Gagne Gives Away 5,000 Tickets to Tonight's Game

[valpocrewsader]

He received very modest cheers, IMO. It was embarassing.

Not my take from being there. When Gagne first came onto the field, there was only modest recognition because somehow he seemed to basically go unnoticed. But when he took the mound and was formally announced, the crowd was very loud .... seemingly directly related to his latest philathropy. Crowd was very supportive while he was on the hilll, probably the most backing he's ever had as a Brewer. On commencement of his successful inning, the crowd was explosive.

 

I might be the charter member of the booing-is-okay club, with Gagne being a key cog, but there's no denying that all year long Gagne has been a pretty remarkable social citizen. Seems like every time I'd turn around on an FSN broadcast, I'd hear about him donating $40,000 here and $50,000 there. And now this. Not sure what to say, but this was a great gesture and story to hear about, even for someone like me that rejects feel-goodery as much as possible. Props to Gagne. Tonight's crowd was special and electric, and his generosity is to be thanked.

[Mr QL]

Gagne is a class act I'll give him that. I just wish he was a better pitcher so I could actually cheer for him.

[thablingster]

I think this was an awesome gesture by Gagné and I do applaud his contributions to the community and its charities this year. In that sense he has been a great asset.

[craigharmann]

I don't want to speak for cubsdie, but I believe he was saying that for all that Gagne has been through with the fans booing him he still has enough class to buy tickets to help create a great stadium tonight and you go rip on him for being a class act...i may be wrong and Cubsdie can correct me if I am

Agreed, it was a classy move. I didn't say it wasn't. He just didn't earn his $10 million contract, and the classier thing to do would be to give most of it back, as he didn't earn it. He may be the greatest guy in the world, but for most of the season, last night excluded, he hasn't pitched well.

[snyttri]

He just didn't earn his $10 million contract, and the classier thing to do would be to give most of it back, as he didn't earn it.

 

It might be more accurate to say that Gagne earned his contract by pitching to the best of his current abilities, which is all he promised or could promise to do. If someone is to blame for Gagne's disappointing performance it would probably be Brewers management who took an unwise risk when they outbid themselves for a suspected PED user who ended his comeback season in a slump. When everyone who is below average gives part of their salary back will they get reimbursed when it turns out that the statistician who determined they were below average was below average at his job?

 

[Invader3K]

Agreed, it was a classy move. I didn't say it wasn't. He just didn't earn his $10 million contract, and the classier thing to do would be to give most of it back, as he didn't earn it. He may be the greatest guy in the world, but for most of the season, last night excluded, he hasn't pitched well.

How many players actually earn their gigantic contracts these days?

 

Oh, and he's been pretty good lately. I'm not saying that justifies his poor performances earlier in the year, but people are acting like he's been completely terrible in the second half. He hasn't.

[jjfanec]

Of course Gagne did not live up to the expectations of the contract but if you could leave the money amount out of it lately he has actually been pretty good. The big difference for Gagne lately had been his ability to not walk people. In his first 19 innings he walked 16 guys. In his last 19 he has walked 3. He still gives up too many homers but when your walks are down and so is you BAA the home runs don't hurt quite as much. His numbers the last month or so make him a very serviceable 7th inning guy if Mota can stay pitching well as the 8th, and Torres can shake off that Cubs games then we may have a serviceable bullpen. Not good but better than the Mets.

[Pioneers3]

Agreed, it was a classy move. I didn't say it wasn't. He just didn't earn his $10 million contract, and the classier thing to do would be to give most of it back, as he didn't earn it. He may be the greatest guy in the world, but for most of the season, last night excluded, he hasn't pitched well.

What I don't agree with is people like you calling him out in this thread, yes he hasn't pitched well, and yes it is okay to be upset with him, but he bought 5,000 tickets for those same fans and somebody starts a nice thread saying he is a class act saying nothing about pitching than you bring up that he hasn't earned his contract because he sucked, that my friend is classless, go to the vent thread to complain about him, not here!

