Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP 32. Terrific Conversation With Syracuse Mets GM Jason Smorol!

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

Inside the Syracuse Mets: An Exclusive Interview with GM Jason Smorol In this episode of Good News York, hosts Matt and Mike sit down with Jason Smorol, the General Manager of the Syracuse Mets. They discuss the unique challenges and rewarding experiences of running a minor league baseball team, from creative promotional events to maintaining a top-notch stadium experience. Jason shares insights into the team's operations, community engagement, staff dedication, and how they manage to stand out in the minor league circuit. The conversation also touches on proposed changes to MLB, the impact of large businesses like Micron moving into the area, and the excitement surrounding unique baseball entertainment like the Savannah Bananas. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a minor league baseball newbie, this episode offers an inside look at the passion and teamwork that drive the Syracuse Mets. 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:40 Meet the Guest: Jason Smorol 01:31 Fun at the Stadium 02:11 The Minor League Experience 04:04 Stadium Renovations and Improvements 05:36 Game Day Challenges 07:00 Unique Promotions and Events 18:41 The Off-Season Workload 20:25 Staff and Operations 23:38 The Resilient Syracuse Chiefs 24:14 Lean and Mean Operations 25:09 Staying True to Our Vision 26:35 Community Collaboration 29:39 Unique Fan Experiences 34:11 The Savannah Bananas Phenomenon 42:55 Mets Fans and Family Ties 45:09 Conclusion and Farewell

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Hey folks, welcome to Good News, York. I'm Matt Major from Growth Mode Technologies, joined as always by my sidekick here, Mike, in his very fashionable t-shirt. He's rocking. Well, we've got a very extinguished guest today, so you wore a t-shirt. So I wore a V-neck. Excuse me, a V-neck.

It doesn't have any stains on it. That's the- That's what it was. And that's the impressive part. I got to go V-neck, and I've got to go not-stained. Mike, tell us who's joining us. Enough about you. Okay.

Joining us today, the GM, the general manager of the Syracuse Mets, Mr. Jason Smorrell. Hello, gentlemen. Dude, it's so exciting to have you here. You are a busy man, and you took the time to come sit with us schlubs. And can I say, before anything else, I really appreciate you coming after we visited the stadium and these two guys ran around like clowns, the fact that you're even associated. Getting with us still is pretty, we really appreciate it. Anybody that buys and wears a foam Syracuse Mets hat, I will talk to any day of the week. That's fair.

I'm a little disappointed. No offense. There's so much work that went into the outfit today that you didn't go with the foam Syracuse Mets hat. I thought about bringing it out, you know, because, you know, obviously I wore it at the stadium. There's only so many times of places you can wear that hat. It really is, but now it would have been good. Now one of those times. When we walked into that, by the way, you're, you're.

Your shop there, the merchandise. The team store. It's fun to shop. The team store is wildly impressive. Like this isn't, you know, we're going to get like a nice little t-shirt. I mean, we've got throwback jerseys, all kinds of hats. And when Danny and I saw the foam hat, we looked at each other and we went, yep, we got to do it. You get in there.

You see that. Like yesterday it was at a game and there's just group having a conversation. And one of the women had one of those Hulk drinking fists. But those are the kind of things. Like, there's having a regular conversation. Some ladies just got a Hulk drinking, orange Hulk. Casually walking around with it. Casually walking around with a Hulk drinking fist.

That's the allure of sports and especially the minor leagues. People don't understand the fun of minor league baseball. Listen, I'll be honest. I'm not a huge sports guy, but I've been to a number of different places. And this stadium, that whole experience is really top. It's way above what I would expect, what I feel like is kind of our local team situation. So you're doing a great job. seen all the time we're like the best kept secret in central New York.

Really? We've been there for like a hundred and thirty-seven years. Wow. I don't know the math. But professional baseball goes back to like 1876. Yes. Yeah. So with the Syracuse stars.

Which that was a year you were born. It was. Yes. I look fantastic. Some too. As well. It's my diet. Yeah.

It's my daughter. Coffee and alcohol. No. I see, I am a huge sports fan. But I had the same reaction because, listen, you go around the country. and there are minor league clubs that kind of live up to the name. Minor league, you get there and you're like, oh, okay, this looks like a, you know, a minor league club. Step above a high school.

You pull it into the, what is the name of the stadium? Historic MBT Bank Stadium. Historic MBT Bank Stadium. I feel like I was at like the major leagues. From the outside to the inside. She one of the last big ones built. So they were when they were building the stadium and this is the new stadium that was built in 97, It kind of has that feel to it.

It has that upper deck, you know? Yeah. And it kind of looks like a castle when you're kind of coming in. It really does. It's really kind of neat. And it is. And you do. You come around this corner and it's like, and people say they're like, wow, it just kind of, it comes out of nowhere.

It appears. Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. It is. And I got to say, even like the seating I thought was neat, like we got a table. Yeah. Where can you go to a stadium?

