Chock Full O’ Mets

Dr. Blogstein wants the new Mets stadium to be called Jackie Robinson Field. (via Pinto and MetsBlog). Of course, the Mets likely want to sell the naming rights to a corporate sponsor; Dr. Blogstein estimates this at a $10 million/year revenue stream (just think how much free advertising the Wrigley Chewing Gum Co. has gotten over the years). I don’t particularly like that, but it’s business, as long as they pick a sponsor who doesn’t sound ridiculous and isn’t likely to disappear or keep changing its corporate name (no banks or cell phone companies, please). In the abstract, the Robinson idea is a fine one, but I don’t see how it happens. MetsBlog:

which could happen, if only Jackie Robinson was the name of a huge corporation . . . otherwise, as noble of a suggestion as it is, i can’t see this happening . . .
. . . so far, the best corporate connection i’ve heard was with MetLife . . . which makes a ton of sense . . .

Well, there is one company that would benefit from putting up money to name the place after Robinson, although I doubt they could afford to put up quite that much money without naming the place after the company: the Chock Full O’ Nuts Coffee Company, where Jackie Robinson worked after retiring from baseball (remember, in those days players didn’t make enough money to retire in their mid-30s). At a minimum, I wonder why they don’t put up some cash to try to get Robinson’s likeness on their coffee cans (you might be able to roll both deals into one) – it’s not every company that has a real connection to such a distinguished historical figure (on the other hand, when was the last time you saw Thomas Edison’s likeness associated with Con Ed?).