Last year was my first year participating in the Seattle Mariners Kids Club program. I checked out the website of a few other teams last year, and from what I can tell, the idea of a Kids Club is pretty universal in the MLB, maybe even mandated. Individual clubs, however, implement them differently. There is almost no universal price or reward for each team’s Kids Club.
I was relatively happy with what we got from the Seattle Mariners last year. One of the big draws was the number of $1 ticket vouchers. This allowed me to take the kids to more games that I would normally have gone to. Actually, I’d probably only get to one or two games a season were it not for the Kids Club pricing.
Our collection of Seattle Mariners autographs and memorabilia is growing
Because we went to more games last season, we had more opportunities to collect autographs – as well as some special events just for Kids Club members. Where previously we had a small handful of autographs and memorabilia, we now have a collection. Without the Kids Club tickets, we wouldn’t have gone to the games where we picked up John Jaso’s and Brendan Ryan’s autograph, or attended the event where we got Charlie Furbush’s.
Never managed to get Ichiro or Felix – but at least Felix is sticking around.
This year the Kids Club changed things up a little bit, and I’m still a major advocate of the program. Last year the Kids Club came with a backpack, cap, and a booklet in addition to the ticket vouchers. Don’t get me wrong, the backpack was alright, but it didn’t hold much. We used it mostly to hold and keep separate balls we got signed from the balls we were hoping to get signed. The backpacks just weren’t very roomy.
Instead of the backpack, Seattle is offering up a lunchbox to its Kids Club members. When August saw it he was excited and is looking forward to using it.
The hat has been redesigned. Last year’s cap was blue with the Kids Club logo. All the kids were embarrassed to wear it. They only wore it once when I forced them to. This year’s cap actually looks like something you might find at the Team Store. Chances are the kids, which have other Seattle Mariners caps, will actually wear these.
As for the booklet, it has coupons, information about events, and more. It’s the same as it was last year.
Gone is the T-shirt. Last year there was a white shirt with the Kids Club logo. Again, the kids rather wore their Dustin Ackley or other shirt that was given away to the first 10,000 kids or whatever on certain days. You know, shirts that actually looked like something you’d find in the Team Store.
Instead, I am assuming, the shirt benefit is getting transferred to the additional $1 ticket vouchers. Last year there were I think 12 total, and this year there are 24. Here’s a list:
Sunday April 28
Saturday May 11
Sunday May 12
Sunday May 26
Monday May 27
Monday June 10
Tuesday June 11
Wednesday June 12
Saturday June 22
Sunday June 23
Tuesday June 25
Wednesday June 26
Saturday July 13
Sunday July 14
Monday July 22
Tuesday July 23
Wednesday July 24
Sunday July 28
Sunday August 11
Sunday August 25
Saturday September 7
Sunday September 8
Saturday September 28
Sunday September 29
6 of those games are against the A’s – more than any other team. 4 games against the Angels, 3 against the Astros, and only 1 against the Rangers. Seriously? How is this allowable? If I want to educate my kids on how division rivalry works, it would be nice to be able to take them to more games featuring the whole of the division!
Other teams going up against the Mariners in this package of games include Brewers, Pirates, Twins, Rays, Padres and Indians. Note, no Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs.
It’s nice to have options when it comes to the vouchers. With 24 of them, there are sure to be plenty of games most families can take advantage of. Still, 7 days in June and 2 in August? And only 1 in April?
The June home stand against Houston is on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Vouchers are for all 3 games, but I’m pretty sure most schools are still in session. This seems almost irresponsible on the part of the Seattle Mariners. Shouldn’t the team be encouraging kids to do well in school by getting a full night’s sleep?
I know a number of games I’ll be missing, and it would have been nice were some sort of exchange program available. Maybe 3 Houston Astros for one New York Yankees game.
Definite improvements over last year. Many will see this as generous, and it is. It isn’t perfect, but for the price, you would be a fool to pass it up.