I feel like and sit at a neat little table with a couple of folks. That was great. The renovations, what it needed. So, I mean, so, you know, I'm going into my 12th year, and we inherited old historic NVT Bank Stadium. And then the Mets purchased us in late 2017. And 2018, we still had the nationals on the field, the affiliation with the nationals. 2019 was the first year that the Mets players were on the field. And then we had been talking with the county and the state, and we got the,

the renovations done. So 2020, you know, COVID. So we didn't open until 2021. We had that two years to spruce up. And I think it was really good, smart way to invest some of the money because some of these minor league teams are building these new stadiums.

They're $190 million. Yeah. $100 million where we had a perfectly good stadium. The county did a great job keeping the infrastructure up. Everything was level. Everything was still good. And it just needed a little facelift. Yeah.

So a ton of paint, you know. A little bump out of the team store, all new seats. Everything was fan-facing amenities. And, you know, for $25 million, we have a brand new stadium. Yeah. You know, and then the Mets signed a lease until 2043, and everyone's happy, and it's exciting, and it's just reinvigorated the team. That's incredible, and it shows.

It's a fantastic facility, and we had a great time at the game. Tell us a little bit about you guys, you play a lot. games as professional sports go, right? You do. You know, and I tell people all the time, I said, you know, and I speak to sports management classes and I say, you know, the dumb people go into sports management, and the dumbest of the dumb work in professional baseball. We have, you know, it's 150 games for the whole season.

We play 75. We have a weird business. We're open 75 days a year for three and a half hours. And some of those days are in April and May outside when it rains. It's a weird business, but it's every series is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. You know, so it's a challenge. And every business has its challenges. Every business has its obstacles.

Every market is there are different challenges. So one of the ones in baseball is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, six days in a row. It's hard for people to go to a game six days. Yeah, sure. Football plays on the weekends. Basketball maybe plays one or two games a week. Hockey plays one or two games a week. It's a different way to market, different way to it.

to experience that, we play six days a week. And then, so we'll finish this homestand. We'll have a week off. Then we'll play 12 games in 13 days. We have two back-to-back series. Wow. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, off day. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

It's a challenge. It's a challenge for the fans. It's a challenge to get people to go in there. But we have a great team, you know, staff that that's why we do what we do. Yeah. That's why every night has to be an event. There's Taco Tuesday. and Wildcat and wine slushy and weak hair Wednesday.

I love a little iteration. Rolls off the top. Dollar Thursday. Fireworks every Friday. Fireworks every Saturday. A giveaway every Saturday. Kids eat free on Sundays. Run the bases after the game.

You know, topical stuff. Seeing if Jim Morrison is still alive. Yeah. Bring your cat to the bark. That was a horrible idea. What a careful idea. Were they running all over the field? Five cats showed up.

Five cat. So we had, I've been wanting to do cat day forever because we're just racist against cats. We love dogs, right? Dogs get three days. Everybody. Right, man. I'm a cat guy. Everybody gets a day.

Dogs get three days, right? So I was like, we're just, we're being unfair to the cats. Sure. So that diversity. I wanted to do it. And then I was afraid. I was like, even I know a bad idea when I see it. You know, but then Lehigh Valley did it.

I said, well, if they did it, I can do it. So this year we announced a cat day, the whole. whole staff thought it was a horrible idea. Cat lovers, animal lovers. Everyone's like, that's the worst idea you've ever go up with. I was like, we're doing it. Originally, we're going to be on a Saturday. We're going to call it Katterday.

And then we decided to put it on a dollar Thursday. And then someone I get to take credit for it, but someone came up with dollar per's day. I said, let's just do it, right? So how bad could it be? Five cats showed up. The over under was 15. So we had the under.

Not one of them was from Syracuse. And this is the interesting fact. Wow. You asked them. Oh, yeah. There was only five of them. I know where they live. Do they carpals?

Yeah. So, uh, they came from Saratoga. Okay. Albany. Okay. Utica. Oriscony Falls. And the closest one was from Cato.

And the people from Saratoga brought their friends from Cooperstown. What? That is wild. Everybody in Syracuse thought it was a horrible idea. Oh, these people came from Saratoga. They're like, where are all the cats? These cats had harnesses. They had little carriers.

The one cat, Miso from Cato. I believe. She had, she had a little bubble on the back of her things. Her little head was sticking out. Ron Weasley was from Saratoga. It was a gigantic

main coon cat. It's the size of you. It's like you are there. Wow. And he had this thing, and he was the best cat. These were all good cats. They had a blast.

It wasn't tunces. It was. Zoodle was from Utica. Zudel was the first one. Wow. I love you. You are my spirit animal. This guy is...

I can't remember my wife's anniversary, but I know Zoodle is a cat from... But you remember Zoodle from Utica. I mean, it's a much more memorable event, if we're not. That was Moon. Oh, it was Moon. You know, I wanted to ask you, speaking about...

You see, you play 150 games. Yes. There's been a lot of talk in sports media about, you know... How are there too many? Well, yeah, but overall what they're saying is... Actually, they play 161. That's right.

162. And they're talking about how they're trying to keep people interested. Obviously with social media, you know, sports in general are having trouble keeping people engaged, specifically baseball. And I thought about it from the frame of mind of, well, look, baseball was invented long before there were any distractions, let alone all the distractions we have now. So I started thinking, you know, listen to all these sports media. I wanted to hear your thoughts on this. were the ideas that I came up with that I thought you could...