[Fatter than Joey]

the classier thing to do would be to give most of it back, as he didn't earn it

 

he didnt have to earn it, DM agreed to pay it.

[FVBrewerFan]

That's about 500 tickets for each game he blew...not bad.

[panthernick]

I ended up giving my 4 tickets to my mother (who never makes it to games anymore). She had an absolutely wonderful time. That being said, my mother wants to send a thank you note to Eric Gagne (no I'm not kidding). Any one have a general email box for the Brewers, or anyone within the organization willing to pass along an email? My mother is one of the sweetest ladies you will ever meet (not sure where I came from, ha) and it would mean a lot to her to get this through. I know its a long shot but I thought I would ask. If anyone with any sort of connection could PM me that would be wonderful. Thanks guys (and gals).

[ewizabeff]

From the Brewers website:

 

Fan Mail

Letters to Brewers' players should be addressed to them individually and mailed to Milwaukee Brewers, One Brewers Way, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53214. If a response is desired, a self-addressed, stamped envelope is recommended. Due to the volume of mail received, responses are not guaranteed.

[TooLiveBrew]

I might be the charter member of the booing-is-okay club, with Gagne being a key cog, but there's no denying that all year long Gagne has been a pretty remarkable social citizen. Seems like every time I'd turn around on an FSN broadcast, I'd hear about him donating $40,000 here and $50,000 there. And now this. Not sure what to say, but this was a great gesture and story to hear about, even for someone like me that rejects feel-goodery as much as possible. Props to Gagne. Tonight's crowd was special and electric, and his generosity is to be thanked.

 

Great post, valpo. They mentioned on the FSN-WI broadcast last night that the Brewers as a team this year have contributed just north of $500K to charity as a team, and that Gagne is responsible for appx. $200K of that.

[RobDeer 45]

Truely a classy move! Yeah, as much as we hate on players for their preformances on the field, we should never attack them personally (unless their attitude and off field actions warrent it). It's one thing to boo a guy for a bad game but another to ever attack him as a person. Just a reminder to all of us when we are frustrated. Again, awesome stuff Gagne!

[temke]

just a quick recap of his donations this year:

 

$50,000 to the MACC Fund

$20,000 to the County Parks to repair flooded fields

$10,000 to Koos for Kids (headed by BP catcher Marcus Hanel)

$13,750 for K's for a Cause - $25 per home K (something like 550 so far this year IIRC)

$75,000 last night ($20 average ticket...probably a low-end figure since some of the seats were 100 and 200 tickets)

 

$168,500 (plus probably many others that are publicized)

 

this may only be about 1.5% of his salary, but it is probably WAY more than the average player i would guess!

[craigharmann]

Interesting article about athletes and charities

 

Link

 

Eric Gagne may be a saint. But do remember that he is accused of using PEDs to cheat at his job, the one that gave him the money to give away. Giving away tickets is a nice gesture, and shows goodwill to the community. I would guess that most well-known (and not as well-known) athletes and public figures have some sort of charity. All I was saying before was that it was nice that he was donating money back to the community as, in my eyes, he didn't do a whole lot to earn that money. You can argue about earning or not, I was just sharing my opinion.

[JoeHova]

$168,500 (plus probably many others that are publicized)

 

this may only be about 1.5% of his salary, but it is probably WAY more than the average player i would guess!

My parents make a lot less than Gagne but they give a heck of a lot more than 2% to charity every year, as do many Americans. It's nice that Gagne is giving something but it's not enough to anoint him as a saint.

[homer]

Maybe Gagne does too - these are only the published charitable contributions. It's a nice gesture in any event. He probably gives more than most pro athletes.

[Minigoon]

My parents make a lot less than Gagne but they give a heck of a lot more than 2% to charity every year, as do many Americans.

These are just the charities associated with the Brewers/Milwaukee. I'm sure there are others that do not get attention because they are outside of baseball or the Milwaukee area. Good for him. Not enough for sainthood, but good enough to qualify as a quality citizen.

[JoeHova]

It's true that Gagne may support other charities too.