“Salute To Bill Veeck” (Alternate Title: My Favorite Promotion Ever)

Jordi shared something on Google Reader earlier today, and considering my longstanding love of Bill Veeck, I had to share it with the world.
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On Aug. 19, the independent River City Rascals will recreate the famous moment as part of its “Salute to Bill Veeck and St. Louis Baseball History Night.”

In honor of the 59th anniversary of the famous stunt where the St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck sent the 3-foot-7 little person to bat against the Detroit Tigers, the team says it has signed a person who is “barely over four feet” to re-enact the moment in the bottom of the first inning.

I had two thoughts immediately after reading this:

1) Where the hell is River City? Can I conceivably go? (It’s in O’Fallon, Missouri, 1200 miles away. No, I cant.)

2) I appreciate the effort by these guys. I really do. As I said, I love Veeck, and this was unquestionably the greatest stunt he ever pulled. But the key to the original Eddie Gaedel stunt was the secrecy. Virtually nobody knew about it. And that’s why it was so awesome, because in a moment, it swung from, “Hey, we’re at the ballpark, enjoying a ballgame,” to, “Hey, why are they sending that little kid up to bat?”

This, in my opinion, is indicative of the way baseball has shifted away from the Veeck style of promotion while embracing the ideas that he once embodied. In one of his books, he wrote about the fact that he would often shoot off fireworks after games – but he would never announce beforehand that he was going to shoot off fireworks. It ruined the element of surprise, which took away from the entertainment value.

Same with Gaedel. This stunt that the Rascals are pulling on August 19 is awesome. I’m 100% on board with it. But there’s something about the need to pre-sell it, to say, “Hey, look what we’re gonna do!” that diminishes it ever so slightly. It’s understandable, I suppose, and certainly acceptable because now it gets people talking about it ahead of time and almost certainly increases attendance, but still – it would’ve been cool to be surprised.

“If you’re so smart,” you might be saying, “How would you have handled it?” Probably the same way, truth be told, if only because that’s the way things are done these days, and I’m no trailblazer. But here’s an idea: what if they had played the rest of it straight, according to the current model of promotion – announced fireworks, giveaways, maybe a couple other well-known Veeck promotions – to gain interest, then pop the Gaedel stunt in the bottom of the first? Don’t show all your cards until the very end.

Maybe it would’ve worked, maybe not. I just think it might’ve been worth the risk.