Your idea. This are my ideas. How to save baseball. This is dangerous. Not to save baseball. Um, first of all day. We're going to do that. Check that right off the list.

I thought. I want to see what you thought. All right. And this isn't to save the game. The game is always going to be there. Sure. You know, they added the pitch clock. They did the base runner, uh, the extra base runner in extra.

So they're trying. I thought let's just break it down simplistically. I would love your opinion on this. Um, first of all, I think a salad. cap would be perfect because you've got teams like the Dodgers, right, that have this gigantic payroll and then teams in smaller markets like Pittsburgh, they just can't compete. We need more parity. You know, that's just not competed or they choose not to compete?

Well, that's, that is true too. There are some clubs that I believe just choose not to. So number one was that. They just keep the money. My second thought was, but now this is where I really want your opinion because it would affect revenue. But I thought, can we cut it down to a whole? hundred games?

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For the players themselves, right? For the fans. And, you know, because once football starts, people get really distracted. And then my third idea, other than Catterday, was I just think MLB network, they should be more present at these minor league ballparks. I think they should be going and broadcasting from the parks and showcasing all the great things you guys did. I've thought that a lot.

You'll watch a major league game, and they don't talk about, you know, Lewis on Hell, O'Cunia, they don't talk about his time in Syracuse, his time in Binghamton, his time in Port St. Lucie, had a picture of him from St. Lucy, and a picture of him when he was in Binghamton,

well, he wasn't going to, we actually got him on a trade from Houston Nationals, but Mark Vientos maybe is another example that came up through the med system and, you know, a picture of him promote the Binghamton Rumble ponies and the St. Lucy Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones. Yeah.

And on those national broadcasts, and it doesn't matter if it's Seattle, because the journey that these players take is sometimes, you know, they always talk about, you know, this guy plays, you know, Dak Prescott, you know, he went to like Old Miss or Mississippi State. They talk about that all the time.

Why don't we talk about the journey that some of these high school, these players, but they haven't been gone from high school straight to professional baseball. Yeah. They could have gone from the Dominican or Latin country into professional baseball. There's a story there that they could tell

that would then, does it shed more light? Yes, does it shed more legitimacy on the process of minor league baseball? Because these baseball players are amazing. It's a journey. And if you get to AAA, just to get drafted, you're an unbelievable baseball talent. But to get to AAA, we have AAA baseball in Central New York and Syracuse, New York. These baseball players are unbelievable.

You can watch what they do night in and night out. The Yankees of tomorrow are sitting in that dugout. The Mets of tomorrow are in our dugout. Boston Red Sox come through. The Toronto Blue Jays come through. We've seen these players in Syracuse for practically nothing. Ellie Della Cruz, where in the Cincinnati Reds.

He had a home run over the scoreboard. And he was just a fast player. He's incredible. He was there for a week. And he was in, I don't think he made it the whole week. I think he had like three home runs in like. like two days and they just brought them up to the Reds. Yeah.

But to be able to say that you saw him in Syracuse. Yeah. It's like when you say, I saw this band, you know, in Cleveland back in 96 before anyone knew who they were. Exactly. You can do that with. Well, I also feel like, you know, you see in other sports like, what's her name, Caitlin Clark, the young women's basketball star. Suddenly she kind of became a star and brought that whole. She brought that whole thing up.

And I feel like that's kind of exactly the idea. idea of this program is to build some people up, but start with their story from them and you get to, you know, build that marketing along with the talent that, you know, don't only discover them when they get there. I think that would help, you know, and we say all the time, we specialize as people who don't like baseball, you know, because we, as the minor league, we don't have any control over the baseball. People are often very disappointed when they find out on what I do for a living as a general manager of the Syracuse Mets. Keep the bathrooms clean and the vehicle. That's my main job. You know, I don't decide who's playing first base or whatever. We just are the hosts of the team.

You know, we provide the buses and the transportation and make sure there's a dirt and operations and all this stuff. You know, so we can only control. We control. We can't control the weather. And we'd get to play in Syracuse in April and sometimes March. It's a horrible. It's worse than getting.

38 degrees on open-ed day. It was the coldest. baseball game I've ever been to. I still blessed. This players come from like, they come from like, you know, Dominican Republic or Venezuela. They're like, it might be their first time. They might have been in St. Lucy. They might have

been here or there. They might have been another system that only plays in the south. They're like, what is going on? Yeah. What did I sign up for? Yeah. You know, 30 degrees is a great time to play baseball if you're in the World Series. Yeah. That's right. Not if it's April 7th. Yeah, on a Wednesday. So,

but we can't control that. Yeah. And also, we have to do to make sure that are, what we can control is awesome. You know, so that's doing fun things, customer service, cleanliness of the ballpark. You know, we can have the greatest promotion set and it could rain. You know, so you've got to power through, you've got to have thick skin. You've got to do the right thing. You've got to communicate that stuff to the fans.

And I think of the fans know that you're honest and fair with them, you know, and we're giving good dollar value that, you know, they will support us. And with, you know, this mentality, we're the number one attended sporting event in Syracuse. And it blows everybody's mind. It's awesome. Because they might come, you know, yesterday on April 29th when it was the thing said it was 53 degrees. I don't know if I believe it. Yeah.

