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The Blue Jays have released their promotional schedule for the upcoming season.  The highlights include three bobblehead giveaways, a baseball card set and the return of the magnetic schedule after a one-year hiatus.


The bobbleheads up for grabs this year are Brandon Morrow, Yunel Escobar and Ricky Romero.  Instead of the usual 10,000 bobbleheads of each player, there will be 20,000 each instead.  See, isn't it great the club used the potential savings from not getting Yu Darvish and Prince Fielder and put it towards extra bobbleheads instead?  Anyways, the Morrow bobblehead will be handed out May 20 when the Mets are here, the Escobar bobblehead will be given away June 3 against the Red Sox and the Romero bobblehead will be up from grabs when the Rangers come to town August 19.  Those three games are all on Sunday beginning at 1:07 pm.

All three games of the Opening Series against the Red Sox will have magnetic schedule giveaways with all fans getting one Opening Night (Monday, April 9), plus a rally towel will be issued to the first 45,000 paying customers (insert sarcasm right here - AH YEA!!).  If you don't get a magnet schedule that night, 20,000 more of them will be distributed evenly over the final two games of the series April 10 and 11 (a 12:37 pm start).  I am sure the schedules will be handed out after each game in order to avoid the 2005 fiasco when the magnets were being chucked onto the field.

The Blue Jays are also handing out 25,000 team baseball card sets on Wednesday, June 13 during an afternoon game against the Washington Nationals.  The last time they had such a giveaway was back in 2002.  I remember it well because that was the day I took the missus to our first Jays game together.  Other giveaways of note include the first 20,000 fans getting a Blue Jays batting helmet Sunday, June 17 (Father's Day) against the Phillies and another 20,000 will get a cap with the Yankees in town Sunday, August 12.



The team issued Blue Jays card set from 2002.

On Canada Day (a Sunday game at 3:07pm), there will be a street festival.  Considering the lack of crowd control for last year's Canada Day game and Roberto Alomar Hall of Fame Day, expect another crowd clusterbleep those days when heading down to the Dome.  Fan Appreciation Day, as usual, goes on the last Sunday home game of the regular season (note I say regular season but I expect games in the post-season! ;D) with 20,000 t-shirts being given away.  Tweeting Tuesdays and Jr. Jays Saturdays are back again for another season.

At least this year's giveaways are a lot better than last year's.  I wish they would more t-shirt giveaways like the Pirates, who began with t-shirt Thursdays before giving them away on Fridays.  Also, I thought there would be some giveaways related to the 20th anniversary of the 1992 World Series team. 



Other things I'd like to see would be the Jays wearing Negro League uniforms (which they did at home once in 2002 in the picture above, honouring the Chatham All-Stars) and perhaps Spanish-themed jerseys with the Spanish word for Blue Jays (arrendajo azul) on the front.

What do you think, Bauxites?  Do you like what's on the promotional menu for 2012?  Are there any other giveaways you would like to see?
Jays 2012 Promotional Schedule Is Out | 21 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
cpfan - Saturday, January 28 2012 @ 07:58 PM EST (#251307) #

I'm surprised that there isn't a Mr Sub bag giveaway day.  I can't say that there has been one every year, but that's what I thought.

Steve

John Northey - Saturday, January 28 2012 @ 09:42 PM EST (#251308) #
I'm surprised to see them do promotions on Yankee and Red Sox games. I guess the schedule and towels for opening day are nothing too much,but it does seem silly. I'd be doing them for weeknights and games against teams like the Royals who don't have a built in fan base here to fill the park.
ComebyDeanChance - Sunday, January 29 2012 @ 10:11 AM EST (#251315) #
The schedule and towels on Opening Day are a recipe for game delays while they're removed from the field. I think the over/under is the second inning before they start being tossed onto the field. I had intended to attend before seeing the handouts.
Super Bluto - Sunday, January 29 2012 @ 11:23 AM EST (#251316) #
In Spanish, it's the Azulejos.

But given the city, maybe that ought to be expanded into other languages. How cool would a blue jays uniform in Mandarin or Hindi be? Another MLB first!



92-93 - Sunday, January 29 2012 @ 12:27 PM EST (#251317) #
Being a bitter old man must suck. My 2011 Home Opener towel is an excellent rag.
#2JBrumfield - Sunday, January 29 2012 @ 02:35 PM EST (#251321) #

Wow, lots to respond to here...

I'm surprised that there isn't a Mr Sub bag giveaway day.  I can't say that there has been one every year, but that's what I thought.

