20th Anniversary of the Milwaukee Brewers racing sausages

Found this in an old bookmark file tonight, while preparing for my Algonquin College Sports Management class tomorrow.

Here's a press release from the Brewers:

This Thursday, June 27, 2013 marks an anniversary of one of the most historic events in Milwaukee Brewers history. On that day in 1993, the Klement's Famous Racing Sausages came to life, jumping off of the scoreboard and onto the field to complete the first of well over 1,000 "official" races to date. The races became a fixture at Milwaukee County Stadium and the tradition carried on with the move to Miller Park.
The Milwaukee Brewers and Klement's want to invite you to join in celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the occasion on Thursday, June 27. The fun starts at 6 am at NorthPoint Custard, 2272 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, along the Lake Michigan shores. The first 250 fans will receive a free sausage breakfast sandwich (of course), a coffee, and best of all, an exclusive 20th Anniversary Klement's Famous Racing Sausages Commemorative T-Shirt. Fewer than 500 of the shirts will be made, and the event will be first come, first served.
That afternoon, the Brewers will host a pre-game ceremony to officially mark the anniversary, which will include a race featuring only the "Original Three" Sausages and much more.

A few fun facts on the history of the Klement's Famous Racing Sausages:

1. The Klement's Famous Racing Sausages began as a scoreboard animation in the early 1990's with three characters running toward Milwaukee County Stadium against the backdrop of the city skyline. They were shown running through the parking lot, arriving at the gates to the outfield, where they merely became dots on the scoreboard and a winner was determined.
2. In the fall of 1992, the idea to have the Sausages transform from a simple scoreboard dot to arrive on field to complete the race as live Sausages -- was presented by Milwaukee graphic designer Michael Dillon (McDill Design) to Gabe Paul (then VP of Operations for The Milwaukee Brewers). During the off-season, Dillon advanced the idea on his own and hand crafted three larger than life costumes of the lovable characters: a Bratwurst, a Polish, and an Italian sausage. In the spring of 1993, he got the call from Gabe Paul. The sausages could race -- live.
3. The first race took place at Milwaukee County Stadium on June 27, 1993 and made history by being the first-ever live racing event by mascots at a MLB game.
4. The original race was scheduled for June 26, 1993 -- a notable date for fans as it was the first series in which former Milwaukee Brewer, Paul Molitor, played in County Stadium, as a Toronto Blue Jay against his former team. However, there was a scoreboard malfunction that day and the race was postponed to Sunday, June 27.
5. The winner of the first race was the Bratwurst. The original costumed runners were all McDill Design employees -- Michael Dillon as the Bratwurst, Dan Necci as the Italian, and Jeff Paul as the Polish.
6. According to Dillon, the race was a well-kept secret, which resulted in a mixed reception: the crowd went "berserk" but the officiating umpires (and more than a few players) thought that it "diminished the professional nature" of the game. Coincidentally, the controversy may have been the catalyst the team needed as the Brewers had been scoreless through the sixth inning and rallied with two runs in both the 7th and 8th innings - after the sausage race.
7. For the remainder of the 1993 season, the Sausage characters raced live only at those games that had particularly high attendance.
8. In the 1994 season, the live Sausage race resumed on Sunday, May 29 -- the day the Brewers retired Robin Yount's number 19 jersey, and became a fixture at every home game since -- with Klement's as the official sponsor.
9. The phenomenon of live racing mascots was born in Milwaukee, and was a first for MLB. Entering the 2013 season, nearly half of all MLB teams now have their own version of the iconic race.
10. A video of the June 27, 1993, first live race can be viewed here.

Baseball organist Nancy Faust is now available in bobblehead format

This is pretty cool. It's a bobblehead honouring Nancy Faust, former organist for the Chicago White Sox.  She plays the organ occasionally for the Kane County Cougars (Chicago Cubs affiliate), who are giving these bobbleheads on Sunday, August 11.

See also: Detroit Red Wings PA Announcer Budd Lynch Bobblehead

What a video scoreboard promotion looks like in Japan: "Home Run Cam"

Check out this really fun video from the Orix Buffaloes, a pro baseball team in Japan. I think it is called "Home Run Cam". It was one of the entries in this year's Golden Matrix Awards.