You know, and the park is a third full. They're like, ah, I can't believe it. But as it warms up and it fills up, we have that skeletal girth. Yeah, man. We do have 75 games. and we do have a 10,000-seat arena, so it adds up. Yeah, that's incredible. And it really is.

I'm not just saying this for the air. You really do create a really fun environment. Like when you think of going to a game, and it's more about the full experience, you do provide it. I mean, you can see the footage. If you go at Good NewsYork.com, watch the episode. I mean, you are out there and your gold jacket. And your gold jacket only works on certain days.

It was cold yesterday, and I don't have a lot of it worked. You can't wear the gun. gold jacket on a Wednesday, April 29th. You can wear it on opening day. And that's what makes baseball great, and that's what makes the minor league baseball great, is specifically the Syracuse Mets. You really do a hell of a job, man. But from the food.

Thank you. From food to the atmosphere, the events, and then the game itself. But we're brothers and sisters in this, and, you know, so we don't compete against the Rochester Roeveigues, as horrible as they are. And let me just make sure if you say this on record, as horrible as Dan Mason is the world's most horrible person, general manager of the dreaded horrible Rochester Red Wings. I mean, I was going to say that. But we're brothers and sisters with them because we'll steal ideas for them.

Even though he's a horrible person, he has some good ideas that I can steal every once in a while. And hopefully they steal some ideas from us. We stole Catterday from the Lehigh Valley Ironbags. So we don't compete with Rochester and Lehigh Valley and Scranton. We share experiences. We share best practices. and we'll call each other, we'll talk to each other, we'll say, hey, this is a great idea. You should think about doing it.

That's great. We just saw him cut a WWE wrestling promo. That was great. I want Dan Mason to come back with a rebuttal on that one. Okay, good. Tell you what, T. Surprise it's already not there. This is live.

He's probably already done it. This is Warrior v. Hogan. I'm loving this. No, this is awesome, man. I'd love to hear just a little bit about, you know, you've got this crazy season. You've got 75 games, but then what happens? the rest of the year. Do you get to just kind of relax? Play video games and drink.

All right. Cool. That's the perception, but the reality is it's a year-round gig. Yeah. And, you know, you get to take the pedal off the gas a little bit because you just don't have to finish the night with a baseball game. Sure. You know, but it's still every day of the week, it's still six, seven, sometimes it's seven days a week because there's community events. There's things to go to. So there's no off-season. They've extended the season a little bit. We used to end at Labor Day.

And then that was kind of nice. You'd end at Labor Day. And you had the month of September to get your breath. Then you'd get back into it in October. Well, now we end at the end of September, and October is the next month. Right. So there's no bring. Yeah.

Just kind of keep going. And we start the planning for next season in this season. So we even start renewing. in July. If we have a schedule, we'll start renewals in July, you know, group renewals, season ticket holder renewals, coming up with the right ideas, seeing how the schedule lays out on the off season is all the business stuff. It's budgeting and it is, is HR stuff and exit interviews and check-ins with the staff and purchasing because we have to buy stuff so far in advance. Stock up.

Of things. Capital projects, you know, how do we keep the stadium fresh? So there's always something going on. Yeah. It never ends and and then just in season it's just dialed up to 11. That's incredible. That's it's it's a whirlwind no doubt. It absolutely is. I wanted to also just ask you a little bit about staff. So specifically do you have positions open at different times? And then also even if you don't, people that are interested in baseball and interested maybe a career like this. What's some advice how they can get into that? Dumb people. Or don't. Get into sports management and the dumbest of the dumb. I'm doing baseball.

But I'm only only half kidding. But some of us love it. You're either, the important thing for the youngsters, I mean, a couple of things on this whole thing. First and foremost, pound for pound, Syracuse Mets have the best staff in professional sports. We met them. And they're the engine that makes it go.

And we have the smallest staff in AAA baseball. Oh, wow. We're smaller than a lot of double A teams. Really? So when I say pound for pound, we're the best. Pound for pound, we are the best. Yeah. You know, the Katie Stewart's that manages HR and all the business operations and all the purchasing and the team store and, you know, everything else that I put on her on her plate.

You know, she's amazing. Brian Pawpick is another assistant general manager and everything that he manages that has just elevated the stadium to keeping it where it needs to be. Booking all the hotel rooms. Booking the bus travel. booking, all the air flights. And at the same time, making sure that those bathrooms are spick and span because a clean house is a happy house. You know, to Will Camiso in the ticket office and the ticket department, the whole

group's division, Phoebe and Katie and Billy Shulton and Stephanie Delaney to go out, you know, and we come to this area where I'm very familiar with where your offices are because there's a ton of small businesses around here and we've got to go and knock on those doors to say, would you like to come to a baseball game? Oh, wow. And in what way would you like to come to this baseball game? The answer is either, no, get out of my office, which is fine, or what do you got? Maybe it's a season tickets.

Maybe it's a flex plan. Maybe it's a hospitality party, whatever it is. But that goes on all the time. John Stewart on the grounds crew doesn't just, he loves doing grounds crew work. You know, he doesn't love doing? He's also the sign guy. He's also, hey, we need some shelves built guy. Yeah, sure.

