Sunday, April 06, 2008

Arte Moreno Fires Latest Salvo in GM Wars

From the LA Times:

Owner Arte Moreno surprised some three dozen Angels fans by inviting them on an impromptu shopping spree in the team's gift store after Friday night's home opener.

Merisa Jensen, a 25-year-old USC senior from Lancaster who has attended the last five Angels' home openers, said she and her sister Rachel were standing outside Angel Stadium about an hour after the game when Moreno and his wife, Carole, came out and began talking with some of the 30 to 40 people still milling about.

"Suddenly he walked over to the Angels store . . . opened the door and let in the whole group of people," Jensen said.

The souvenir shop was closed, Jensen said, but Moreno told workers to ring up a T-shirt for everyone. Cashiers gave everybody a hat too.

Everybody except Moreno. Jensen said he was handed a lengthy sales receipt, which he signed.

"I was really shocked," said Jensen, who chose a red Angels shirt. "I'm a big Angel fan. But I'm an even bigger Angel fan now."

Asked about the store visit Saturday, Moreno paused, then smiled.

"It's just a rumor," he said.

Touché, Arte. Your rebuttal, Mr. McCourt?

3 comments:

VJ said...

I was at the rainout/non-rainout on Wednesday, as it was my birthday. Unbeknownst to me, A friend of mine asked one of the nearby ushers if they could put my name up on the screen to wish me a happy birthday. The usher told him that it was too late to add my name, but she would see what she could do.

Later, during the 4th inning, the usher came up to me and presented me with a bag of goodies "on behalf of the Dodgers and the McCourts." Inside the bag was a ball, a pennant, some stickers, tattoos, and a hat. It's no Arte Moreno supermarket sweep shopping spree, but it was a nice gesture.

Orel said...

Plant! (Just kidding!) Seriously, nice story, JV. Maybe the Angels just have a better PR department?

Steve Sax said...

When I went to Opening Day, Frank McCourt was in the parking ticket booth for my lane. He asked for $15, then told me when he bought the Dodgers it was only $8 to park, and then erupted in a maniacal laugh "BWAH HA HA HA HA HA!!!" and rubbed his hands together like he was Lex Luthor.

Or maybe that was a dream.