Chapter 08

Mo’s Meetings

The players of Mo’s team are in the locker room getting ready for an afternoon practise session. Mo is already dressed and about to leave when the team manager enters the room, he looks at Mo and says, “Walker, my office, now!” Some of the veterans think Mo is going to be told off so they grin about it. Mo shrugs and follows the manager.

On entering the office the manager waves Mo to take a seat while he closes the door before going to his chair to sit down. Before Mo can say anything the team manager says, “Mo, I know that bunch of fools out there don’t like you, but, to be truthful, you’re the main reason we’ve won the last four games. I can’t understand them or the way they don’t think. I’ll be having words with them about not doing their job in the field properly, but I can’t see how to get them to change their ways.”

Mo grins as he says, “When you talk to them point out how failing to do what they should do adversely affects their performance bonuses because they count as fielding errors. That may get them fielding right. As to their attitudes and behaviours, I can’t help you there.”

“Yeah, that may get their attention. I’ve got a problem I can’t solve and you’re the core of it. I know it’s not your fault and I know you can’t stand being in the locker room with those idiots. But, how long do you think you can take being around them and still play well?”

Leaning back into the chair Mo stops to think for a moment, a very long moment. He sighs then says, “I think I can take another week maybe two, but after that I’ll probably be ready to bust a few heads out there. Why, Skip?”

“I shouldn’t tell you this, but I will. I’ve just come from a meeting of the club’s senior management. The considered collective agreement is if we had to lose you or only three or four of them we’d keep you and trade the others. However, there’s just too many of them for us to trade out. Also, the veteran players of your old club are just as bad and both groups are talking crap about you. With what we’re paying you right now you’re overpaid to be playing Triple A, but the club would rather overpay you to be there on contract than not have you at all.”

The information stuns Mo so he asks, “Why’s that, Skip?”

“Don’t ask me why, but the fans love you. You don’t play here much, but there’s a bunch of fans who come in the hopes of watching you play. The attendances are up at every game we announce you’re playing in, both here and at the affiliate. Both clubs are selling more gear with your name on it than any other player. Overall, you bring in so much extra revenue it’s worthwhile for us to pay you Major League money to play in the Minors just to keep you around to play home games.”

Mo has a huge grin when he says, “That being the case I better look to getting some sponsorship deals going.”

Skip grins, “I would, if I were you. And I’d start with the local people first. Show the fans you support their local firms.” Mo nods agreement. “Until things change in the locker room I intend to keep you under the existing contract with you playing Triple A but call you up for relief work for a few weeks at a time. Do you think you can manage that?”

“Yes, I’m sure I can.”

“The down side of it is your overall bonus pay will be down due to you spending a lot of time in the minors. Also, you won’t be playing enough games in the Major Leagues to qualify for any of the special awards or to be in the special games like the All Star Game.”

“That’s not a problem for me, Skip. I play because I like the game and I like the pay. When it gets so I don’t enjoy playing I’ll walk away and I’ll have no regrets. Too much of that mob out there,” he waves over his shoulder at the locker room with his hand closed and the thumb out to point at the locker room, “and I’d be walking away. However, now I know what your plan is and it’s not that lot or the highway, I can hang around to take it in small doses. But if it gets too much for me I’ll let you know and then take some time off to recharge.”

“That’s OK. I’ll help both you and the front office by letting you have some time off during the season to do some camps and PR stuff.”

“I like that idea. I can get a break from the idiots, get almost the same pay for the PR as playing, and make a bunch of the fans happy as well. I’m ready for that whenever you want me to go.”

“Good! The front office is ready to organise something when I can give them a date you’re available. I’ll be calling practise short today to talk to them about being out of position. When I do I want you to go see the front office people after your shower.” Mo nods in reply. They both stand and leave the office.

A few hours later Skip calls an end to the session and says, “I want everyone except Walker to go to the video room. Mo, I spoke to you about this before so get out of here.” Mo nods and he leaves while the rest head for the video room. Mo knows they aren’t going to like what is about to be said to them. Fifteen minutes later Mo is showered, changed, and on his way to the front office.

Office Talk

When he gets to the front office Mo isn’t surprised to find the club’s Public Relations people are who wants to talk with him. They’ve a list of the games they expect the team to play in during the post-season which starts next week. Mo isn’t surprised to see he’s listed to play in every home game on the list. Beside the dates for the away games are places where they want him to be part of PR events. Also, there are a couple of early post-season dates where he’s down to play with the AAA affiliate club. The next game Mo is down to play is several days away and they have a number of PR events ready, starting tomorrow.