We have to go transform the stadium into this. You know, so he and his staff are amazing. Anthony, Cianchetta upstairs, you know, we do all of our own graphics. We do all of our own social media. And he does all of that while he hires the cameraman and hires and trains young kids to do the replay machine and the tricorder. Wow. Run a television show or radio broadcast, all the graphics in-house. It's incredibly impressive.

Be able to manage all that stuff, plus the concessions and all this stuff. So we couldn't do it without our staff. And not all staffs are created equal. And our staff is the best. So you say the smallest staff in the minors, is that by design, by choice? Like, are you understaffed or you want to keep it the way you have it? Well, it says I don't think you would not design it this way. Sure.

You know, and so we have 19 people. Really? Two of those guys are accountants. and three of them are two of them are groundskeepers and the rest of us do this and some staffs are 40, 50 people. It started by necessity. Sure. We were the Syracuse chiefs, the team that probably shouldn't exist, a team that should have

gone away and was saved, you know, multiple times over the course of the history of the team, you know, starting in the 60s and then again in the 90s and then again, you know, in 2013. team. So, you know, we had we had to do more with less. And we just kept asking the staff to do more with less and they just kept doing it. So we're just used to it. Yeah. Yeah. I think of other people come. You know, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, a couple years guy came and he was at the stadium. I was talking to him. He's the owner. And he was like, wow, this is amazing. So how many people do you do this with? I was like, we got 19 people. He's like, we got 19 people. He's like, I got 35 people. Yeah. I was like, I don't know. You know, so it's a testament to. That's great. And it works. You know,

It's mean, it's mean, but we will burn some people out. We're not afraid. So, you know, it's a lot, you know, but we, we have a different philosophy. I have a philosophy of just get your work done, right? So it's not as strict and as prudent of it's a nine to five job and it's this and that. Just get your work done. If your work is done and we're doing it for the right reasons and it's for the end result of the good of the team, the good of the brand, the good for the fans. and you're happy with your work-life balance and the work is getting done,

then that's what's going to work for us. That's awesome. Are you anticipating, everybody in the area is obviously very excited about Mike Ron coming. Is there any sort of like prep that goes into like as far as marketing and how, or preparation for that? Are you guys anticipating anything with that? No, we, you know, we just do us.

You know, I think it's important to know who you are, you know, as a business, as a person, be comfortable in your own skin. We've learned that from a lot of people over the years. And we're just going to do us. And if our vision is right, our vision is true, and a gigantic business comes into town and fulfills its potential promise of 9,000 more jobs and 27,000 more people in the area. That's 27,000 more cats, by the way. It could be.

And we're doing our thing. And our thing is good. Yeah. And people are walking out there saying, hey, the Syracuse Metzerosham you should go, then I think that we're going to benefit from that. So we have to be true to ourselves. We don't need to glom on to, you know, Micron coming in. If we're good.

You got the right recipe already. I agree. Then you build it. They will come. Sure. 100%. Hopefully, Micron wants to get involved with us and we'll obviously knock on their door. Sure.

But you have to invite somebody to come and check you out. Yeah. And we'll see what happens. That's great. One last question I will ask you. I have one more. And I'm curious. And if you don't even want to speak on this matter, that's cool.

But is there any competition around the city versus the other kind of bigger sports venue options? Really? You know, we compete with going to camp. Gotcha. We compete with, you know, we compete with travel baseball and travel seeker and travels, you know, whatever. You know, do we compete with the Irish Fest or the Polish fest? It's a Saturday afternoon. You know, again, we got six games.

So maybe you want to come to us on Dollar Thursday and you go to, there's enough people around. You know, there's 440,000 people in Onondaga County. There's 660,000 people in the surrounding area DMA. We would love 6,000 people to show up. Yeah. So if 6,000 people show up, there's still 6,6,000. Some 659,000 people that have to go do other events.

We actually need other things to do. That's what you're saying. I think that again, it gets back to knowing who you are, our product. It is what it is. The schedule is what it is. You can't control those things. Control what you can control.

And work with those people. We work with the Polish festival. We work with the Italian festival. We work with the Irish festival. You know, we've always promoted one of the first things when I got the job was to promote the puck drops for the Syracuse Crunch. We worked with Syracuse University. So we work with the amphitheater and we will promote their concerts and give away tickets to the concerts.

We work with the New York State Fair. So we embrace everything that makes our community great. And then those guys embrace us. And that's the balance that you need to make a community work. Exactly. It's everything you describe. It's just a good functional community. love that we see folks in charge of these massive things that have that very community-based mindset.

We're working Syracuse stage tonight. Oh, well, we've worked at Syracuse stage over the course of the years when they have something that's, you know, they have a new play that they've commissioned called the National Past Night. Remember when, like, years ago there was like some report coming out of, like, Cuba that, like, they were sending like sound waves into our empathy and people were getting sick? So somehow they commissioned a play. Somehow they're digging that and the Houston Astros cheating scandal. And a play is coming called the National Pastime. Wow. To Syracuse stage.

We're going to learn all about it tonight on a dollar Thursday, which is Copa de la Diversion as we take the field as the Congueros de Syracuse and I can butcher the Spanish language on the field in my pregame. That is phenomenal. This is incredible. That's a lot of info to get through right there. I'm trying to process that. The most important part is it's Dollar Thursday. Right.

