Back in 2019, Chris Lidstone was the SweatSox point man during our 1-year sponsorship with Wendy\u2019s, specifically to promote their Junior Bacon Cheeseburger. For every 10 times Lidstone said \u201cJBC\u201d, on either side of the border, we\u2019d get a free burger. We got lots of burgers that year. JBC!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
16. Dominos Pizza (2016)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2016, Domino\u2019s Pizza started a \u201cbring a pizza manager to your baseball game\u201d sponsorship program, that the SweatSox took full advantage of. In exchange for letting one of their store managers play on our team, we\u2019d get all the leftover cold pizza \u201cthat had been sitting in their trunk all game\u201d we could eat. We got Jason Klein, and we got free pizza, double win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 15. Cory Bond & Kent Johnston (2009)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The moment the 2008 season ended, then manager Craig Cornell gracefully threw away any and all control he had over the team, just like he would his bat whenever he thinks it was ball 4, but in reality it was strike 3.\u00a0 Cory Bond and Kent Johnston stepped in as Authority and Director, giving the team no extra money, just their time in exchange for a little name recognition.\u00a0 The 2009 season was the CK SweatSox season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 14. The Hub (2021)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Heading into his sophomore season, Jaspreet Sanghra was feeling the pressure<\/em> to live up to the hard<\/em> expectations Eric White set up for him, and couldn\u2019t find a way to release<\/em> all his built up stress<\/em>.\u00a0 Fortunately, the SweatSox and \u2018Hub joined forces to create the ultimate (free) pregame playlist, guaranteed to get everyone ready to play ball<\/em>.\u00a0 The results speak for themselves: Jaspreet finished 5th in the MVP voting this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13. City of Ottawa (2004)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the early 2000s, the City of Ottawa was looking to get more involved with the local amateur baseball community, so they recruited an intelligence agent who went to school in both northern and southern Canada, and had him infiltrate the only baseball league there was, the NCBL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we didn\u2019t know at the time was that the spy was none other than SweatSox spare Greg Parnell, who liked what he saw within our organization, and reported back to his superiors that the SweatSox were worthy of their sponsorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parnell personally negotiated a landmark deal that would allow the SweatSox to play on city run fields for free, in exchange for promoting the name of our nation’s capital on the top of our fastly growing website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As our website began to grow, and I, Shaun Keay, became a bit more edgy, we had to publicly distance ourselves from this sponsorship, so we could fully blossom into this beautiful flower you see before you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greg Parnell passed away a few years later, but his legacy will live forever. We still don\u2019t pay for fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks GP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12. Pete & Marty\u2019s (1984-1987)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The first ever SweatSox sponsorship was Pete & Marty\u2019s, all the way back in 1984. Marty Soltys, a great friend of Doug Dorion, was one of Canada\u2019s pioneers of casual and upscale restaurants & bars, so when he asked his good friend if he could bring a few of his baseball teammates to Pete & Marty\u2019s to class up the place, all expenses paid, the SweatSox were in business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To this day, Marty credits the SweatSox for most of his successes early in his career in the hospitality sector, and later on in his media & entertainment ventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nobody knows what happened to Pete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n R.I.P. Pete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11. Las Palmas (1989)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After Pete & Marty\u2019s became too big to fail, the SweatSox set their sights on another up-coming business to help grow, in exchange for a little dough.\u00a0 There was a great bidding war for our services, and patronage, ultimately won by Las Palmas, a Mexican Restaurant in the Byward Market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Las Palmas was so impressed with the SweatSox and our ability to consume, many of the staff actually joined the team, splitting our franchise into 2 different groups: the new Las Palmas Ball Hawks (competitive), and the original Sweat Sox (recreational).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The competitive team went 3-21 then collapsed (as did our sponsorship); the SweatSox went 5-11 and thrived under the continued leadership of Doug Dorion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10. Whispers (1991-1994)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If any establishment wanted to be something in the early 90\u2019s, they needed to be in bed with the SweatSox, nothing was hotter, or sweatier.