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Yankees Now Recruiting New Fans from Other Teams
In keeping with their recent trend of recruiting the best, the New York Yankees are now recruiting fans from other teams.
Kansas City Royals fan Elbert Houston was called by Yankees general manager Brian Cashman last week. "He said something about my loyalty to the Royals and how they want to bring me over to the Yanks," said the life-long Royals fan. "I was amazed. I mean, the Yankees have enough, don't they?"
"We get a lot of our star players from small market teams," said Cashman. "Those teams don't have the resources to hold on to their superstar players. We hope to extend that reach to recruiting superstar fans."
According to Cashman, fans who leave their teams to become Yankee fans will receive official dugout gear worn by the Yankees, a media guide and two tickets to see the Yankees when they visit the fan's home stadium. "We think this is a fair deal," said Cashman.
Not to be outdone, Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein also placed a call to Houston. "The Sox offered me four tickets instead of two, and two to see them in Boston, but I don't know if I want to go to Boston. Who would have thought that those two big East Coast teams would be fighting over a guy like me?" laughed the overall-clad Houston.
"I got my first season tickets from my dad as a graduation gift. Since that time, I've seen the Royals win championships and fall to the basement. All the great players have gone away, but I never did," Houston added.
"It's that level of dedication that attracted us to him," said Cashman.
DeadBrain acquired Cashman's and Epstein's phone records, and they show calls placed to fans in Seattle and Toronto as well. Cashman's to-do list also had a number registered to a Phoenix, Arizona woman known to be a disgruntled Diamondbacks fan.
"If this doesn't work out, we have a Plan B," said Cashman. "If we have to, we can trade a couple of our fans to the Cardinals for a couple of theirs."
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