And what times the game? Our games generally start at 6.35. The gates open at 5.30. You know, and I always get back to the things that shock people. And if you take it a look at the landscape, nobody does what we do, right? And this day and the age, I'm complaining about how expensive everything is. And this, that, and the other thing, Taco Tuesday. We have food discounts.

50% off wine slushies on Wednesdays, $5 off wildcat chicken wings and the stuff and a stuff. Another food and drink discount. Dollar Thursday. $2 for a national casing, world's greatest hot dog, the Hoffman hot dog, and the Cooney. Way better than the Zhugele's hot dog

served by the Rochester Red Wings and the world's most horrible person, Dan Mason. Yeah, Dan. You're going down. You know, and $3, 16-ounce cans of beer and 1911 hard cider. You know, we can get a Saranac craft beer for $3. You know, fireworks every Friday with a fizzy Friday with a deal. You buy a ticket.

You get two craft beers or two canned cocktails. Again, it's going to save you 50% of you bought that at a regular price. Kids eat free on Sunday. Jeff the Magic Man's there doing free balloon art. Run the bases after the game. What I'm talking about. I mean, nobody does what we do. That's awesome.

And we're going to keep doing it and just, and we'll play to the people that show up. And if they have a good time, they're going to keep telling their friends and their neighbors. And I don't blame people for not coming out on a Wednesday night. I mean, 38 degrees. Sure. I mean, it's tough. 50% off of a wine slushy, but guess what? There's a Wednesday in June where I'm going to get 50% off of that wine slushy.

Right. Could be warm. I mean, honestly, your biggest competitor would be the weather. The weather is probably our number one. Yeah. You know, and this is what I meant. I want to reiterate. I'm not just saying this because Jason's on the show.

I'm telling you that this is, they go above and beyond other minor league clubs to create that experience. And I don't know that we do. I think this is what we all do. I think if you went to Nashville, I think if you went even to dreaded Rochester to your, where Dan Mason was. We're led by the world's most horrible person, Dan Mason. They, thank you. I'm going to need one of those.

They do an awesome job. They have great food. Great fun. And Rochester's doing it, and Buffalo is doing it, and Worcester is doing it. And we're all like this. When I say that we're a brotherhood and sisterhood of the minor leagues, if you've worked for any extended period of time in minor league baseball, and it probably extends to some other minor league sports,

but specifically minor league baseball, and I meet you and you said that you worked for the Chattanooga Lookouts, or you work for the El Tuna Curve, or you work for the El Paso Chihuahuas. We know. The fact you even know the names. We're already on the same. We're already there because all the stadiums are very similar. We're all doing this for the fans and for the fun.

Because when it works, it's amazing. Yeah. It's so fun. And that's the perk of the job. And a million years ago when I started 1993 in Watertown, New York, my boss, Jack Trots, he made me sit out front at the gate and thank people for coming and just shake their hands and just, you know, just if there's a problem, deal with it. And if not, just thank it for coming.

Let them know we got a game. tomorrow night, let them know we got a game the next day. And I do that to this very day. And I sit out front and I shake people's hands and I thank him for coming. And you just see the smiles on people's faces. And now here, Scooch is there. And you see the kids just go up and get a picture with Scooch. See adults go up and get a picture with Scooch.

Yeah. I took a picture of like 10, you know, they see college kids with Scooch. And they just had a blast. Somebody came. He's been in the city for four years. He's from the Bronx. Yankees fan. She's never been to a ballpark, never been to a game.

Somebody brought him last night, and he said he had a blast. Yeah. You know, so there's opportunities out there. Absolutely. And you don't know that unless you're out there with the people and talking to them and inviting them into your business. And just to back that up, that is how I met you. Danny, and when we went to shoot the episode at the park, we're standing there.

And Danny goes, you know, I probably should try to get you to meet the GM, Jason. And I'm thinking, oh, I've been. God, I would love him. I'm thinking I'm going to meet a guy in a suit and I'm going to go to his office. And I go, yeah, he goes, actually, there he is. And I look and I go, where? He goes, there. I'm like, that guy.

He's got a gold coat on and flappy hat and he's going, ooh, taco two. He's been with clapping hands with the fans. I was like, this is amazing. This is. So you really are out there with the fans. That's what we do. I love that, man. That's what we do.

That brings me my last question, which is I'd love to get your opinion on this. Speaking of fun, right now there's this trend. there's a thing called the Savannah bananas. Oh yeah. Okay? And they, you saw the Savannah. Didn't we talk about the Savannah? I'm the one that brought it up. You are the one that brought it up. You may recall. You may recall. And, you know, they're like the Harlem, for those of you that don't know,

they're like the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. Don't say that to Jesse Gold. Oh, sorry. The general concept, but yeah, they go way behind. Oh, he's the owner of this fan. Okay. Well, what I mean is it's along the same lines of just an entertaining experience. Yeah. Do you, is that amongst your, you know, your peers in the business, is that, do they feel like a threat to the game of baseball or do you feel like it compliments that? It complements.

