The next MLB Office Olympics could get interesting. . .
The next MLB Office Olympics could get interesting. . .
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
One of the more bizarre intra-division feuds has developed in the wake of the Nationals announcement of a "Take Back the Park" campaign designed to limit the ability of Phillies fans to purchase group tickets at Washington home games. Instead of players taking passive-agressive or even active-aggressive shots at each other through the media, the latest round of sniping features Nationals Chief Operating Officer Andrew Feffer and Phillies director of media communications Greg Casterioto.
In a story in the Washington Post earlier this week, Feffer talked about the outrage that many Phillies fans have expressed after learning that the deposits they placed for group tickets are being returned.
"We're going to make it a little more difficult for the Phillies fans," Feffer said. "I want to be consistent with that. My only disappointment is, I guess, I won't be able to see them swim across the river if they're not there."
In that story, former Phillies right fielder Jayson Werth talked about a similar campaign he thought the Phillies had during his early days with the team, one that was designed to keep Mets fans from over-running Citizens Bank Park the way Phillies fans have Nationals Park over the last couple seasons.
“All I know is, in ’07 it was 50-50, 60-40 Mets to Phillies fans,” Werth told the Post. “And then pretty soon there were very little Mets fans. Whether that’s because they stopped selling to Mets fans or they just stopped coming, I don’t know.
“You’re definitely better off with a park full of your own fans at home compared to a park full of somebody else’s fans at home. I think it’s good.”
Yesterday, Casterioto responded with an e-mail to Nationals beat writer Adam Kilgore.
“That could not be more wrong," Casterioto wrote. "The Phillies did not at any time have a similar promotion to the Washington Nationals’ ‘Take Back the Park’ campaign. Making the postseason in 2007 and then winning the World Series in 2008, along with a team full of exciting players and having a great place to watch a baseball game, is what drew more Phillies fans to Citizens Bank Park.”
What did the five fingers say to the face?
For what it's worth, I did a quick archive search and could find no mention of any official campaign run by the Phillies with Mets fans as the target. The closest I could find was Brett Myers saying he hoped Phillies fans would buy up all the tickets for a 2007 series so that New Yorkers would be shut out.
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Buy Phillies tickets Comments (49)
I live in MD and am a life long Phils Phan, originally from S. Jersey. I try to go to all the games at Nats stadium when the Phitin's are in town. Now, it's a quest. If the Walgreens Nationals want to stop being the laughing stock of the NL they need to start winning. Why else do they keep signing our cast-offs? I used to root for them to get out of the NL East basement, like any true Philly Phan roots for an underdog. No more. They have lost a fan.— JoePhils2- It was MAYBE 20% Mets fans back in those days. Werth is an idiot.— AbeVigoda
- It was only 60-40 cause Werth yelled at the fans. hahaha— starlight
- I live in DC and always go see the Phils when they are in town. If Philly fans didn't show up, the stadium would be almost empty.— JettaPSU01
- Phillies and Nationals aside, I cannot imagine that the city of Washington DC is pleased with the decision of the Nationals. Last summer I went down to a Phillies/Nationals series. I went with my wife, my parents and friends of my parents (6 people). We spent the weekend in DC hotels, ate at DC restaurants, went to DC stores, used DC transportation, and bought tickets for DC museums. We were not the only ones either. There were Phillies t-shirts everywhere meaning there was lots of money being spent in the city. The city should be calling the Natioanls and telling them not to push people who spend money in their city away.— wobblie
- The Nationals sound like they're trying to be a Triple A team, not a major league team. Part of being a pro is being able to play in any enviroment. The Nationals shouldn't care if there are 50,000 fans in their stadium. Just pretend you're in Philly and be happy most of that money is coming to them. They really sound like a bunch of losers from the players to the people in the front office.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- The Nats front office can play all of the games that they want, but the fact of the matter is that D.C. is not a good baseball town (there is a reason they have already lost 2 teams) and Nats fans will never fill up that stadium consistently.— phink
- Great front office in DC. Sold tickets mean more means to build a winning team. Philly did that and we got Roy and Cliff. DC did that and got Jayson. Hum..
— cahris - If they block Phillies fans from the games the park will be 50% empty. The Nats fans will not fill that park. Pick your poison. You can't have it both ways. You would think they would want a full park to pay that ridiculous salary they gave Spaceman.— delcodanno
- I stay in the DC area now and try to go to most of the games when the Phils are here. I LOVE going, the only folks wearing Nats gear are the ushers.— mifunk
- Like Casterioto said (more or less) winning solves all your problems. Fans come out, players don't fight, everything is great. So not sure what Werthless was talking about.