Those video scoreboards just keep getting bigger

Here's a round-up for my Wednesday morning class of some of the latest and greatest video scoreboards in North America.

The Tampa Bay Lightning introduced a massive 28'x50' centrehung video scoreboard this season. (Not that their old one was small -- it was already one of the biggest in the league at 16'x28'.) The sides facing the end zones are a narrow 28'x20'. It's a Daktronics board.  The shot above is a mock-up. Here's a video showing the scoreboard in action.

Quite a similar design in Houston at the Toyota Center where the Rockets play.  This one is 25'x58' feet, so just a bit bigger than the one in Tampa Bay. It's a Panasonic board and they claim it's the "largest combined viewing area of any indoor center-hung scoreboard currently used in the U.S." Here's more about the installation. And here's a video. (Look at all those stats!)

Meanwhile in the MLB, the Seattle Mariners claim that they will have the biggest scoreboard in baseball this year.  56.7' x 201.5 feet wide.  That's as wide as an NHL rink. "The viewing area will be equal to about 2,182 42-inch flat screen TVs." It's being made by Panasonic.

An article on the Mariners web site also offers these stats on other large video displays in MLB:

Comparison to MLB Video Screens
Safeco Field, Seattle Mariners: 56.7' x 201.5' - 11,425 sq. ft.
Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City Royals: 105 x 84' - 8,820 sq. ft.
Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia Phillies: 76' x 97' - 7,372 sq. ft.
Minute Maid Park, Houston Astros: 124' x 54' - 6,696 sq. ft.
Comerica Park, Detroit Tigers: 94' x 65' - 6,110 sq. ft.
Bonus stat (Cowboys Stadium, Ft. Worth, Texas: 160' x 72' - 11,520 sq. ft.)

Reliant Stadium (home of the Houston Texans) will lay claim to the widest scoreboard in pro sports, when they unveil a board measuring 52.49'x277.17'. They're hoping it will help them win a bid to host the Super Bowl.  Manufactured by Mitsubishi.

I don't know the source of this infographic or how accurate it is but it's a decent visual to compare the different stadiums.

What other big scoreboards are being installed this year?

Bill Veeck's 1964 vision of "The Perfect Ballpark"

This was posted earlier today on J.W. Cannon's Twitter feed. He says it's from a 1964 edition of Popular Science. 

"How Bill Veeck Would Build The Perfect Ball Park".
Foam cushion seats! A retractable dome! Giant scoreboard and tv screen!

(Click for full size.)

Today in disgusting stadium food: Chocolate-bacon milkshake

Seen on Darren Rovell's twitter feed:

Reason to go to Miami baseball games: They’re now serving a chocolate & bacon milkshake twitter.com/ChrisFreet/sta… (H/T @chrisfreet)
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) February 16, 2013

The Washington Nationals are introducing a fifth racing president this weekend

...and speculation is that it will be JFK. UPDATE: The fifth racing president will be William Howard Taft.

Great promotions: Aircraft carrier home run derby

From milb.com:

Most creative Minor League Baseball promotions inspire employees of other teams to react with sentiments along the lines of "Why didn't I think of that?" 

And then there was the event that the Charleston RiverDogs staged on June 18, at which the sentiments were more likely to be along the lines of "I never would of thought of that!" 

The event in question, the 2012 MiLBY award winner for Promotion of the Year, was truly unprecedented: the RiverDogs held the first round of the South Atlantic League Home Run Derby on the deck of the USS Yorktown, a decommissioned World War II-era aircraft carrier turned living history museum stationed on the Charleston Harbor. Derby participants, standing within a makeshift inflatable batting cage, blasted baseballs into the water (where they were summarily retrieved by volunteers on jet skis). 

The RiverDogs' aquatic revitalization of a moribund All-Star festivities staple beat out 11 other contenders en route to being voted 2012's best promotion by MiLB.com readers. And for good reason, as this was an event that truly had it all: stunning visuals along with copious local and national media attention. It also had both a national sponsorship and philanthropic tie-in via MillerCoors' "Welcome Back to the High Life" initiative for returning American veterans. Oh, and that there was a cameo from RiverDogs co-owner Bill Murray (the team's "director of fun") sure didn't hurt. 

