By Kevin McCauley
Goodman Media supported the weekend return of baseball's San Francisco Giants to New York City after a 53-year hiatus to give fans a chance to take a photo with the 2010 World Series trophy and chat with the great Willie Mays.
Willie Mays with a young fan in New York. |
Mays, who broke in with the New York Giants in 1951 and capped his career with a World Series appearance with the New York Mets, visited fans at a public school near the site of the old Polo Grounds, where the Giants played in Harlem's Coogan's Bluff.
The trophy then went on display at the Hilton Hotel and Finnerty's bar, an East Village haunt of S.F. Giants fans.
Tom Goodman said his firm "gave advice on some logistics" and "helped with "high-level media introductions." He called Giants VP/communications Staci Slaughter the "star" of the show.
Slaughter called Goodman "a huge help" in planning the trip. "I had never done media outreach in New York City and he was very helpful in advising me on where to start," she said. "He was also instrumental in arranging a meeting with the New York Times editorial board."
Slaughter said the media were "extremely responsive and we received multiple-day coverage in all of the dailies. Not to mention a very entertaining 30-minute show with [talk show host] Chris Russo and our executives and the trophy.” Russo is a diehard Giants fan.
The Giants "really had a great idea and then executed it very well," according to Goodman, who noted that Mays' school visit was made during a snowstorm. Mays, 79, got to the school an hour before the start of the event, said Goodman.
The Giants' contingent including Buster Posey, catcher and "rookie of the year"; Bill Neukom, CEO; Larry Baer, president; Brian Sabean, GM; and Joe Amalfitano, special assistant for player development and a former Giants player in N.Y. and S.F.
Neukom told the New York Times that New Yorkers thanked him all day for returning to the city, but said that the Giants should be doing the thanking.
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