The only PR event Mo objects to is a Christmas Eve one that means he’ll miss his planned flight home for Christmas with his family. He’s given a big surprise when one of the staff holds up a hand, makes a phone call, and talks for a moment. They hang up, turn to Mo, and says, “The CEO is taking a charter jet home to his family in Miami after the event. You’ll ride with him and will be taken to Tampa Executive Airport by the plane on its way from Miami to its home field in Lutz.”

Mo grins and says, “Thanks for arranging that for me.”

The meeting is about to finish when Mo says, “Now we’ve got all your items sorted out I’ve a little matter I’d like your help with. It’s been brought to my attention I should get involved with sponsorship deals with some of the local businesses here and near the Triple A Club. Do any of you have suggestions on who I should speak to first?”

Most of the people present look a bit blank, but one of them grins and opens her phone. In a moment she’s writing down names and numbers on a pad for him while saying, “I’ve had a few local companies ring to ask if you can do some ads for them. I made a note of them since I didn’t know what you wanted to do about them and you don’t have a listed agent, they usually handle these things for you.”

“Thanks for that. I don’t have an agent because I’m qualified to do all the normal agent work myself so I’ve been doing it all. But I didn’t think of the sponsorship stuff nor how to handle it. What sort of a person do I need to find to handle these things for me and what should I pay them?”

They talk about what he needs in the way of a personal sponsorship and PR person for several minutes. For now the club’s front office will handle it for him for a fee of five percent of the contract value.

The rest of the season goes as planned in regards to games and PR activities. Mo makes no huge plays, nor does he make any errors, and he’s a good contributor to the team when he plays. He does end up with a new wardrobe full of slightly better quality clothes from a sponsor he does four advertisements for, plus a large bank deposit for the ads. He even gets a small fee for an ad where he talks to the company staff doing the grounds maintenance at the condominium complex. The local supermarket he uses tapes him and Sarah shopping one day so they can turn it into several advertisements. What they pay him is a lot more than they spend on groceries for everyone at the condo that week.

Mo enjoys the Christmas Eve flight home in an S&S Citation X with funny cartoons painted all over it. He enjoys laughing at the cartoons.

Dealership Days

Mo’s first big sponsorship deal is with a car dealership with car sales lots throughout the area of both clubs. The first event is on a three day public holiday weekend in mid January. He’s to spend a day at each of the three biggest sales lots. The dealership is running a lot of special deals over the weekend plus extra deals are done at the lot Mo is at each day. For the weekend all of the car sales staff are dressed up in baseball outfits with their name on the back because the weekend sales theme slogan is: ’Hit a home run deal out of our yard this weekend.’ And each lot has one of the club’s players on hand each day as a ’Celebrity of the Day’ clients can meet there. They have a different player for each day. Mo isn’t sure how this came about as part of his sponsorship, but it did. Both clubs’ PR people are happy to get so many players involved. Also, Mo is the only person doing more than one day because the others refuse to do more.

The main dealership is in the city where the Major League Club is located so it uses the uniforms of that club. The dealership nearest the AAA affiliate is using the uniforms of that club. The third dealership is in between the other two and they use the AAA club uniforms. Mo’s uniform of the day will match that of the dealership. Because both the clubs are designating the events as being approved PR activities they’re also paying the players to be there on those days, so the weekend is very profitable for Mo.

On the Saturday Mo is standing in the main showroom at the dealership’s main lot. Most of the time he acts as a greeter to meet people and direct them to a sales person after a couple of questions to work out who would be best to direct them to. It’s a simple process and script he was taught half an hour earlier. It will be much the same for each of the dealerships and just the staff names will change.

Mo is amused by the reaction he gets from some of the people. A few are awed he’s greeting them while some don’t recognise him as today’s ’Celebrity of the Day’ for the dealership. By mid-morning all of the staff are very busy with customers and he has a small group waiting to speak to sales staff. Not wanting them to get bored he asks each of them a bit more about what they’re looking for in a car today.

Four of the people have a specific model of car in mind but they want more information about the accessories and deals before buying. Two of them are friends who want the same model car, and the other two are after a similar model car as well but different to the first two. Mo looks around, when he spots two of the clerical staff who help with writing the contracts he waves them over to him. When they arrive he says, “Jo, these two gentlemen want to look at the same model of touring car and need information on accessories and prices, can you please take them to a car to go through the details with them. When they decide what they want, which I think will be soon, write the contracts for them to sign and get the paperwork finished.” She starts to speak so he adds, “The deal with me is when I sell a car someone else has to write the contract because it has to be done by an employee. I’m not one so I can’t do the contract. Whoever writes the contract gets a quarter of the commission, a quarter goes to the staff social club, and half goes into the local charity pool. If you help these men out with their selection and write the contract you’ll get the quarter share of the commission.”

Jo smiles and says, “I can do the contracts and I know the pricing, so I don’t mind getting a commission.” She turns to the two men, “Please come with me, Sirs!” Within a minute the three are looking over a top end car of the model they’re interested in. It’s a top end unit so they can see what every accessory is like.