It seems like there has been one every year as far as I can remember.  I have a couple of them from years past, including the T-bird one from 2003, but the best one was 2002 when the bag was made of canvas and it hasn't ripped apart like the other cheap nylon ones.

I'm surprised to see them do promotions on Yankee and Red Sox games.

Especially when their fans are stealing good Jays merchandise.  I hope they get arrested or held up at the border for hours afterwards! ;D



The schedule and towels on Opening Day are a recipe for game delays while they're removed from the field.


They did start handing out schedules after the game as a result of the 2005 fiasco but the towels are a different story.  I'd be concerned about that too, actually.

In Spanish, it's the Azulejos.


Thank you for the correction. I agree having different languages would be cool.  I would love to see something in Gaelic with my Irish roots!

Being a bitter old man must suck.

YOU SUCK, so there!  Enjoy your little towel.  ;D
John Northey - Sunday, January 29 2012 @ 04:14 PM EST (#251324) #
I'd agree with that idea. If you must do alternate jerseys then make use of the multiple languages to create fun ones for each community.

Lets say they use Thursdays as Alternate Jersey Day. Thursdays are a dead day anyways so this might help draw a few fans in on a day the park has lots of expensive seats open for sale along with the bargain seats up top. Easy way to get families in, perhaps have a 6:30 PM start time to help families too (game over by 9 that way) or the afternoon start they do sometimes. Try to pick a language that the opposing team might a base of as well, for example

April 19th vs Rays - Spanish night
May 17th vs Yankees - Italian
June 28th vs Angels - Chinese
July 5th vs Royals - German
July 26th vs A's - French
August 16th vs White Sox - Polish
August 30th vs Rays - Portuguese
September 13th vs Mariners - Japanese
September 27th vs Yankees - Hindi

There you go. I took the biggest language after Spanish in most areas for that city that still fits the Toronto area. NY can be anything though.

I figure that would become a popular promotion, the Jays could make a profit off it easily (sales of different language shirts) and it would promote the Jays easily in those communities.
Super Bluto - Sunday, January 29 2012 @ 05:42 PM EST (#251326) #
AA might be interested in Greek.

And while we're at it, Latin: Cyanocitta cristata

which is singular, I know.
BalzacChieftain - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 09:16 AM EST (#251327) #

I don't know if they've had it in the past, but I'd like them to have a dog day at the ballpark like other places do. Irrational as it may seem, it would be special for me to go to the ballpark with my dog.

Mike Green - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 10:54 AM EST (#251331) #
The missing language is Tagalog.  There are over 100,000 people of Filipino origin in Toronto. And many of them do like baseball.  The club could attempt to co-ordinate the jersey days with weekend community events at Harbourfront. 

One of the things the Red Sox do so well from a marketing perspective is to embrace all the various communities in New England.  In one way, it is harder to engender loyalty in Toronto because of the greater diversity of language and culture.  In another, it is easier because the distances are generally less. 

#2JBrumfield - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 12:30 PM EST (#251337) #

I don't know if they've had it in the past, but I'd like them to have a dog day at the ballpark like other places do.

The Jays had their 7th annual Dog Day at the Ballpark in 2009 but discontinued the promotion in 2010.  People with their pooches were put in the 100 level outfield seats during the game but were allowed to walk along the warning track in the outfield before the game.

Brent S - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 01:19 PM EST (#251339) #
Is anyone going to the State of the Franchise tonight? I will be attending for the first time -- just curious as to what to expect?
vw_fan17 - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 01:24 PM EST (#251340) #
July 26th vs A's - French

Just curious where you got your stats? Based on this:
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca/groups/cityadministrator/documents/translateddocument/dowd002583.pdf

French is at around 0.6-0.7%. Mon-Khmer (Cambodian) at 0.8%, Tagalog at 1.3%, Vietnamese at 2.1%. Not to mention Chinese at 7.3%..
(I looked it up because I'm always very surprised to hear any french around here. I'm almost less surprised to hear german, but then again, I'm secretary of the german school of fremont....)
John Northey - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 01:32 PM EST (#251341) #
Just did a second check - took awhile to find it.
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca/groups/cityadministrator/documents/translateddocument/dowd002583.pdf

Very strange table. I read from the top and it has French listed right after Spanish, and it was obviously not alphabetical so I figured that was #2. Now I scrolled down and found a second part where many others swamp French. Very odd method to list languages. If anyone can figure out the logic used for it I'll be impressed as it seems sort of grouped by language categories then usage, but not quite.
John Northey - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 01:33 PM EST (#251342) #
Huh, just noticed I was using the same link. Funny.
Gerry - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 02:38 PM EST (#251351) #

I will not be at the state of the franchise event tonight but expect speeches from Paul Beeston, Alex Anthopoulos and John Farrell.   All will be upbeat as you would expect.  There might also be some discussion of the off-field product you have purchased such as concessions and promotions.

