TigerFest 2009 will be on Saturday, January 24th here at Comerica Park. The Winter Caravan will be the two days prior. There will be two buses this year, one will travel to the west side of the state, the other will remain in the Metro Detroit area. A press release will be going out in the next week with locations. As always, the Tigers Winter Caravan will have events that are free and open to the public.
We are meeting with our ad agency today to finalize the TV and print campaign for 2009. As you've probably noticed, "Who's Your Tiger?" has disappeared from the background of our website. The new slogan, is not a "stand-alone" slogan or question. It's more of a statement--about the history and relationship the Tigers have with the City of Detroit. We will be very curious to see what the reaction will be. The first TV spot will debut in January. The season ticket book design is almost finalized too. Those of you who understand the significance of 2009 and collect baseball cards will know where we got the inspiration for this year's tickets.
It's that time of year again--the Season Ticket Renewals are hitting doorsteps as we speak.
There are a few adjustments that have been discussed and season ticketholders will not be affected by the premium pricing dates.
The Tigers' annual winter radio show begins again this coming Monday at 8:00 p.m. on WXYT-AM/FM (97.1FM/1270AM) and streaming live at www.tigers.com. The one-hour TigerTalk Show, hosted by Tigers radio voice Dan Dickerson and Pat Caputo, will air weekly throughout the offseason and feature the latest news from the Tigers and around Major League Baseball.
Each show will feature an interview with a Tigers personality, as well as a regular segment with Tigers analyst Rod Allen. The first interview guest will be new Tigers pitching coach, Rick Knapp. In addition to the interview segments, each show will encourage listeners to call in and ask questions about the Tigers.
This coming Tuesday Curtis Granderson is flying with a group that includes MLB's Bob Dupuy and Harvey Schiller to Switzerland to make a presentation to reinstate baseball into the 2016 Olympic Games.
There is a meeting next Friday at the IOC in Lausanne and they will make a presentation to the evaluation committee. Speakers will include Dupuy, Schiller, Curtis and European baseball president Martin Millerand. They expect a vote to take place in October.
Curtis was selected as a global ambassador for the sport, and as a player who wants to play in 2016. Dupuy will speak on behalf of MLB's commitment to bring top players, and grow the game worldwide.
Today is a big day for our mascot, PAWS. He received his own official Detroit Tigers business card! When he makes appearances around town, people always ask: "How can we invite PAWS to our event?" Now he can reach into his pocket and pull out a business card. (He's been running around the office handing them to everyone!)
One of the projects we're working on is digitizing our archives. By Opening Day, we hope to have every Media Guide in it's entirety and every Program and Scorecard cover since 1961 in a digital format. The Media Guides are being scanned right now, and it's amazing to see how much they've grown since 1961. Media Guides were barely more than pamphlets back then. The 1961 guide was a tidy 39 pages, and the 2008 version checked in at a mammoth 493 pages. The guides will be posted in our "history" section of the website in the coming months, but if you want a sneak peek, check out the 1969 guide here!
The voting in our Pumpkin contest ends soon, and Pumpkin #2 is still holding a slim lead as of 9AM this morning. Check back on Thursday evening when we announce the winner!
The 2008 season is in the books figuratively, and now it's in the books literally. The 2008 Season Review has been published for the media, and we posted it online in the fan forum.
