New York Yankees

06/23/2014

Expanding Monument Park: What Marketers Can Learn From the Yankees

For many players and fans, the Hall of Fame is baseball’s most sacred ground. Being inducted is the highest honor a ballplayer or someone involved with the game can achieve.

But the second highest honor? That’s probably being inducted into Monument Park, the New York Yankees’ version of the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. Sitting behind the center field wall of Yankee Stadium, Monument Park currently pays homage to 30 men.

When the 2014 season started, that number stood at 28. When it ends, it’ll stand at 32.

Continue reading “Expanding Monument Park: What Marketers Can Learn From the Yankees”

02/18/2014

What Marketers Can Learn from Derek Jeter’s Retirement

Derek Jeter’s Feb. 12 announcement—that after spending 19 years in the Bronx, he plans on retiring after the 2014 season—wasn’t a huge shock to me. It’s likely Yankee management knew the news prior to the public, but how far in advance remains a mystery.

That said, the legendary shortstop will turn 40 in June and is only under contract through the end of this season. Whether he planned on playing after this year might have been unclear, but the fact that one day a man not named Jeter would patrol the shortstop dirt at Yankee Stadium sometime in the future was guaranteed (every athlete has a professional expiration date). Continue reading “What Marketers Can Learn from Derek Jeter’s Retirement”

12/16/2013

Going the Extra Mile to Strengthen Customer Relationships

I was in need of a break.

It snowed here in Connecticut last week. I am by no means afraid of driving in the snow, but after a enduring a harrowing experience en route to college in Vermont one winter—a taxi merging onto the highway didn’t yield to me during a snowstorm so I slammed on my brakes and 360’d across two lanes of traffic, coming to rest in a soft, snowy ditch—I try to avoid it when possible. I’m still driving that endearing jalopy of a 2001 Nissan Altima, so that day I worked from home, sights set on proving Marissa Mayer wrong. (If you’ll remember, earlier this year, after taking the reins at Yahoo, Mayer famously forbade her employees from working from home.)

As a diehard Yankees fan, I was still stung by the news that franchise second baseman Robinson Cano had opted to take his talents to Seattle, thanks in part to his new agent Jay Z seeking to make a big name for himself in his latest professional endeavor. And he did, helping Cano land a 10-year, $240 million contract, the third largest in baseball history. Continue reading “Going the Extra Mile to Strengthen Customer Relationships”