The Yankees Really Are the “Evil Empire”…and It Has Nothing to Do with Baseball
November 6th, 2009 by Al Lewis (alewis)I am not posting today about them winning the championship at a cost of about $4-million per victory. This is about something more important than baseball.
Tomorrow would have been my wife’s (60th!) birthday, but she didn’t make it past 59 because she succumbed to Lou Gehrig’s disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS). She died, in my arms, a few weeks after her birthday.
There is no other condition about which so little is known, that kills so many people. We should be investing heavily in researching ALS. But how? What would be the best way to fundraise for it? The OOBonomics “Outside of the Box” solution would be for the Yankees to sell Lou Gehrig replica jerseys for maybe $100 apiece, and donate the proceeds, less the cost of production, to ALS research.
This is win-win. It wouldn’t cost them a dime. It wouldn’t cut into the sales of their other jerseys, because the target audience is not Yankee fans but rather people touched by ALS. (I myself would buy ten.) It would be great PR.
So why don’t they do this? Don’t say, “Because they haven’t thought of it.” How hard is it to think of it? I just did. Also, they don’t have to think of it. I have written to them on multiple occasions to suggest it. Someone in that organization is so “inside the box” that they ignore my correspondence rather than pass it along to the higher-ups.
If anyone out there knows any executives in the Yankee organization, or even knows Jason Alexander, please pass this along.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
My sincere condolences, Mr. Lewis, on the loss of your dear wife. I pray that the Lord will fill the void she left with His presence and comfort.
I will also write to the Yankees organization in favor of your idea - it’s a great one!
Tooz
December 13th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Hi Al - Very sorry hear about the loss of your wife from ALS. A good friend of mine died from that many years ago. The event that caused him to seek a diagnosis was that he stumbled and fell on the way to first base during a softball game. He died about 2 1/2 years later.
DB