Fan Walkout Day

-----Original Message-----
From: Woodrow L. Goode [mailto:fanwalkout@ameritech.net]
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 4:07 PM
Subject: FW: Proposal: Fan Walkout Day

Dear Baseball Fan:

OK, I've had it.  My boiling point has finally been reached.  I have half a day off; I've decided to spend it pushing an idea that I think is the best chance we have to prevent a strike.  If you like this idea and think it has value, I'd appreciate your pushing it as loudly and as often as you can.  And if you could tell people to pass it on to every writer and every fan in every major league city, I think we'd all benefit

Here's the idea: It's called "Fan Walkout Day"--a boycott of every major league game played on a single date.

Here's what it means: On Sunday, July 7--the day before the All-Star break--every fan who opposes a strike should boycott that day's game. Don't buy tickets for that day. If you already have tickets, don't use them. 

Here's our goal: To have a full schedule of games played in stadiums that are as empty as possible, on a date that gives everyone a few days with no distractions to let our message sink in. 

Here's our message: We, the fans are the people who control Major League Baseball.  We, and we alone make it possible for the owners and players to earn millions of dollars.  We are disgusted by the behavior of both sides.  We don't want a strike, and we don't care what both sides need to do to avoid it. If there is a strike, you all had better be prepared to lose a lot of money, because we will never, ever come back to a game if there is another strike.

Here's why we need to do it: The players and owners feel they can do whatever they like because fans have always come back to baseball, no matter what happens. Fans have said "I don't want a strike, and I'll be really upset if one happens."  But we always find some reason to start going again.

We need to show everyone that we're serious this time.  We need to walk out first.  We need to walk out on a day when it makes as big an impact as possible.

Let the owners and players show up at the All-Star Game and say "Boy, they're serious." Meanwhile, the media-- which never has anything much to cover on those days--can spend three days writing and talking about it. They'll interview all the owners and all the players and ask them "Aren't you worried about what the fans are doing?" And maybe the message will sink in

Here's who we're targeting: Sunday, July 7 is the ideal day because there are a full schedule of games that day, and it's the day before the break. But it's also ideal, because eight of the 15 teams who will get hit are the ones who caused salaries to explode with idiotic free agent signings:

• The Anaheim Angels signed Mo Vaughn to a 70-million contract
• The Arizona Diamondbacks gave big bucks to Jay Bell and Matt Williams, and huge bucks to Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling
• The Boston Red Sox gave $120 million to Manny Ramirez, who can't run the bases or field
• The Chicago White Sox made Albert Belle baseball's first $10-million man
• The Colorado Rockies inflated salaries for dozens of good-but-not-great pitchers, by signing Darryl Kile, Denny Neagle and Mike Hampton
• The Florida Marlins bought a World Series with Bobby Bonilla, Moises Alou, Gary Sheffield and Alex Fernandez and then gutted the club
• The New York Yankees have spent close to one billion dollars on free agents in the last 25 years
• The Texas Rangers gave Alex Rodriguez an insane $250-million deal 

The other teams who will be affected are Atlanta, Cincinnati, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Seattle. They're not the worst offenders, but none of them has ever spoken up in the name of sanity.

Since half the teams will be on the read that day, some of you won't be able to support Fan Walkout Day. Don't worry, there are plenty of other things you can do.

Here's what happens next: If the two sides don't make progress--if they both just posture and say "I know you're upset but it's all their fault..." we do it again.  The follow-up day should be Wednesday, August 7.  That's a good choice because:

• It gives both sides one month to make some sort of progress
• There will also be 15 games played on that date
• Nine new teams (Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, San Diego, San Francisco and Toronto) will get hit.
• Five of the six teams who get hit twice are the bad guys: The teams who will lose two days gate receipts are Arizona, Boston, the White Sox, Colorado and the Yankees (St. Louis is the other one).

Here's how you can help: To begin with, pass the word on.  Talk about the idea to everyone you know. Send a copy of this e-mail to every fan, writer, broadcaster or player you know.  If you have access to a fax machine, send faxes.  If you're old-fashioned, send letters.

Do you have access to a copy machine?  If so, make some copies of this message and ask your local sport bar to put up  a copy. Pass out copies somewhere if you can.

Meanwhile, talk about Fan Walkout Day every chance you get.  Tell people to write to fanwalkout@ameritech.net for more information, and I'll send them updated information, answer questions or do anything I can to help. 

If you want a web site with all the information, I've got a temporary page set up at http://www.ameritech.net/users/fanwalkout/home.htmll.  It's not very good right now, but it's a place to go and I'll have something better soon. 

What else you can do to help: There are many other things we need to do:

• If you've already bought tickets, baseball already has your money. But if you really want to make an impact, mail your tickets back to the club, along with a letter saying that you oppose a strike--and will never buy another ticket if a strike happens.

Letters like that will really terrify the owners.  Businessmen are hypersensitive to letters, because they know writing a letter is a lot of work.  It means the person is really serious about whatever he or she is saying. 

And if you're a season ticket holder or you have ever bought tickets in bulk for your company, non-profit organization or group, mention that in your letter.  Teams depend on bulk purchases to survive. You are the lifeblood of your team--use it to threaten them!

• If you live in the city of a team that is on the road that day, send letters to your team, telling them that they support "Fan Walkout Day" and will never come back if there is a strike. Again, if you own season tickets or ever have owned them, say so in your letter.

If you want to send petitions, you can. But try to encourage everyone who signs to write too.  Businesses always assume that many of the signatures on a petition are duplicates or phony. People who snicker when they get a petition with 10,000 names on it will freak out if they get 15 letters on the same subject.

• Send letters to your team's union representative: We're not organizing a boycott of games because we're blaming the owners for all the problems. This boycott is merely the most effective way to send a message. But since the players are equally irresponsible, we need to show them we believe they are equally at fault.

The best way to show the players that you're serious is to send a letter to the player who is the union representative for your team. Your letter should tell the player that you support Fan Walkout Day and that you want him to tell the Union's Executive Director Don Fehr that you're sick of the fighting and that the union needs to compromise too. (I'm working on compiling a list of the player reps; either write me or check the web site for more details.)

• Circulate petitions: In the initial stages, petitions aren't as effective as letters. But once a business has started to get letters, petitions start to make a big impact. So if you want to go to some public place and circulate petitions go ahead.  When you get a bunch of signatures, mail them to the team (addresses coming soon).

Just make sure that you observe the local laws and be very careful about what you do. Most stadiums have very strict rules about people circulating petitions or handing things out.  Some even have a rule that you can't do it within 500-1,000 feet of the stadium.  It would be really stupid of a team to arrest someone for circulating a petition that opposed a strike.  But, as we all know, teams are often really stupid, so don't take any chances.

If the owners and players can't think about anything except money, then we need to send them a message in terms they can understand. If you like this idea, help out by spreading this idea around to every major league city.  We've only got a few weeks to get organized, so we have to move fast. The more you do to help push Fan Walkout Day, the better the chance we have of someday making things better.

Thanks,

Woody