\u00a0 When the Las Palmas deal went sideways, the SweatSox were once again open to bids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whispers came in hot, offering the SweatSox not only all the beer and tandori wings we could eat, but they\u2019d also listen if we had any great ideas on how to improve their business model. Dorion suggested they do live music, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9. The Brig Pub (1995-1997)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our final sponsorship of the 20th century was with the Brig Pub. They came to us nearly bankrupt after a series of bylaw infractions almost shut them down. We took on their name, built their reputation back up, and to this day they\u2019re still alive and kicking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ironically, our Brig sponsorship ended shortly before the 1998 season, when they refused to allow an underage I, Shaun Keay, into the bar after hours for my \u201ctryout\u201d.\u00a0 There was nothing more for us to teach them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. The Rockway Rattlesnake (2007)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When Josh Ramage joined the team, we told him his league fees were $5,000 (still cheaper than playing for the Red Sox).\u00a0 Josh didn\u2019t know any better back then, so he happily paid up, and even kept making the long drives to pitch in Winchester.\u00a0 We all played for free that year, it was one of our better sponsorships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. Summerhays (2018)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Every time the SweatSox go somewhere to eat and drink, but mostly drink, we get asked if we\u2019d like to be sponsored. Unless we truly believe in the product we\u2019re eating or drinking, we\u2019ll respectfully decline; but when Mr. Hays approached us in 2018 about collaborating, it was an easy yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a sponsorship program unlike any other; what we\u2019d do is collect our receipts throughout the year, then at the end of the season, we\u2019d get a negotiated percentage back in food & beverage credits. Pretty amazing isn\u2019t it, unheard of anywhere else!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We went there after every game (27), and every practice, for a total of 27 visits.\u00a0 We accumulated thousands of dollars for our end of year party, but Josh Ramage, Cory Bond, and I, Shaun Keay, strategically cashed-out when nobody else was there.\u00a0 I brought like 5 full garbage bags of wings home that night, and ate like a king for weeks.\u00a0 Good times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Chapman Mortgages (2003)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With Ray Cuthbert out of the picture, Doug Horner on his way out, and Craig Cornell still a year or two away from his hostile takeover, Chris Chapman used 2003 as an opportunity to promote what a grand jury would later describe as \u201ca high-level money laundering pyramid scheme\u201d on the back of our new mesh jerseys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was our first winning season in years; Chapman credits his sponsorship, we say it was our rookies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For legal purposes, we cannot show a picture of these jerseys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Dovercourt Recreation Center (2014)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After winning our franchise\u2019s 2nd championship in 2013, on a walk-off grand slam vs the Cornwall River Rats, the SweatSox were once again the talk of the town, and everyone once again wanted a piece of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Needing a little bit of swag, Dovercourt Recreation Center handed us a briefcase full of money, so we could go buy some team hoodies.\u00a0 In exchange they wanted: literally nothing.\u00a0 Offer accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. A&W (2006-????)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that the SweatSox were in the business of winning championships (2005), we felt it was time to introduce a 2nd award to our inventory. We already had the Doug Dorion Memorial Trophy for the season\u2019s MVP, but we wanted something to give out every night for the individual game MVP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark Dorrington, a friend to both the Allen and Wright families, got them to sponsor our new award, the 2004 A&W Kamloops International Baseball Game MVP Award!<\/p>\n\n\n\n This sponsorship lasted many years, until the award quietly disappeared without anyone ever realizing it. The current whereabouts of the A&W medal remains unknown; add it the SweatSox Unsolved Mystery list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. PetroCan (1988)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The late 80\u2019s of the Ottawa Recreational Baseball League was absolute chaos. We were still a couple of years away from the formation of the National Capital Baseball League, so it really was the wild west for team sponsorship; zero regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big Oil really wanted in on the men\u2019s recreational league baseball market, and finally broke through when Petro-Canada offered the SweatSox an absolutely ridiculous amount of money to represent their brand, to which management immediately accepted.\u00a0 Sources say that payoff still funds an expense account that only the SweatSox Authority has access to, while the extra money he collects by overcharging us every year goes to his golfing fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CKsweatsox.jpeg\")
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