"Truck Day" picking up converts across the Majors

I'm trying to drum up some interest for the idea of celebrating a Toronto Blue Jays "Truck Day" in Toronto.

'What the hell is Truck Day?!' You may well ask.

Truck Day is the day the equipment truck leaves from the home field for the trip down to a team's spring training facility. We watch it pull off the dock and drive away - that's it. It's funny because it talks to a passion for baseball that makes non-believers stand and stare blankly.

Boston fans invented the ritual; here's a video of "Truck Day" in Boston 2007 - note the AC/DC Truck Day theme song seems to have been dubbed in with "Truck Day!" in the lyrics - or am I imagining that?.




Toronto NEEDS a "Truck Day" more than any other team because we're the most northerly MLB franchise - we're in the deepest grips of winter - we MUST have this early February baseball ritual because at this time of year we're not actually sure there will be an April.

Over at MLB.com "Truck Day" is getting some attention as teams' PR departments get on board.

I grabbed some coverage video associated with the article "Truck Day portends dawn of new season" by Mark Newman/MLB.com.

So here's video of three Truck Day's from 2010 that I uploaded to Youtube:

New York Met's Truck Day 2010

Texas Ranger's Truck Day 2010

Cincinnati Red's Truck Day 2010

Also from MLB.com a nice article on how the Chicago Cubs celebrated Truck Day last year: "Kids help send off Cubs' spring truck".

SB Nation reports in an article from last year, Truck Day 2010: Bigger And Better Than Ever, that in 2010 the Mets, the Cubs, the Indians and the Royals are doing some sort of Truck Day ritual; add to that list Boston and Arizona (??? - a 1/2 hour drive one would presume) and a total of seven teams have gotten on the Truck Day band wagon, so to speak.


(MLB Advanced Media will likely take the bottom three video's down because they aren't advanced enough to understand the value in letting fans embed MLB production. Perhaps this article will change MLB new media policy - but I'm not holding my breath - I'd be dead.) 
:)



mh

Toronto Blue Jays "Truck Day" 2011

Below is a letter I just sent into the Blue Jays, my pitch to try to get their help in organizing a "Truck Day" in Toronto.

'What the hell is Truck Day?!' You may well ask.

Well, Truck Day is the day the equipment truck leaves from the home field for the trip down to a teams spring training facility. We watch it pull off the dock and drive away, that's it, that's Truck Day. But in early February it makes April seem a whole lot closer; and it's funny - it talks to a passion for baseball that makes non-believers stand and stare blankly.

This is Truck Day Boston - 2007

This is Truck Day 2007 - A Re-enactment

Let's Go! Blue Jay fans! Lets pull together and get Truck Day Toronto going!

Note into Toronto Blue Jay's Official Site:

I see you're doing a "60 Day Countdown" towards the start of Spring Training. Many of us baseball fanatics look forward to the day pitcher and catchers report at Dunedin Florida - nothing happens - it's just a day on the calendar we mark; and we know in our hearts that somewhere, way down south in Florida baseballs are being thrown by our favourite players.

Some baseball fanatics in America have taken this silly ritual to the next step - making the day the equipment truck leaves the ball park heading for the particular teams spring training facility - a day of celebration.It happens about a week prior to the day catchers and pitchers report (as that's how long it takes for a transport truck to travel from say, Boston to the City of Palms Park in Fort Myers Florida.

I don't know if the Blue Jays store any equipment up here in Toronto, so maybe there isn't a truck that makes that trip, (I hope there is though); but that doesn't mean we can't have a Truck Day here in Toronto, perhaps as part of the "60 Day Countdown"? I'm trying to drum up some interest in this idea, whether it happens this year or next is un-important, but we NEED a truck Day more than any other MLB team, because we're the furthest north, deepest in the grips of winter - we need the ritual in the depths of February that is Truck Day - to give us hope that there will be actually be an April.

Below are a couple of Tweets I've sent recently that have a link to a Youtube video of Boston's Truck Day 2007 - there are related videos at Youtube with the keywords to more recent Boston Truck Days.

http://twitter.com/#!/m_holloway/status/32224586800037888

http://twitter.com/#!/m_holloway/status/32604317995241472

The video I point to is a 'virtual' Truck Day video from 2007 - and is something along the lines of what we could do here, this year - no budget, just fun.

Any information from inside the organization - whether there is a truck, do you want to help out in any way, etc. would be appreciated.

Michael Holloway
Baseball Blogs
(member Baseball Bloggers Alliance)
michaelholloway111@gmail.com

The note was sent into BlueJays "Help/Contact Us" portal, "How Can We Help?" Media comment section:
(Yeah, it's a MLB portal, they don't make it easy; really Web 1.0 around there.  If you want to send a note in, the last link is your friend.)

Follow me on Twitter if you want up to the minute news on this, or check back to this blog, there will be update posts at the "Truck Day" label.



mh