...

"If anything, this is a lesson in the process of thinking big and going beyond the ballpark," said [Dan] Migala. "When I first saw [the USS Yorktown], it was like the scene in Field of Dreams. But instead of seeing a baseball field in the cornfield, in this case it was on an aircraft carrier. From there, it was a matter of working out the logistics and finding a [sponsorship] partner, because this wasn't the type of event where it was just 'insert sponsor here.'" 

Enter Miller High Life, whose "Welcome Veterans Back to the High Life" promotional campaign seeks to provide veterans "with thousands of memorable 'High Life' experiences, such as tickets to professional sporting events and concerts." This iconic brand was eager to partner with the RiverDogs on this unique Home Run Derby, once Migala approached them with what he calls "seven innings worth of an idea." 

...

As Migala was working on the sponsorship parameters, Echols was engaged in the task of making sure that the derby would work on a logistical level. The USS Yorktown is now part of the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum, and Echols said that the museum was eager to participate as they are "trying to find revenue-generating events, and always looking for ways to highlight the uniqueness of the ship."

Securing permission to hit baseballs into the harbor was a bigger concern for Echols and his staff, and in this regard he likely became the first general manager to deal with Harbor Police and the Department of Homeland Security while coordinating a promotion. 

"We had to work to assure them, and then the community, that we wouldn't be letting balls drop to the bottom, as this could endanger animals and the environment," he said. 

The aforementioned "volunteers on jet skis" took care of this potential problem, and Echols soon secured the necessary approvals from the various governmental agencies and city governments (on both sides of the water) that were needed to make the derby a reality. And soon, that's just what it was -- a glorious reality. 

Approximately 400 fans attended the free event, with their access to the USS Yorktowngranted upon providing a not-so-secret password of "Home Run Derby." These fans lined the sides and upper-deck sections of the USS Yorktown as some of the SAL's top hitting prospects blasted baseballs beneath an inflatable batting cage provided by InMotionAir. ("They sent me a blast email out the blue, advertising inflatable batting cages," recalled Echols. "Once I saw that, I thought, 'My goodness, someone wants to make this work.' Everything just fell into place.") 

American war veterans honored by Miller High Life also were taking swings beneath the inflatable cage along with Murray, a recent inductee into the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame. Echols reports that the resulting local media coverage of the event "moved the needle" when it came to ticket sales for the following evening's All-Star Game at Joseph P. Riley Stadium, and though that was the main event, this is the rare instance in which a Home Run Derby ultimately overshadowed the game itself. 

"It was a total team effort and a flawless promotion that was fun to be a part of from start to finish," said Echols. "The combination of an influential industry leader in Dan Migala, the Veeck flair and a national sponsor gave our fans and the All-Star players a lifetime memory, and that is something our entire staff is extremely proud of." 

Read the entire article... 

VIDEO: 1976 beer box stacking contest

Saw this recently on the GameOps.com blog.
From the Chicago White Sox, August 22, 1976.

What a great idea: Baseball team offers free sunscreen to fans

Source: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120731&content_id=35868504&vkey=pr_t541&fext=.jsp&sid=t541&tcid=fb_share

Storm Chasers Equip Werner Park with Free Sunscreen for FansSPF 30 sunscreen available, for free, inside of Werner Park 

OMAHA, Neb. - The Omaha Storm Chasers are proud to partner with Alegent Health to provide fans with numerous sunscreen stations inside of Werner Park. The stations are stocked with SPF 30 sunscreen that is available for free to fans and was made possible with a generous grant of $10,000 by the Nebraska Cancer Coalition.
"We look at our fans as members of the Omaha Storm Chasers family," said the Omaha Storm Chasers President and General Manager Martie Cordaro. "We want to provide our fans and families with the safest, most enjoyable experience possible and teaming up with Alegent to promote sunscreen awareness fits our goals."
Currently, the Storm Chasers have sunscreen stations located down the left field line next to Valentino's, one behind home plate next to the Alegent Health First Aid Station, one down the first base line next to Omaha Steaks and another one in right field. There are plans to add additional sunscreen stations to Werner Park in the future.
According to dermatologists with the Alegent Health Clinic, it only takes 15 minutes for the sun to damage unprotected skin. Fans are advised to apply sunscreen before leaving their homes and reapply every two hours that they are outdoors or more often if they are sweating a great deal.
"Skin cancer is the one of the most preventable forms of cancer in the United States," said Cindy Alloway, chief operations officer of Alegent Health Midlands Hospital in Papillion. "We wanted to help keep people safe and one of the ways we could do that was by making sunscreen available to them at the ballpark."
Alegent Health surveyed fans at the beginning of the season on sun-safe behaviors and they will talk to them again at the end of the season to learn how many changed their habits and adopted more sun-safe behaviors at the ballpark like; wearing long-sleeved shirts, sunglasses, hats, staying in the shade and reapplying sunscreen.
To attend any game or event at Werner Park please call the Werner Park Ticket Office at (402) 738-5100 or visit www.omahastormchasers.com.

