Why I'll Always Be A Reds Fan

So a few weeks back, my cousin and his wife, whom I am very close friends with, lost their 7 month old son to a genetic condition called CHARGE syndrome. He was their first born, and the last 7+ months have obviously been an incredibly difficult time for the two of them.

Well following the funeral, a couple of friends and I decided we were going to get my cousin and his wife a 20-game ticket package for Reds games (they're both BIG baseball fans), in order to give them something to do to help them get out of the house and get back into the process of doing "normal" things together. We assembled the necessary funds, and yesterday my friend Chris called to order the tickets. Chris called me yesterday as I was leaving work to let me know that the tickets had been bought, and the details he followed that with moved me to tears, and I really thought I'd like to share:

He called the ticket office yesterday, and inquired about buying the tickets. As the ticket agent walked him through the buying process, they got to the point where they asked him for his credit card information, and then the mailing address for the tickets. After Chris explained that the tickets needed to be mailed to someone other than himself, the ticket agent joked to him, "Wow, you're getting these for someone as a gift? You're a better friend than I. What's the occasion?" Chris went on to explain a Reader's Digest version of why the tickets were being bought.

After hearing why we were buying the tickets, the ticket agent asked Chris if he could hold for a moment. When the agent returned to the phone, he transferred the call to his manager who went on to inform him that the Cincinnati Reds would be waving all fees associated with the tickets, and that they would cover the sales tax on the tickets themselves - thus reducing the cost of the tickets proportionally. He also asked for some details about the couple (approximate shirt sizes, hat sizes, etc) in order to assemble a complimentary Reds gift basket for the two of them to receive upon arrival at their first game. Furthermore, he asked if they could have our permission to include a personal greeting card in the basket for my cousin and his wife.

Wow...what an incredibly gracious way to treat your fans. What an incredibly gracious way to treat anyone. At this moment, I couldn't be happier to be a Cincinnati Reds fan. They could have lost every game thus far this year, and every one for the rest of the season and I'd still be about the proudest Reds fan you could find. Just thought I'd share.

That's awesome. Great gesture, and I got a bit choked up reading it, as sappy as I am. Hate it for their loss, but what a solid gesture by the club. Love it.

Awesome.

The Reds have to rank near the top of the list of all sports teams in what they do in their community and on the customer service side. Between the Reds Community Fund, Redsfest, community involvement in other ways and stories like this, the Reds have become a model franchise of a great community partner and asset. Castellini is one of the best owners in all of sports IMO.

That is wonderful. The value of good service goes a long way. The couple obviously will cherish the gift but the organization has no idea how many fans they won with this story. Great job Cincinnati Reds!

Thanks for sharing this story. Seems we get to hear a few of these types of stories each year since the Castellini group has taken over. Makes me wonder how many of these things happen, that no one hears about. Kudo's to the Reds organization (as well as to you and your friends) for this wonderful gesture!

Good job by the Reds.

What a great story. The Castellini family seems to be top notch.

Excellent story. Thanks for posting.

I have always found Reds' ticket office personnel to be most accommodating. (The Bengals' ticket office workers are typically very helpful as well.)

Way to go, Reds!!

Makes me proud to be a life long Reds fan!!!

Love my Reds

Awesome, thanks for sharing! :thumb:

Reds do alot of this type stuff on the fly when they find out about things like this. Its a very great thing.

Awesome. I don't want to thread jack but it's along the same lines of Reds personnel going above and beyond.

I was listening to Bill Cunningham a couple days ago and he had the Madeira (I believe) coach on there congratulating him on his 400th win and asked the coach if the school or BOE was doing anything to recognize him. He said they would probably announce him at a football game or something. He said he just loves to coach for the kids, etc..

Bill called the Reds on live radio and talked to a lady in communtity affairs to see if they would let the coach throw out the first pitch at a game. The lady couldn't have been more pleasant on the phone and said she would call him as soon as they hung up to set up a date, etc..

Thanks for sharing, great story. My wife does not like to go to live sporting events but this is the kind of thing where I can convince her to go with me to a Reds game to show support for how well they do in the community.