profit for this one fan event would probably go a long way towards either A. keeping the price lower or B. being able to pay for another good appearance or two.

[Ceetar]

More about the Mets stance on "taxing the Alumni" about not doing FanFests, etc during the offseason

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[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Hey, if I was worried about how the thing might go I'm sure the Mets were too. (I was afraid it would be just bloggers blowing one another; also I flashed on the possibility of fistfights when hooligans got wasted). And yes the suits were patronizing, but I would bet that coordinating offseason visits to the city for a bunch of players is a big PITA, moreso today than ever, for little benefit beyond good will from some fans and a few photo ops.

McFaddens is a cavernous restaurant in a big stadium, not an event space. What's nice is that it was large enough to accomodate a big crowd and the Met-ly location everyone related to. I am certain it would cost more $$$ to have the event at the Mets facilities inside. That said nothing makes me sadder than seeing a men's room attendant. Could they just promote the guy to cook, clean or bartend? Christ.

Next year I'd see where costs could be reduced to the point that more would consider attending. If that mean one less paid appearance by a star than OK. Consider a charitable angle and/or combine with an event that might have a built-in crowd (5K race?), etc etc

[Guest d'Kong76]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: That said nothing makes me sadder than seeing a men's room attendant. Could they just promote the guy to cook, clean or bartend?

That dude was creepy. I could feel him watching me pee. I'm
not sure he was cook, clean or bartend material. I didn't want him
touching my paper towel!

[bmfc1]

From my vantage point in the audio area, it was an amazin' site. As g-fafif said, it just looked like we were happy to be with other Mets fans. We were in a MFY-free zone, in a place where no one is reminding us that the "Mets suck."

Good point about the audio. I tried my best and McFadden's had a sound guy but I never felt everyone could hear my announcements (and occasional attempts at humor). I think the problem is that the facility was wired differently for the panel room, the area where Kranepool spoke, and for the bar area. There wasn't one button that I could push to be heard everywhere. I "sang" "Meet the Mets" with Mr. Met, and that should have been a unifying sing-a-long, but not everybody knew it was taking place.

Also, good point about separating the times of the panels. Even with such great topics, you need a few minutes to stretch your legs and get a drink.

McFadden's was not equipped to serve that many people (for those that weren't there, they only served hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken fingers but not their full menu). And when I say "served", there wasn't any wait staff--you had to stand in line and someone handed you the food. I don't think that anyone anticipated such a turnout.

If the Mets don't think that they can pull this off on their own then things on the Executive Level are worse than I suspected. The Nationals and Cubs had events yesterday (thanks to [u:3ouasyh8]The Times[/u:3ouasyh8] for reporting on the Cubs event but ignoring the QBC). This is just laziness from a team that wasn't even smart enough to keep the team store open yesterday. That's right: 400 Mets fans at Citi Field and the team store was closed. Heaven forbid that we buy enough merchandise to give them less of an excuse to sign Stephen Drew. However, the Amway store was open all day!

But... yesterday was fantastic. I schlepped up and back from DC and it was worth the trip.

[Guest cooby]

Nice reports; thanks!

[Ceetar]

Kong76 wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: That said nothing makes me sadder than seeing a men's room attendant. Could they just promote the guy to cook, clean or bartend? That dude was creepy. I could feel him watching me pee. I'm not sure he was cook, clean or bartend material. I didn't want him touching my paper towel!

not just one, TWO bathroom attendants. (there's another almost secret bathroom behind the beer garden area, pass the hill where Kranepool was on the right) I knew the thing wouldn't go off right without cinnamon mouthwash in a sports bar after all. I have no idea what McFadden's was thinking, particularly with the food. Someone asked at the bar at 12 about food and the bartender didn't know and had to go ask. And people didn't show up to clean (i.e. pick up empty glasses from around the place) until about 5 or 6. I know originally McFadden's was making some noise about having another event piggy back the QBC and start at 7, which would've just been ridiculous.

Yeah, the lack of the store being open was dumb. At the very least bring some Wright, Harvey, Wheeler type shirts for sale at the Mets booth. It's funny, the same mysterious bigwigs that think foul things up and probably think bad things about The7Line probably drove up t-shirt sales for him by not thinking to open the store. The Mets participated more than I thought they would though, even donating some tickets for some of the prizes I believe, so at least "they're trying" for whatever that's worth. Hopefully the people that do care are the ones that stick and the other guys are slowly pushed out and retire. Of course, if one of those guys is "Jeff Wilpon" who knows.