Amazin' Avenue Charity Pledge Drive 2012 Results

For the third year now (2010, 2011, 2012) we've held a charity pledge drive to benefit those with third-world problems like abject poverty, systemic oppression of women and girls, death from trivially curable diseases, and so forth. In other words, a long list of things we've never had to muster a second thought about. Once again we've selected CARE as the recipient and caretaker of our collective donations.

Participation was down considerably this year compared to the last two years, but we still managed to raise $1,671.28, a terrific sum on the backs of just eleven people. By comparison, in 2010 we had more than thirty people involved and raised better than $2,500. Much of this difference is likely a consequence of our tardy announcement of the pledge drive — we didn't introduce it until early June, some two months after the season started. Moreover, previous drives used David Wright's strikeouts as the principal driver of donations, and we dropped that this year in favor of an open-ended pledge form. A default proposition provided a low barrier for entry, and people could pledge ten cents (or less) per strikeout and easily get involved that way. Maybe we'll consider restoring a default pledge next season.

Nevertheless, $1,671 is nothing to sneeze and we're grateful for everyone's generosity. Thank you so much to everyone who participated; I'll be contacting each of you by email to adumbrate your pledge so you can make your donation. If you didn't pledge anything originally but would still like to make a donation, please send me an email with the details of your pledge.

The fun of the pledge drive is often in the proposition pledges folks have made. Here are some of those props and the results.

$100 for every Mets no-hitter: $100 x 1 = $100
$.50 for every R.A. Dickey strikeout: $.50 x 230 = $115
$1 for every point Ike Davis's batting average exceeds .200: $1 x 27 (Davis hit .227) = $27
$1 for every Elvin Ramirez appearance: $1 x 20 = $20
$.50 for every game Ike Davis's batting average is below .200: $.50 x 74 = $37
$1 for every David Wright strikeout: $1 x 112 = $112
$.01 for every Mets game without a no-hitter since 1962: $.01 x 8,019 = $80.19
$2 for every Mets grand slam: $2 x 4 = $8
$1 for every Mets victory over the Marlins: $1 x 10 = $10
$1 for every Duda home run: $1 x 15 = $15
$1 for every R.A. Dickey win: $1 x 20 = $20
$20 if R.A. Dickey wins the Cy Young: $20 x 1 = $20
$2 for every Scott Hairston home run: $2 x 20 = $40
$10 if R.A. Dickey's swinging strike rate is over 10%: $10 (it was 12.2%)
$.25 for every Ruben Tejada hit: $.25 x 134 = $33.50
$86 in memory of Gary Carter: $86
$10 for every R.A. Dickeys strikeout per walk: $42.60 (his K/BB was 4.26)
$0.043 for every R.A. Dickey strikeout: $9.89
$43 for every Cy Young Award won by R.A. Dickey: $43

Here is my pledge:

$50 for every Mets no-hitter: $50 ($50 x 1)
$10 for every R.A. Dickey strikeout per walk: $42.60 ($10 x 4.26 K/BB)
$1 for every Kirk Nieuwenhuis strikeout: $98 ($1 x 98)

My total pledge was $190.60, which I gladly make to the good people at CARE.

Thanks, again, to everyone who participated this year.