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It all started back in October of 2012. The San Francisco Giants were battling the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. It was a great series, one that saw the Giants come back from a 3-1 deficit to win. At the end, Marco Scutaro was named the MVP of the series. He caught the final out of the series. Late in that game he struck a pose that encapsulated the joy that he, his teammates, and Giants fans everywhere felt.
This was Marco Scutaro's Shawshank Redemption moment.
It could have been left at that, a feel-good moment that would soon fade into memory, revived every so often on a highlight reel somewhere. Instead, it became something tangible in the form of a rain globe, and something intangible in the form of a fan, a blogger, and social media creating a wave of enthusiasm and togetherness, pushing the celebration to a new level.
Over at McCovey Chronicles, a member of their large and vibrant community (thirteenthirteen) suggested that the moment should be a snow globe. From there Grant Brisbee, the main guy at McCovey Chronicles, penned this request to the Giants.
Dear San Francisco Giants: Please design and make a Marco Scutaro rain globe, then give it away at the ballpark. Or sell it. Hell, I'm not picky. I'll buy it. I'll buy 12 of them. This is not just a request from a fringy website. This a shared hope that the universe in which we all live is an orderly universe. This is destiny. Thank you.
Brisbee also did something else in his article. He plugged into social media and asked the fans to make this happen.
I don't usually make requests like this, but this is the kind of thing that needs to be shared. Spread the word on Twitter and Facebook. Bombard the marketing department with your support for this idea. Try to think of a single reason why this shouldn't happen. Just one. It would be one thing if snow globes were made by force-feeding geese with tubes down their throats. But they're not. There is absolutely no downside to this. None.
That put the events in motion. The Giants marketing department contacted Grant and let him know they wanted to move ahead. They told him people were forwarding his article to him over and over, they let him know that yes, the campaign had worked. They were on board with the Marco Scutaro rain globe.
Even the basic design was taking from Grant's initial crude drawing.
The final result? It's here, the Marco Scutaro rain globe. Check it out. Also, make sure and watch the amazing four minute video put together by the Giants that features Grant and tells the whole story. The Giants held a social media night on July 26th and gave away 2,000 rain globes to fans who had purchased special tickets.
SB Nation couldn't be prouder of Grant Brisbee and McCovey Chronicles. Something like this just reveals the depth of passion that community has for the Giants, and their ability to make things happen through the blog and it's connected social media. Direct action taken, result obtained.
I'm sure Marco Scutaro would celebrate that.