I've been roped into, er, volunteered to help with a project spearheaded by the estimable Daniel Ben-Horin of CompuMentor. The quixotic mission of MaysField.org is to get the San Francisco Giants to rename their stadium in honor of Willie Mays, the greatest Giant ever.
Now, don't get this campaign confused with other, whinier efforts. There's no--well, very little--outrage against the Giants or SBC, the current holders of the naming rights. This is an aesthetic issue as much as anything else. Daniel himself says as much on our site:
This isn't about passing a law or pushing a ballot proposition. It's about aesthetics--SBC sounds awful. It's about baseball--Willie Mays was a great player and a great Giant. It feels good to say Mays Field. And it's about politics -- in the sense of reminding people that each of us controls what we say; SBC bought the naming rights but they didn't buy our speaking rights, a distinction perhaps worth stressing, particularly these days.
It's quixotic, let's face it. Do you have a problem with that? It might have no greater effect than creating a little Mays Field cult that somehow recognizes each other at the ballpark. That's not so bad. Personally, I think that it would take very very little to get SBC to go, "Ahem, how about we call it Mays Field at SBC Park" and everyone goes home happy.
So with Daniel leading the cabal under that fantastic banner (designed by Annabelle Ison), I've signed on as a cabalista and de facto website manager.
Obviously, this effort holds some personal interest for me: I'm a big Giants fan, and I love that stadium--it deserves a mellifluous, historic name. But it also holds my professional interest, because it's a perfect example of a grassroots advocacy campaign. Using nothing more than simple online tools to build word-of-mouth, some ordinary folks are taking on an $80 billion corporation. Should be fun!
I'll post updates from time to time, but why not get involved yourself? Check out our site, where you can subscribe to our email group and even get some Mays Field gear!
