She irritates the he11 out of me. Reading the July 31st edition of ESPN The Magazine, I come across a blurb mentioning that the Dodgers are going to have a "lipstick" giveaway night. When I googled this, I came across information that it was originally planned for the end of June. I don’t know if ESPN’s info is incorrect or old…or if the Dodgers have had more than one ‘lipstick night’ – and I don’t really care. How ridiculous a promotion can you come up with?
In googling Mrs. McCourt, I found a Q&A with her on the Dodgers site from last year. Among the things she says in regard to her program to get more women to the park:
Specifically, it aims to provide women of all ages and backgrounds with
unique opportunities to learn about baseball and experience the fun of
attending a game at Dodger Stadium.
This would be great…except, in this same Q&A she says:
About 40% of the fans at a typical Dodger game are women. To put it
another way, of the 3 million-plus fans who attend Dodger games each
season, more than 1.2 million are women.
Does she think these 1.2 million women need to learn about baseball and experience the fun of attending a game at Dodger Stadium?
I know many women baseball fans. Lipstick and "Ladies Days" aren’t what bring them to the park. Their love of the game does that. And their appreciation of the players. Mrs. McCourt believes that one of the reason we women are ‘underserved’ by MLB is because of the ‘demise of Ladies Day’. For those of you who don’t know what "Ladies Days" are, let Mrs. McCourt explain:
The practice dates back as far as 1867, when the New York
Knickerbockers encouraged their players to invite female relatives and
friends to the grounds. Despite their popularity, such promotions were
largely abandoned in the 1970s, on the grounds that they were
discriminatory.
Oh, to live back in the days when women couldn’t vote but at least they got invited to baseball games! Dam those women’s libbers of the 1970s who wanted equality instead of special treatment. CURSE YOU GLORIA STEINEM!
On MLBLogs alone, I read more blogs written by women than men. The blogs listed below are ones that I visit occasionally, sometimes daily, depending on what kind of time I have. They are all written by women who know how to enjoy a baseball game on many levels – and all who know their baseball. I haven’t listed all the women on MLBlogs – but there are many more who, also, know their stuff.
There are also many baseball blogs written by women outside of the MLBlogosphere that I visit (Some linked to the left of this post). And there seem to be more women than men on the various baseball-related message boards I frequent. I guess my point is, Mrs McCourt and, actually, ALL of MLB could do a very minimal amount of research and find out that they don’t need fancy gimmicks to gain female baseball fans – they just need to stop marketing baseball solely to 22 year-old men.
You would think having a woman in the position Mrs. McCourt is in would HELP the women baseball fans – not set them back forty years.
(One note…there are many men on MLBlogs and elsewhere that I read as well – and they, too, are linked to the left. I don’t mean to dismiss the men…I’m just on a bit of a ‘women know about baseball so stop treating us like we don’t’ kick right now.)
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