So it’s a little late in the day to publish the Can of Corn, but hey, you’ll have a week to read this before the next one, so I figure I’ve got some leeway for now.

The baseball off-season is a time when many fans go into baseball hibernation and not a lot of news comes out regarding most teams aside form the occasional signing, etc. However, clubs have started to use the off-season as a time to re-engage fans as Spring Training approaches. The Nats are slowly getting up to speed on this front and launched the inaugural NatsFest last year in April to help celebrate the opening of Nationals Park. This year they’ve doubled the number of NatsFests from one to two: one in April for season ticket holders only, and one in late January for everyone. Like the April festival, season ticket holders receive four free tickets to the Janaury event, but general admission tickets are just $10. So, it was with great excitement that I discovered the upcoming NatsFest a few weeks back while perusing the Nationals’ website. Of course, I had to look for informaiton about it, as I think the Nats marketing department hasn’t quite gotten fully staffed yet or something. It seems that these events should be more heavily publicized, but I digress.

NatsFest is this upcoming Sunday, the 25th, at Nationals Park and promises to be an afternoon full of fantastic events for fans. I won’t bother typing the entire schedule out here, but instead, will just tell you to use this hyperlink to read the information at Nationals.com. The schedule sounds really interesting and should have just about something for every level of fan. For my part, I plan on taking my camera and Flip video recorder and acting like a nerdy fan, but I think that’s the point. NatsFest runs from 1-5PM and I fully plan on being there for the entire 4 hours. I will make my first stop in the Nats team store to find a t shirt or something else large enough for all the autographs I plan on shamelessly getting throughout the day as well.

I would imagine that most fan bases are like the Nationals in that they are very fickle and there is almost no way of satisfying everyone short of winning the World Series every year from now until eternity. I know that would satisfy me! And while it does seem that the Lerner-era Nationals marketing department is still experiencing growing pains, I have to say that my overall impresison of NatsFest and the accompanying Winter Caravan (click here for more info on that event) is positive. I have seen other posts or comments from other fans who have been skeptical or critical of the effort, which I think is unwarranted, although certainly understandable.

When the Expos arrived in Washington back in 2005, they were a club that had been run into the ground during the post-strike 1990′s and effectively neglected by baseball’s owners in the years leading up to the decision to move it to Washington in 2004. This extended from the players, who were probably demoralized and not really incentivized to play hard for a city that could care less about baseball, to the front office, which had been neutered by MLB and had little actual authority in running the team. The Nationals came to Washington a shell of a ball team and it’s no surprise that that first few seasons, while ownership and stadium issues were worked out, that little in the way of sustained and consistent marketing was done. The “honeymoon” effect of having basbeall back in DC for the first time in 30 years helped cloak this lack of coordination. Once these big issues were resolved (the Lerners bought the club, Nationals Park got built, MASN finally started carrying all Nats games), the club could get to work on long term goals.

Stan “the Man” Kasten was brought in to help on the actual baseball side of things and he promptly created a long term Plan that was designed to revitalize a neglected major league and minor league system of player development. I don’t know this for certain, but I would imagine somehting similar occurred within the front office to revamp the club’s marketing efforts. Rebuilding a basbeall franchise takes more than producing winning teams. Just ask the Florida Marlins. So, I think last year’s NatsFest was a great first step in building greater loyalty between the club and its fans. This year’s effort is one step further (farther? Whatever.) in that direction. It will take time for things to really get going, and I for one am willing to wait. Afterall, the Yankees, Red Sox and other clubs didn’t just one day create a loyal fan base. Those teams have spent decades or even more than a century winning and losing and being a part of their hometowns, all the while keeping a connection with the fans. It’s not realistic to expect a new franchise (because honestly, I don’t really count 2005 and 2006 when I think about The Plan in any form because the real effects of the Lerners and Kasten and their hires didn’t really enter the system until 2007) to immediately create a functional and error-free marketing effort. Patience, in other words, is the name of the game.

Some of the common criticisms I’ve seen have been, in no particular order: NatsFest is too short at just 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon; it wasn’t well publicized; the details took too long to iron out and post to the website; and concern over which players/staff would actually show up. I share many of those concerns, to be honest, and that tempers my “patience” theme because I would expect these problems to be resolved for the April NatsFest and events in the future.

In terms of expanding the festivities, I think aiming to reach something akin to the Royals’ FanFest is a good target. They had a full weekend of events, which started with a dinner and continued with panels, autographs, etc. Sounds a lot like what’s on tap for NatsFest, but just more of it. The lack of publicity will hopefully improve this year as well. I’m signed up for the State of the Nation” e-mails, but I’ve only received a handful since September 08. Now, it’s possible that more were sent out, but I only rememebr getting a few and they were all asking me to buy tickets to Spring Training, etc. Great idea, but having some actual club informaiton e-mails go out would be helpful to break up the feeling that you’re on a marketing mailing list (even if that is the actual intention!). Finally, getting information finalized sooner would help many fans plan on attending these events in advance and would just give off the air that the players and staff will hang out with fans…schedules permitting. Again, we all know that this is the case, and that players and staff have demanding jobs and families that they want to see, but changing the perception would go a long way.

At any rate, I think NatsFest 2009 is going to be awesome and I can’t wait to go on Sunday. I’m making my wife drop me off at the train station so I can get into the city and back to Baltimore without driving. I think this is but the next iteration of what will become an annual event that will eventually expand to an all-day affair in Washington each year that brings thousands of fans from around the area to see our favorie team and wrap ourselves in baseball’s lore for a day. I can’ t think of a better goal for the end version of NatsFest, personally, than to have a festival dedicated to the franchise that brought baseball back (finally!) to the nation’s capital…and maybe even started a tradition of winning here too!

I know…one step at a time, right?