My questions is, what if the Nats don't sell out all the Phils games? When your not a winning franchise you want the Yankmees, Red Sox and Phils to come to town so people will fill the stadium.— Phils_World_Champs - It appears that all the asses in washington are not in the Whiter House or in Congress!!!!!— billroc35
- That is just Jayson being Jayson. In '07 Werth was not close to being a regular player. 94 games. Talk from the bench is cheap.— Seal Rock
- the whole dc area is dweebs, dheads and dbags— eagle stuck in dc
- and yet Phillies fans get the blame again. I hear that Philadelphia fans are teh reason we have debt, disease and baldness. its all a publicity stunt to generate interest in a mediocre product. Washington Nationals...the SHAMWOW of professional Baseball— bingo
- waaaaa!!!! if they had fans they'd buy the tickets. can't wait til this guy gets fried for coming up with such a badly thought out idea.— bingo
- waaaaa!!!! if they had fans they'd buy the tickets. can't wait til this guy gets fried for coming up with such a badly thought out idea.— bingo
- Is it even legal to deny someone access to your establishment without a better reason than "we don't like your kind here"?— franknbeans
- A slightly different story in Denver. The Rockies decided that tickets for the only Phillies series would be 42% higher than last year, while just about all other tickets are 5% more . As much as I like the Phillies, I don't like being gouged by paying $92 per ticket for infield box seats for a regular season game, so I won't be up at Coors Field the weekend after the all-star break. First time in 15 years not seeing the Phillies in person.— ijj
- Just had a friend get us 8 tickets for May. They essentially just dared all of us to be more loud and obnoxious.— phil80
- Does Washington still have a baseball team?— sickoflosing
- Come on Dave; you know the big story today is not the "Take back the park"-gate. Its that the Met's pitching machine just threw a no hitter at Met's training camp.— dapdrums
- You couldn't pay me to attend another game in the Nationals' park. Philly fans should forever boycott these morons who like out money but don't like the guests who fork it over. Forget Philly, Feffer? Forget D.C.!— Boru
- I don't get it turn down a sure sellout and maybe get about 15,000 to attend the game. Who runs that team? Oh thats right the guy who gave Werth that contract.— mate
- Average ticket price @ $50 could be as much as $6-7 Million over 9 games if there are 15,000 Phils Phans. Silly Nat's,how will they pay the players if they don't let us in?— flphilly
- Nationals are pathetic when they are 10 back by mid-may this will have been a non-issue and their ownership will be cursing this Andrew Feffer for costing them ticket sales.— mdb20
- Obviously, you are not following the Washington Nationals. — bearsfriend
- Nats get poor support not just because of team quality. I live in the area and a lot of people are not from here originally. Many of the teams here, Redskins a possible exception, have bandwagon fans.— natsdad
- Got my tickets. Looking forward to it. Go Phillies!— Penfold18
Col. Angus, dead on. Put a good product on the field and we won't be able to get DC tickets. That's what finally kept Mutts fans out of CB park. The Phils became supportable.— John621- Their talkin alot of sh*t right now!— Phillycb21
- When the Nationals are firmly entrenched in 4th place by mid-May, and fans once again get bored with the team, those Bleeps will be begging Philly fans to attend..— Ashburn072
- I've never wanted to go to a National's game in DC more in my life.— vinceabs
- Hey Jayson..you should pray avery day that you wre surrounded by the tlent you had in Philly. Your true stats showed in Washington and will continue to show as they pay you $128M tobe mediocore.— hrlevine
- It was 50/50 Philles Fans/Mets Fans......in NEW YORK!!!— eaglesfan
- There are other ways to purchase tickets to a ball game. Jayson Werth has not choice but to voice his loyalty to a team that ponied up $126 million for 7 years. I would too and so would ALL of you. I have no issue about a campaign to take over your own home field park. I do have an issue of accepting money as a deposit, then goin back against such an agreement by returning money. I know some very intellegent attorny (not always an oxymoron) will attempt to go after the Nationals for "breech of contract". After accepting money in exchange for goods/services, unless there is a written or assumed clause that the transaction can be terminated at ANY time for ANY reason, there may be cause for action. Attorny's love class action proceedings.— drhoffman
- By the way, that picture pretty much sums up Werth and his intelligence apparently— cjh136
- Come on Werth, really, that's the best you could come up with? It obviously had nothing to do with success especially against the Mets. I can't comprehend how someone who lived and played through that thought that the Phils had to have some kind of promotion. The Mets fans literally found no reason to travel down here when they realized that the Phils were better and had absolutely no bragging rights like they had before 2007.— cjh136
- Mets' fans are always annoying because, well, they're New Yorkers. Their obnoxiousness is innate; they can't help themselves. However, I do not recall a 60-40 or even 50-50 ratio at CBP in '07; perhaps an 80-20 ratio in favor of Phillies' fans is my recollection from having been to some of those games at the time. Jayson, you are so overpaid and are so not The Man (see Ryan Zimmerman).— BigLenBleedsRed
- Werth may be too dumb to realize the reason for the change.
And he's certainly too laid back to be anywhere near a franchise player, as he clearly showed last year. Heck, he can't handle the pressure of an electric razor.— VicM - "Werth had a .232 batting average, with 20 home runs and 58 runs batted in" (2011) His contract came in at $126 million over seven years. Ruben looked like a genius on this one...— ctvince
- Don't count your chickens too soon there vince. — bearsfriend
- Look forward to the empty spaces (at the DC Stadium)in August. Just wait to offer $10.00 on stub hub instead!— ctvince
- They should concern themselves more with issues like grossly overpaying their right fielder.— escapedcamden4monterey
- I got my tickets to those games in DC - They won't keep us out. Only inspire us!— JimboECU
- To top it off, it's complete BS. I have had season tix since the stadium opened and there has never been a 60-40 ratio of Mets fans. More like a vocal few thousand at the worst of times for the phils to a hundred since the team started winning. I am in a prime section for people buying single game tickets(LF in front of Harry K's)and there would be 12-15 Mets fans at best, soaked in beer, with their loudmouth girlfriend in tears regretting wearing that the tight shirt with her muffin top spilling out as the crowd serenades them with "your girlfriends fat". Most leave before the 6th inning. Contrast: The Nationals draw 8,000 fans, 7,000 of whom drove down from Philadelphia. — UncleStosh
- These Nats' front office geeks are hilarious...put a winning product on the field if you want your fans to dominated the stands.
Don't hate us 'cause you ain't us!— Colonel Angus - Werth is so much of a tool he should change his name to Craftsman.— jimmymack
- Not the best picture up top...Blanton seems to be distressed all of his food is gone,Werth looks high, and Brian Schneider looks like someone hocked his dentures...How old is he? — bearsfriend
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