February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Ray O’Hanlon
The New York Mets are poised this week to pay out money to help float an Irish Famine ship reconstruction project.
And that’s good news for the New York-based group, The Famine Ship Ltd., which has been passing a nervous August in fear that the wild-card chasing sluggers had struck them out of their pay-out plans.
Not so, according to the Mets. There is a check being cut quicker than an Al Leiter fast ball.
It all goes back to a matter of rear ends in seats and who put them there.
Back in May, The Famine Ship Ltd. and the Mets got together at an Irish Consulate reception in Manhattan to pitch the plan.
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The second annual Irish night at Shea Stadium would take place on Aug. 5.
A portion of the ticket receipts would be donated to the cost of constructing the Jeanie Johnston, a replica of a Famine-era ship of the same name which carried thousands of people away from the clutches of hunger to a new life in America.
The ship is being built in Blennerville, near Tralee in County Kerry. The May reception was attended by former Tanaiste Dick Spring, the primary political patron of the $6 million Jeanie Johnston project.
The Mets were excited with the whole idea. The Aug. 5 game against San Francisco would feature a variety of Irish entertainment, including pipers, dancers and a post-game concert by Black ’47.
There would be a commemorative game program highlighting Baseball hall of famers of Irish descent, among them Mets announcer Ralph Kiner.
The game was played. 35,571 tickets were sold. This topped the 1997 Irish Night total of 33,823. The only disappointment was that the Mets lost. Irish luck, if not atmosphere, was nowhere to be found in Shea that evening.
After the game, the Famine Ship Ltd. waited for its share of the receipts. And waited.
"There was no communication with us and we were led to believe that there would be no money forthcoming," said Jeff Cleary, executive director of Irish Famine Ship Ltd.
Cleary believed that, at the very least, the Famine ship project would be due a payment based on the difference between the 1997 and 1998 crowd totals. By his estimation, that would be $11,183.
However, Charles McCabe, whose company is retained by the Mets to find, develop and promote events such as Irish Night, was of the view that the Mets were not liable for much, if anything.
According to McCabe, the Famine Ship Ltd.’s share of the receipts were to be based on the number of corporate and other tickets actually sold by the group.
"Jeff Cleary and his group did not come through from a corporate perspective.
"Their hearts were in the right place, but they didn’t sell enough corporate tickets. Nothing came in over what the Mets could have brought in themselves," McCabe told the Echo.
McCabe indicated that the bulk of any money that The Famine Ship Ltd. might have secured would have come through sales of corporate boxes that had been specially set aside by the Mets.
"I think it was a case of heightened expectations," McCabe said. "Still, they got a lot of publicity for the Famine ship project."
Cleary, for his part, was taking a broader view about tickets sales.
"We bought $4,000 worth of tickets ourselves and the Mets were selling tickets to Irish associations based on the fact that it was Irish Night."
Cleary believes that this year’s Irish Night was a big success. It was a Wednesday game. Last year’s was held on a Saturday. This year’s crowd was still bigger.
According to the ticket-selling plan drawn up by the Mets Tickets Sales and Services office, just over 4,000 Mezzanine Box and Upper Level Box Seats were placed "on hold" by the ball club for selling to "targeted Irish Night groups, likely corporate."
The Mets also held six 15-seat "Diamond View" suites for selling at a package price. Down lower in the stadium, thousands of other seats were set aside for special Irish Night designation.
The Famine Ship Ltd. was to get a cut from sales in these various areas. The bulk of potential money was to come from the corporate set-asides.
According to Kit Geis, director of marketing for the Mets, it was the responsibility of The Famine Ship Ltd. to sell the various suites and tickets set aside for Irish Night.
"But very few were actually sold," she said.
Geis said that by blocking off certain sections of Shea for Irish Night it was possible for the Mets to calculate what proportion of tickets were sold by The Famine Ship Ltd., as opposed to those tickets sold by the Mets.
Geis was unsure how much the group would finally get paid. She was hopeful that a check might be in the mail by the end of this week.
Jeff Cleary, meanwhile, is hopeful that the Famine ship project will win out in the end.
"We worked hard for Irish Night and we believe that many tickets were sold because of the Famine ship project," he said. "Apart from that, I’m a lifelong Mets fan."