Most Creative Promotions in Baseball
Mahoning Valley Scrappers - Liposuction NightMinor league baseball teams don’t have the sell-out ability that the majors from a big-name, quality baseball perspective. So, naturally, they have to get their Jackie Moon hats on and learn how to promote. Why do you think the Tampa Bay Rays have such a great promotional schedule each year? (They follow me on Twitter, I’m allowed to make this joke.) For one of the most insane promotions of all time, though, I didn’t have to travel to the Trop or watch the Flint Tropics. I had to drive ten minutes.

Since C.C. Sabathia left the Scrappers after but six games with the team because he was “really good” or something along those lines (the verdict still isn’t out on that one), we’ve experienced fluctuating success from both wins and losses and attendance standpoints. Therefore, in 2009, the Scrappers promotional team decided to rope in one of baseball’s lacking demographics: women lacking self-confidence. Announcing that on July 9, the team would be giving away free liposuction to one lucky woman, they decided to place All You Can Eat Night in tandem with this primary promotion because, what else would make sense? There wasn’t anything subtle in this planning. Nevertheless, I was at the ballpark when the sparse crowd gorging ourselves on hot dogs, popcorn, and (root) beer gawked at the five women who were awaiting the news as to which of them would be awarded the incomparable grand prize. I don’t remember which of the five women won. Because in all reality, the spectacle made it so that the true winners were the Mahoning Valley Scrappers fans. Or, at least, that’s how it felt from where I was sitting.