A Man Named Sly Is Wreaking Havoc on the Fenway Park Program Hawking Ecosystem
Some probably consider Sly Egidio an entrepreneur. Some probably consider him a jerk.
And some might see Billy Baker’s look at ol’ Sly in today’s Boston Globe as a reminder (in case you need it) that the two terms aren’t mutually exclusive.
The article explores the game programming rivalry outside Fenway Park, pitting Egidio’s upstart Yawkey Way Report against his former employer, Boston Baseball. Edigio was fired by Boston Baseball a couple years back, leading him to start up his own Red Sox program in vengeance. From the Globe:
When he worked for Boston Baseball, Egidio was both a star employee and the problem employee, Rutstein said. He’s an incredible salesman, (Boston Baseball owner Mike) Rutstein acknowledges, capable of spouting “verbal gold.’’ But after firing him “four or five times,’’ usually over claims of aggression from other employees — Egidio denies all these claims — Rutstein says he finally fired him for good two summers ago. So Egidio went to war.
…
Rutstein says that Egidio’s war has certainly dug into his market, but one of his biggest complaints is that it’s taken the joy out of game day for him and his employees. “It’s not fun to have Sly’s guys in your face for two hours. It used to be very enjoyable, chatting with the fans. And these are often young kids who are excited to be working at Fenway.’’
Egidio is pretty straightforward in the article in saying that part of his mission is to put Boston Baseball out of business. Publicly, however, he describes his decision to move on from Boston Baseball more delicately:
In 2012, myself and many former employees who I worked with over the years, decided the time was right to publish our own program/scorecard. Thus, Yawkey Way Report was born.
The rivalry was also described last year by MassLive’s Garrett Quinn. In that article, one hawker considered that there may ultimately be no winner in the battle.
Ten-year veteran hawker Greg Flanders said that Boston Baseball has an advantage over the Yawkey Way Report as they’ve been out on the streets around Fenway Park for 24 years compared to six months, but noted that times have been tough. “It’s been pretty rough recently. They’re not doing very well either. They’re just putting more vendors out and in front of us, and we have to compete with them, too, and at some points we cancel each other.’’
From the Globe article, you get the sense poor returns would be of little issue for Egidio, whose goal seems to be as tied up in destroying Boston Baseball as it is in growing his own business. “When this is done, I will vanquish him, no matter how long it takes,’’ Egidio said.
Read the full Boston Globe article here.
(Neither program is officially affiliated with the Boston Red Sox, whose principal owner, John Henry, also owns Boston.com and The Boston Globe.)
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