Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Letter to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees

The following is the letter I sent to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees' Jeremy Ruby.  He was the highest person on the ladder with an email address.  I will post any response I get on here as well.  Well, here it is:

Mr. Ruby,

My name is Chris Gamble and I have been a season ticket holder with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees since the beginning (granted that isn't that long ago).  I have supported the team as best as I can and have not been let down, until this past Saturday, August 16th.  I bought 16 tickets to the Legends Game through your organization.  My group and I were expecting a fun day of baseball and a chance to relive a great season in Yankee history.  What we got was a severe disappointment.  Not only was it a five inning game (understandable considering the age of some of the players) but most of the players could not play the entire game and were replaced by what appeared to be local high school kids.  This was not worth the $30 admission.  I was also told that the players would not do a formal autograph session but would be "highly encouraged to sign autographs and interact with the fans."  This turned out to be a joke.  Access to the players was extremely limited and when Goose Gossage set up an autograph table in the Coors Light Pavilion I was denied entry.  I, along with a lot of other fans, attempted to get autographs of the players as they left but instead got the cold shoulder.  I had a 9 year old girl with my group who was so excited to try and meet one of the players.  All she got was disappointment as the sheriff deputies yelled at her for standing on a sidewalk outside the stadium.  She was not alone in being yelled at, and or verbally abused by these deputies.  I overheard these so-called law enforcement professionals make fun of the fans, tell us we had to go home immediately, and yell at fans about where to stand, what to do and when to do it.  These men were hardly professional as they were seen by myself, and several other fans, obtaining autographs from the very players the paying public came to see.  I do not appreciate being treated like a criminal, nor do I appreciate being treated like a piece of dog excrement by the people who are supposed to protect the general public.  The actions of those deputies was well beyond anything that was necessary.  I did not serve in Iraq fighting the Global War on Terror only to be treated like a terrorist at your park.  
I know this was not your event and that you are not responsible for the actions of the deputies but it was hosted at your facility and manned by your staff.  You should be alert as to how your paying season ticket holders are treated.  Several other regular season ticket holders and I had discussed our various experiences of that day and not a single one was happy.  We paid a high price, $30, got treated poorly, and didn't even get what we paid for, which is a 5 inning game between Red Sox and Yankee players, not high school kids.  You might want to explain this to the sponsors of the event the next time they use your park and advertise on your website.  This is your team and your team has a good history of treating fans well.  I have always had a good time at your park.  Some of my best baseball experiences have come at PNC Field.  All of this has been negated by the 16th of August.  I am seriously considering dropping my season tickets because of this.  I do not want to be subjected to abuse from the sheriff deputies stationed around your park.  I do not want to feel like I was robbed by co-sponsors of events you host.  
I hope that you will take action on these matters.  I look forward to any response you might have regarding this matter.  These are your fans that were treated like this, the same fans that helped your team break attendance records last year.  Thank you for your time and courtesy in this matter.  I look forward to hearing back from you.  Thank you again.

Sincerely,
Chris Gamble

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I would be super-pissed if I were you. Any word yet from these guys as to what they plan on doing?