I mean, it's what we all would wish we could do if we didn't have rules. Yeah. I don't know that we'd be able to do that successful level, that awesomeness, but it's such, they've been, they came here a couple years ago. We were lucky enough to have them. And you have to see it live. You have to experience it. And I think some of the most amazing thing was they came to Indianapolis

and we were talking to other teams to say, hey, what do we need to prepare for? You know, we've heard all these rumors. So, you know, we can get on the phone with Randy Lewandowski who runs the Indianapolis Indians and who's an old school guy. He's an old school. And Indianapolis is just one of the most

well-respected minor league teams. And Randy Lewandowski says it is the single most exciting, greatest baseball event I've ever seen in my life. Wow. And then they came here, and it's the single most amazing baseball event you've ever seen. It's incredible. They're the best.

They're, and the fans just love it. We're like, we were terrified. Like, yeah, it's general admission seating. There's 10,000 people at general admission, but nobody has a sit. There wasn't one problem. Wow. Everybody was cool. You know, and they have it down.

The players were great. Jesse was great. The entertainment is great. You think, you know, we're bringing these people in three hours and time. They entertain you from the second. you show up to the second you leave. And when their players go out there, and this may be the best thing.

So at the end of the game, the players were out there for an hour and a half signing autographs for every single fan. You know, I think that is what I wish that, that we could get more interaction with our players and get our players more involved in the community. The hard part is that they play baseball every day. Yeah.

You know, there's not, there's not a goal. We're going to finish the series with the Scranton rail riders. And then next week we can go to libraries. We can go to the mall, we can do this. They're getting on a bus. You get another game. We're actually getting on a planet or going to Jacksonville to play the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.

Minor League Baseball names are the best. Right? Are the best. Wow. And then, yeah. The isotopes. No, I love to hear that. And honestly, I'm glad you asked that question because a lot of what you've been talking about

that whole time is what I see from them promoting excessively the Savannah Banana, as I'm saying, which is their fan experience. Yeah. And in every bit of thing that you've been. you watch about their business strategy and things like that, it's all about 100% for the fan, which is exactly what we've heard you talk about this whole interview. They're able to take it to 11. Yeah.

So we think we're at 11. There might be at 12. Yeah. That's only because they are able to, if you could take it to that 12, like you said, you would. And that's what I mean is like, within the rules of the game, you, you look awesome in that yellow suit, I'm just saying. Yeah.

You do it to. I should be orange, though. I have a hat. You took it to the max. You take it to the max. You do. The experience at the Syracuse Mets games are as close to Savannah bananas as you can get without it, you know, without it being the same. Absolutely.

So, Jason, we're going to, we're not going to take much more of your time here, but I just want to make sure we get all the links and things. So people want to go to the game. Is the best bet? Grab your tickets in advance. Is it get them at the gate? What's your recommendation? No, there's just we like to give options. So, I mean, there's always a ticket available.

You know, it's very, we sell out on education days. and, you know, if there's a big player coming back, you know, that's nice to have that skeletal girth, excuse me, little league nights, some of the nights are a little bit busier. But Syracusemets.com, you can get everything online. You want to skip the fees. We still have paper tickets. You can still just go to the box office.

Cool. But we have great things like the Flex Plan. And the Flex Plan is 10 undated vouchers. Oh, wow. It's $125. So it's $12.50. You pick any game, any seat. And you just exchange that voucher and you come in.

How awesome is that? Season tickets are affordable. But with our season tickets, if you don't come to the Wednesday game and you go to open a day and then there's the next day and it's still 30 degrees and it's Wednesday, and you don't want to go, those four tickets, you can redeem for any game for the rest of the season. That's outstanding. So you're a business and it's a great investment because guess what? I'm not going to any games in April.

And I had four season tickets and you guys had 12 games. You now have, what is 12 times 24? Sounds like a lot. Yeah. But now you could bring your employees, bring your family, bring your friends, donate those to a high school team, whatever it is, and they could come to the 4th of July. They could come to Little League night.

They could do whatever they want. That's incredible. There's so many different options. You know, so I encourage you to go to Syracusemets.com to check it out. Give a phone call. We'll all pick it up and we'll try to talk you through to whatever is the best thing for you in your situation to come and hang out with us. And you go to Syracusemets.

dot com unless you're Dan Mason. Yeah, Dan Mason hate night. That's what we got to do. That actually might be an idea. Dan Mason hate night. I'm not off board with that. Listen, if I owed a baseball team, my friend, Jason Smorrell, you would be the guy I would want as my GM.

Thank you for coming. Can I be the president and then I can hire Dan Mason so that I can just yell at him every day? That sounds great. Yeah. Make him go clean the toilet. Whatever he does tell him it's a horrible idea. Yeah.

Oh, what was it? Nah, we're just not going to do that. God. I don't even know this guy. I'm in. Let's go. And the best part about it, he's literally the best person.

I had a feeling. I had an appealing he was. I hate him. Jason, thank you so much for joining us here on Good News, York. You are welcome back anytime. Thank you so much. We're happy to promote all the fun things happening at the ballpark.

And we will definitely be back out there to do some more fun stuff. So don't threaten me with a good time. Go to a Syracuse. A double dog, dare you. Okay, well, now I have to. And he'll bring the hat. I will bring the hat every time I go to a Syracuse. Then you can accessorize it as you go.