The most interesting part could be a Q&A where the questions could be all over the map.

The Jays have their pro-scouts in for meetings this week.  I am not sure which days but if you see a group of 20 or so guys who look like baseball lifers that would be them.

Brent S - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 03:03 PM EST (#251352) #
Thanks Gerry. I'm excited to attend tonight.

Hopefully I can find the pack (gaggle? brood?) of pro scouts and pick their brain.
bpoz - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 06:12 PM EST (#251357) #
On the Jeff Blair show this morning, he had call ins about what questions should be asked by attending fans.

One caller was shocked by the size of the revenue sharing receipts that the poor teams were getting. He said $30mil or so at some site he found.

Another, if 7 or 8 games out of WC contention end of May, what course would the team take. Blair countered by asking if he meant July.

This should be interesting. I hope it is up beat as you say Gerry.

sam - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 07:11 PM EST (#251359) #
I'm sorry, but Beeston's comments that the Jays will be in the playoffs in three year's time is simply not going to happen. If the Jays are simply not going to be players in the free agent market as Beeston alluded to considering the team refuses to tender contracts beyond five years, and the only opportunity for improving the team will be through trade or prospect development, and you're competing against the Angels, Rangers, Tigers, Rays, Yankees, Red Sox's, and maybe by then an improved White Sox and Royals teams for five playoff spots? I mean, we have a good farm system, but I don't think it's got the cadre to be producing world beaters in three year's time. Nor do I think it's reasonable to expect AA to be making the type of trades (plural) that are obviously needed to match up to any of those teams. I just find that mind-blowing.
John Northey - Monday, January 30 2012 @ 11:33 PM EST (#251363) #
Actually, I think it all depends on the kid pitchers.

IF Romero & Morrow can be the solid #2 starters most feel they can be (ie: 110+ ERA+ with 180-200 IP)
IF Alvarez can develop into another solid #2 level
IF 2 more of Cecil, McGowan, Listch, Hutchison, Jenkins, McGuire, ... can develop to the same level

THEN the Jays not only have a killer rotation but also trade pieces for more quality.

Only Romero has become what they could be so far, but it is not unreasonable to look at Morrow, Alvarez, Cecil, McGowan, Listch, Hutchison, Jenkins, McGuire and picture 4 of the 8 becoming solid ML starters. If one or two of the 9 pitchers listed can become ace level (140+) or #1 level (120+) then you have a rotation that can compete with anyone which would be cheap and under team control for 4-6 years.

Yeah, they do need stuff to fall into place. So did the Yankees with Jeter, Rivera, Posada, Williams, and Pettitte (among others) who came up through the farm and not via the free agent route for their first 4 championships post-1978. In 1996/97 the Yankees were under $60 mil (http://talk.baltimoresun.com/showthread.php?t=160096) which was high for the era but not grossly so (Jays were in the $50's in the 92/93 seasons).

You need kids to develop to win. The Jays have a stack in the rotation and a few more hitters. Good things could happen now.
bpoz - Tuesday, January 31 2012 @ 10:09 AM EST (#251378) #
I agree with you John N. From the beginning AA has said that he wants 5 Starters that are #2 & #3 combination.
His definition of #2/3 is 200IP & an ERA under 4.00, which agrees with your definition.
He started 2010 with none. He has 1 in Romero. He traded for Morrow who has the potential to be 1, I did not expect him to do it in 2010, but 2011 & now 2012 he must show something or risk being passed by.
Litsch looked promising, he had the results before his injury, but now he needs to wait for an opportunity.
Alvarez looks promising based in stuff & results but it is a small sample size. He rebounded from 2010, which is some kind of positive.
Both Cecil & McGowan have to pitch like they did before and then take another step forward.
I feel confident with the kids also being capable because Zep showed he may do it based on his 11 starts in 2009. IMO success in the minors is step 1, success in the majors with a small sample size is step 2 and putting together a full season doing it is step 3.
Jays 2012 Promotional Schedule Is Out | 21 comments | Create New Account
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