Two weeks ago I was visiting family in New York for the holidays and of course sports talk filled the air and as the topic slid to baseball I began to ease drop. Being in New York the room was about 80% full of Yankee fans and the rest being Mets fans, but the interesting part is the amount of time spent talking about the Nationals and it wasn’t bashing or mocking last year’s worst place team but all their recent signings. It was all good publicity.
The Nationals are building a better team with wins or not through simple good hype, both in the minds of their fans and the fans of baseball.
They now plan to continue this good PR with the annual Natfest that will be kicked off with their Winter Caravan through the metro Washington, D.C. area.
The caravan will be a four day tour hitting Washington, Virginia and Maryland starting January 27, ending on Sunday at Nationals Park for Natfest. Everyday of the tour will feature different National players to get fans rallied up. Check out the MLB’s site for the appearance dates and who will be there.
Sunday the 31st, everyone from Joe Riggleman to Ryan Zimmerman and recently added Ivan Pudge Rodriguez will be in attendance to meet and greet fans. Season ticket holders get in free while everyone else has to pay a small fee.
With new management and new faces along with some great marketing the Washington Nationals are separating themselves from their 2009 selves. Now let’s hope they will do it on the field as well.