Editor's note: The following was provided by William Venable, assistant professor of marketing and management.
One of the many Park University marketing and advertising opportunities this year has been through a sponsorship of the Kansas City Royals baseball team. As a thank you, the Royals invited sponsors to send a representative to its annual "Sponsor Workout Day" event at Kauffman Stadium event where participants spent an afternoon in a mini fantasy camp on July 1. William Venable, assistant professor of marketing and management, was the "lucky" winner of a drawing the Office of University Advancement held for Kansas City area faculty and staff.
"'Lucky' is an odd word to use as my 'friend' and Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery dusted me off with a nice fastball, high and inside in my first at-bat," Venable said. "I guess Jeff just wanted to keep me honest as I did
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| William Venable (left) with Royals Hall of Famer Dennis Leonard. |
pretty good in batting practice before the game."
Venable joined other sponsors, community leaders and Royals staff and former players on a beautiful afternoon. The participants received a Royals uniform, as well as the chance to spend a few hours with Royals greats Dennis Leonard, Frank White and John Mayberry, in addition to Montgomery.
Some businesses host golf outings for their sponsors, and when you have a baseball stadium it makes great sense to have your key supporters over for lunch and a few innings at the 'K'," Venable said.
The "lowlight" of Venable's experience was stumbling out of the batter's box and tumbling toward first base in a futile effort to beat out a grounder in his second at-bat. However, he did make some great friends and brought home a ball autographed by all four of the Royals Hall of Famers.
"They told me the whole day was on video so I'm sure that footage will come back to haunt me when I least expect," Venable said. "This was an exciting day and I was very 'lucky' to be selected."