Mo turns to Iris and says, “These two men want to look at a mid-sized family car. Can you help them, please?” She nods, speaks to the men, and the three go to look at the car they want to look at.

Turning back to the dozen people still with him Mo sees he has a couple more so he gives them the greeting spiel, adding, “We’re a little busy at the moment. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait a little while until a sales person is free. I’m about to talk to these people about what I see as the answer to their need. You may wish to listen in while you wait.” He turns to face the group and adds, “You’ve all said you’re not sure what you want in a car but stated it’s to be the first car for a daughter or son who’s just getting their driver’s license. I’m going to assume this will be the only car you’ll buy them in the near future so it has to be able to deal with trips to college in another city or state, be reliable, not expensive to run, and be comfortable to drive. Is that true for you all?”

Mo looks at each person and he gets a nod in reply. He adds, “Good. I suggest you get them a mid-sized SUV. There are many reasons for this with the main ones being the safety factors of sitting higher up giving a better vision around them. The more solid construction gives a better protection when someone does hit them. Statistics say they will get hit sometime in the next five years. It’s more reliable for the longer drives to college and back. It’s bigger inside and it will carry more. So they can bring all of their dirty washing home on each visit.” This gets laughs from a lot of those with knowledge on kids in college, many from their own college days. “Sitting more upright should make them less prone to back injuries in an accident, although that will depend more on the type of accident. Looked after properly it’ll last them for a decade or more. For those wishing to follow my advice I can show you the three mid-range SUVs we have and send a sales person over when they’re free, but you can look at the cars while waiting. There are brochures near the cars to list the various accessories. Also, this weekend the Car Security Package of four cameras looking in each direction is half price and worth having in the car. If there’s an accident or a road incident they have the video as a back-up of what they say.” He turns and he leads the group to where the three mid-range SUVs are sitting. They spread out and start looking over the cars so Mo returns to greet more new arrivals.

He soon has another group of people waiting for sales staff. When Iris and Jo finish with the people they’re with Mo waves them over for a short word with them. A minute later they’ve another of the office staff and the three of them are busy with people looking over the SUVs. Mo gives his talk about new first cars to the group he has and he sends three more families to look at the SUVs. He’s still left with several groups wanting to speak with a sales person.

Mo spends the time greeting new arrivals and telling them about funny things he’s done or seen so as to keep the people entertained while they wait. When a sales person comes free Mo directs a client to them in the order they arrived. Fifteen minutes after starting the SUV inspection group seven more sales staff arrive. They’re part-time staff not able to arrive until now. Mo is very busy handing off customers to them. In a few more minutes he’s all by himself again.

Several minutes later Jim, the owner, sees a customer out, and comes over to speak with Mo. He sees the large group over by the SUVs and the four clerical staff now working the group by completing orders for them. Mo has been continuing to send people over there after finding out what they want and giving them his reasoning. The owner asks, “Mo, what’s that large group around the SUVs about?”

Mo turns, smiles, and replies, “You’re about ten sales staff short for today’s sale. I had a large group waiting for staff so I spoke with them. Most were after a first car for a new driver in the family. I gave them my reasons for thinking those cars would be best for them and I took them over. Then I left them to look at the cars. Since they knew what they wanted I had the clerical staff talk to them about prices and deals then organise the orders. I think they’ve taken a couple of dozen orders since I did that, but I’m not sure. I told them they’d get the quarter cut of the commission for writing the contract. So they’re happy to do it. I figure you’d lose the sales if they had to wait for the regular staff so it’s better to do it this way and have happy customers and staff.”

Jim grins, “Good idea. I’ll see they get the commissions. Later I’ll want you to give your reasoning on the SUV while we record it for an ad. I know it’s going to cost me more, but I think it’s worth it to do it quick to get it out this weekend. Jane will be out to take over as the greeter soon, when she gets here go get your lunch then be ready to do the glad hand and baby kissing stuff during the luncheon meet and greet. You need to eat before it because you won’t get a chance during it.” Mo grins as he nods his agreement. He hasn’t done one of these luncheon PR things before, but he can understand he’ll be busy during it.

A Meeting

A few minutes later Jane arrives and sends Mo off to eat. There’s a large tent set up in the main lot where the food and drinks are being set out for the big luncheon publicity gathering. On the way to the tent Mo sees a young woman with a bored look on her face while watching a group of young men at a bunch of high performance cars. He stops and asks, “Is your boyfriend looking for a high power car to drive?”

She glances at Mo and replies, “Worse, my two younger brothers!”

“Oh, dear. You have my sympathy. Want to get something to eat while you wait for them to calm down?”

