Unlikely Millionaire

By Pete DeLuca

“The first thing I'm going to do is buy a new fridge.” Those are the words of Louisiana high school teacher Brian Kingrey – winner of the second annual Major League Baseball 2K11 Million Dollar "Perfect Game" Challenge.

The rules seemed simple enough to Kingrey; be the first person to pitch a “Perfect Game” and win one million dollars. It was enough motivation for the 25-year old avid gamer to stop by his local GameStop, trade in his favorite video game (Marvel vs. Capcom 3), and pick up MLB 2K11 – a sport that Kingrey admittedly did not even know the rules to.

After reviewing the matchups, studying the teams, and learning the controls, Kingrey was ready. He determined his best chance of winning the competition was to pitch as the Philadelphia Phillies’ ace Roy Halladay against the Houston Astros. Nine-innings later, Kingrey was a millionaire.



Congratulations are in order for Kingrey – but also for the marketing minds at 2K Sports. Over the years, their sales figures consistently finished second to rival Sony’s MLB: The Show. Last year, 2K Sports introduced the “Perfect Game” Challenge and sold 1.09 million copies, while Sony saw sales drop to just over a million units according to Forbes.com. It is still too early to gauge the effectiveness of this year’s promotion, but with a great story like Kingrey’s receiving national attention it’s hard to believe that 2K Sports will be any less successful this season.

Pete DeLuca is Manager of Creative Services at Maroon PR. Contact him at Pete@MaroonPR.com

Showalter Making Baseball in Baltimore Relevant Again

By Stefen Lovelace

No one could have predicted that a simple managerial change could have this effect.

Since taking over the Orioles two weeks ago, Buck Showalter has led the Orioles to an 8-1 record in his first nine games. The Orioles – who were just 32-73 before Showalter’s arrival – are the hottest team in baseball right now, and it’s clear that Showalter was the right fit in making the Orioles relevant again.

Showalter is a baseball lifer, having played the game as a young man and becoming a manager right after. He’s left every team in better shape than when he got there and it appears he’s doing the same with the Orioles. The players have responded, and the unthinkable has happened… right now teams don’t want to face the O’s.

What’s even more important than the wins and losses though is the effect this turnaround has had on fans and Baltimore residents. There’s a sudden excitement that just wasn’t there before. Obviously the Orioles aren’t making the playoffs, but Showalter has helped make a city care about a team that’s more than 30 games out of first place in the AL East.

Baltimore used to be a major baseball city. But the Orioles haven’t fielded a playoff team since 1997, causing most fans to fall out of love with a team they once filled ballparks for. This little resurgence, even if it is brief, might be the start to getting those fans to come back.

It’s impossible to predict whether we’ll look back at this start under Showalter as just random, fluky, good luck that couldn’t be sustained, or truly the beginning of when the Orioles became a great baseball franchise again. Next season will start to answer that question.

But for now, I’m just happy to be living in a city that cares about baseball again.

Stefen Lovelace is an Associate Account Executive. Contact him at stefen@maroonpr.com.

Matt Daley Discusses Ubaldo Jimenez

Video by Stefen Lovelace

Perfect... Well, Almost

By Matt Saler

Last night, Armando Galaragga of the Detroit Tigers was one out away from pitching a perfect game, one of the rarest accomplishments in all of sports. In the 100+ years of professional baseball, such a feat has only occurred 20 times. However, on this night, fate would tell a different story as veteran umpire Jim Joyce blew a call at first base on the final out that robbed Galaragga of his perfect night. With lack of instant replay, the call could not be overturned.



Tough to watch. But if anything positive can be drawn from such a situation, it was the way both Galaragga and Joyce handled the situation afterwards. Galarragga could have yelled and screamed about how he was robbed of perfection and Joyce could have gone and hidden from the situation, standing by his call and avoid speaking to the media. But that was not the case here.

After seeing that he was wrong with his call, Joyce immediately apologized to Galaragga, admitting his fault and how truly sorry he was for his missed call. He spoke to the media immediately after the game, sharing that same remorse…



We are a forgiving society. If you get out in front of the issue, genuinely show your remorse right after the incident, society will generally forgive you and move on with their lives.

The public will certainly be angry at Joyce for the call, but in the 24 hour news cycle, it’ll eventually pass. Today, this story was on every major sports and news show. Along with rehashing the botched call, all of those shows also mentioned Joyce’s remorse and apology.

While it was heartbreaking to watch young Armando Galaragga lose his unique place in MLB history, kudos to both Galaragga and Joyce on how they handled the situation directly after the game. Class acts all around.

Matt Saler is an Account Executive. Contact him at matt@maroonpr.com

Video Blog: Nick Swisher Discusses NYC Media & Fans to Maroon PR

Video by Abby Draper

Video Blog: Chris Daley Discusses Nick Markakis and The Right Side Foundation

By Chris Daley; Video by Abby Draper




Chris Daley is an Account Executive. Contact him at chris@maroonpr.com.