You could get the Hulk fist. You could get another foam concoction. Yeah, is the Hulk? Is the gold jacket a U-thing or is that available? The gold is not available. Okay, then I don't want. It's the world's greatest Mets jacket. And it is, there's a story behind it.

John Wallace, the basketball player. Oh, yeah, okay. Has a friendship with Archie Wixen, the director of facilities with Onondog County. And Archie has this. jacket. I said, Archie, I'm going to need to wear that job. I'm going to have the tape. He goes, well, he goes, you're going to need to wear it on. If you, you got to wear it on opening day. I said, that's the point. It was why I lost. So it's a little small for me. I don't

think maybe that's why John Wallace gave it to Archie Wixon because it obviously to fit in. But I wore it to City Field last year for the playoff games. And if you want to feel like you are the world's most important person. Yeah. Wear that jacket at City Field during a playoff game. You walk by and everyone's just like Their mouths agape You know the hell Who's that?

So great That makes me That's another question Sorry That means me think I believe John Wallace Had this Mac jacket Custom made

Wow Really? Oh yeah I did not see another jacket Like it I've never seen a If there is There's five of them

On the planet It's amazing Damn It's one of the It's the snap Yeah I remember With the shiny And you can't wear it

On Wednesday April 29th Yeah You can wear it on opening day So when you go to a major league game like that. Yeah. Mets game.

Do they roll out the red carpet or are you just like another, I mean, do they treat you the way you should? The Mets took incredible care for us. The Cohen family invited all the minor leaguers, everybody. I mean, they brought everybody to the game that wanted to go. They paid for transportation. They paid for a hotel. You could pick one of the, you know, if you wanted to go to every single game you could, but they weren't paying for all your hotels and all that stuff.

But they brought us down there. They couldn't have been more great. The Mets are a fantastic organization. We're not even owned by them anymore, and I'm still going to say that because they are top-notch from top to bottom. That's incredible. I have one quick thing. I know. You're reminding me all this shit.

I got to tell you this. So my wife, I was born into a Mets family. Good people. And when I asked my father... Mets fans are real fans. Well, I'm a Yankees fan. Here we go. Okay.

Okay, thanks, Danny. When I asked my father-in-law if I can marry my wife, he said one minute. He got up, he went into the garage. He came back with a sledgehammer and he sat down and he said, proceed. So I do the thing. He says, all right, you can marry my daughter under one condition. And I'm serious. I go, okay, he goes, if and when you have kids, they have to be Mets fans.

And to this day, both my kids are Mets. I have to bite my lip, but they're Mets fans. And that's why Mets fans are Mets fans. Exactly. And when I proposed to my wife, I bought a brick at City Field. and I took, we went to a Mets Yankees game and I forget what the excuse was where we had to go find this brick

but all of a sudden we found it and I said hey look at that brick and it said Katie you know I don't want to say my wife's maiden name but Katie will you marry me Mike and she was like what and I got down on a knee we took a pitcher and all the Mets fans were like

shudgy. I remember where a Yankee hat where a Yankees Jersey while these fans would so so yeah so so we have a strong tie, as much as I'm a Yankees fan. Come on over. No, no. Just the Yankees, but I do have a big

spot in my heart for the Mets, now, especially because of you, but obviously. That's still there? The brick? The brick will be there forever. That's incredible. Yeah, and we have a, we have a picture, we have a frame where it's the picture of the brick, then we have a picture of me proposing to her. A friend of ours were there. They took a picture, and the third one,

we're going to take my kids with my wife and I to a Yankees game, and we're going to get a picture in front of the brick with the kids, and that'll complete the... Look at this. Look at this. Metz fans are dire. They're hardcore.

Well, I'm a Bill's fan, and it's the same mentality, you know? Very similar. And that's why, you know, I love them. Yeah. I love you. Their Mets fans are nuts and weird. Probably the people want the Syracuse Mets to come to their city. Yes, Mets fans will come out, use our radio broadcast team.

You'll be listening to the game. They'll be like, there's a lot of orange and blue here in Charlotte tonight. There's a lot of orange and blue. Jacksonville, when we come to Jacksonville, there will be a ton of Mets fans to just show up. That's all. They're like, oh, we want Syracuse to come back. Absolutely. It's all the people that left New York and lived more.

100%. Yep. That's awesome, man. Jason Smorrell, GM of the Syracuse Mets, you gave us way more of your time than you needed to, my man. We love you. We really appreciate. You will be at the games. Syracuse Mets.com.

What's the next game? Do we talk about it one more close? Tonight. And then tomorrow night and then the next night. I'm just thinking about those discount hot dogs and, of course, the Ice Cold Utica Club, you saw that. It's just. Oh, and the parogies. Don't get better.

Perogis. I don't know if I... I don't think I knew they had those. We have them not only on a vegetarian cart, but we also have them deep fried, deep fried buffalo chicken wing parogi. Oh, you dirty little man. Well, that's it.

I'm buying season tickets. Yeah, exactly. And with that, folks, thank you so much for joining us on today's Good News, York. This has been an awesome episode. I'm really excited to see the squad. I think folks are going to love it. So, Jason, thank you so much, man.

Thank you, guys. I appreciate it. And we'll tune in. Thank you. Thank you.