“I’d love to. But when I was there, a moment ago, they said the food wasn’t available for another half an hour.”

“True, but staff and those with staff can get fed now. It’s not for the public yet because they have to feed the staff first.” The woman looks at the cars, turns, and walks with Mo to the food tent while chatting about things in general. At the tent Mo says, “Norma, I’m here to get fed, do you mind feeding this young lady I’m trying to pick up as well?” Both of the ladies laugh and Norma puts together a paper plate of food for the woman followed by giving Mo a plate with double of everything. They both grab drinks and Mo leads the way to a table in the back of the tent, “I want to sit down for a while so come eat at the table.” They put their plates down and Mo holds out his hand while saying, “I’m Mo!”

She shakes his hand and replies, “I’m Isolde,” and waits for the smart comments to start.

Mo sees the look of sour expectation on her face and says, “Let me guess, your parents love classical music.”

She nods, “My brothers looking over the cars are Tristan and Luther, and we’ve a younger brother named Siegfried.”

With a slow shake of his head Mo says, “Sometimes parents can do the silliest things when they name kids.” She looks at him and he adds, “I went to school with a kid named Jefferson Andrew Wilson Simpson. His name was listed on school documents a JAW Simpson and all his clothes had the initials of JAWS on them. Boy, did he get ribbed.”

“I bet he did.” She looks up and says, “There’s my mother at the counter wanting food.”

Mo stands and goes to the front of the tent, being in shadow back there it’s hard to see into it from the bright sunshine. He says, “Norma, can you please do up a plate for Isolde’s mother.”

The woman turns to Mo and smiles before asking, “Where is she?”

Hooking his thumb toward the back of the tent, “Sitting back there in the shade.” He holds his hand out, “I’m Mo, Missus...”

She grins and shakes his hand while saying, “Wagner, Mo.”

He shakes his head, “The names, your husband’s idea?” She nods. “Well, it’s justifiable homicide when one of the kids kills him.” She laughs and nods again. A moment later the three are seated at the table and talking about why the ladies are at the dealership today.

Mrs Wagner says, “Tristan and Luther are twins and they’ll get their driver’s licences soon. So we’re looking at a first car for them.” Mo gives them his talk on what to get as a first car, and she tells him, “I agree, but we can’t afford two of those right now.”

Mo says, “If they’re like the twins I’ve known in the past you’d only be wasting your time buying a second car right now. At that age they probably stay together for everything and will double date. So one good car will see them both safe.”

Isolde grins as she says, “You’re right. I’ll go tell them to look at the mid-range SUVs.” She finished eating during Mo’s talk on first cars so she gets up and she leaves to talk to her brothers.

Mrs Wagner asks, “Does she know who you are?”

Mo looks up and replies, “I told her my name was Mo. I thought she’d work it out from that, the advertising, the posters, and the fact two men having been taking photos of me and who I’m with all day. If you look out there you’ll see them about thirty or forty feet away. I asked them to keep back and to use telephoto lenses.”

While shaking her head Mrs Wagner gets out a business card and writes two phone numbers on it. She hands it to Mo, “That’s my card with Izzy’s cell and direct house line on the back. She doesn’t follow baseball so I don’t think she’s made the link on who you are.”

Mo can see Mrs Wagner approves of him. He takes the card and puts it away in his wallet while saying, “Thanks for the numbers, but you can explain to her how I got them.” They both laugh and he gets busy finishing his meal before he goes to do the meet and greet.

Soon after the meet and greet luncheon starts a large contingent of kids from the park down the road behind the dealership arrives for the free meal and to greet Mo. All of the kids are still in their uniforms from the baseball games they just played or are dressed ready to play in the afternoon games they’re going to after the free lunch. Mo spends time to speak to each of them, even squatting down to talk to the smaller kids there to watch their older siblings play. He has a big bag of give-away items with him and it’s frequently topped up by the club PR person riding herd on him for this part of the event. The photographers are very busy taking photos and all of the kids are having a good time.

At one point he looks up and sees Isolde looking at him with a frown on her face. He shrugs and goes back to the meet and greet with the kids, parents, and shoppers. When he passes near her he says, “Sorry, I can’t stop to talk at the moment as I’ve got to earn my pay for the day.” She laughs and waves him on his way.

Much later Mo is talking with Jim while he locks up the showroom. Jim says, “Today was great. All the sales staff were busy all day and the clerical staff wrote contracts on one hundred and fifty-two cars. They’re happy with the part of the commission they’re getting. I’ll keep that up from now on. The ad you made this afternoon is already airing and I’ve a copy at each dealership to play on a video in the showroom. Jane was not happy with the size of the deal I wrote for you to do ads for us, but she changed her mind when she saw how many extra sales you brought in today. What made you come up with those figures you sent me?”