Photo of the video scoreboard at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City

Daktronics LED scoreboard, installed in 2008.

• From TV Technology: At almost 9,000 square feet (85-by-105), the giant Daktronix screen is powered by a Ross Switcher and a couple of EVS replays, Deko 3000s for graphics and Pro-Bel routing gear. The towering board—the nation’s largest, according to Daktronix—debuted at the Royals’ home opener against the Yankees Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium ... The screen, at 1584x1980, amounts to about two 16:9 screens on top of each other ... The $8 million-plus system board replaced a 17-year-old Sony.

• From Business Wire: Daktronics HD-X LED technology will be installed in a huge outfield structure behind center field measuring more than 100 feet high by 85 feet wide, topped with the familiar Royals’ iconic golden crown. The LED display will contain more than 1800 full-color lines of resolution with lines on 16 millimeter (.63”) spacing. The display will be the largest HD LED board in the world, surpassing the former record holders designed and manufactured by Daktronics for Dolphin Stadium in Miami and Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin.

MC Hammer spinning bobblehead

You can't touch this.  (via Partnership Activation)

VIDEO: Phineas and Ferb perform the L.A. Dodgers stadium conduct rules

Absolutely brilliant video. Saw this at the IDEA conference earlier this month in Kansas City.

Today in stadium food: Chinese food truck

Made even better by the "Wok in the Park" pun. You can check out this truck the next time you go to a Colorado Rockies game. (Photo from Darren Rovell.)

VIDEO: All about the guy who fixes the scoreboard at San Francisco's AT&T Park

http://thesmartvan.com/blog/2011/06/02/11267/smartvan-profile-how-to-service-a-stadium-scoreboard/

How the new scoreboard was unveiled at Fenway Park (video)

I thought this was a creative, brilliant way to introduce the new video scoreboard at Fenway Park:

Great Moments in Rain Delays: Clemson vs. Davidson (video)

(Thanks to Spydergrrl for the pointer!)

Guy tries to sing the anthem at 100 different ballparks this season

Befitting its status as a sprawling and geographically diverse nationwide industry, Minor League Baseball and road trips go hand in hand.  But it's safe to say that no one's ever embarked upon a Minor League road trip quite like the one put together by Whittier College professor Joe Price, who has taken a sabbatical from academia in order to sing the national anthem at more than 100 ballparks over a five-month period. Fittingly dubbed "The Anthem Project," Price's tour will take him to more than 40 states. He'll sing in four time zones and across six levels of play and expects to travel at least 15,000 miles. Full story from MLB.com

VIDEO: Mascots celebrate Phillie Phanatic's birthday by dancing to Solja Boy's "Crank It"

If you can find a funnier mascot video than this today, let me know.



Philly.com reported: "It was the Phanatic's birthday Sunday and all of his mascot friends showed up to celebrate. But this event seems to get weirder by the year. They played a Wiffle ball game before the real game and the Phanatic plunked his mother, Phoebe, in the head with a pitch. The Oriole Bird was not pleased with this development. A Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpet mascot played shortstop and made a crucial error to decide the game. When it was over, everyone, including the San Diego Friar, danced to music by Soulja Boy. Creepy."

Thanks to Trevor for pointing me towards this stuff.

Today in disgusting stadium food: Two-pound nacho helmet

Available at Chicago White Sox games.