A Conversation with Jon Goode of the Lowell Spinners (originally published January, 2011)
Before sitting down at the New River Road Café in Tewksbury, Jon Goode slips a Lowell Spinners jersey over his dress shirt. It’s tempting to ask him not to, as our photographer is striving for candid, natural shots. But for Goode, this is natural. In fact, it would be unnatural not to don the jersey.
The Spinners’ 35-year-old vice president of corporate communications is always on the job. This is by choice, and “the job” goes beyond Spinners endeavours.
Goode runs the C2 Mission, supporting children and families affected by cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis, and he operates his own sports marketing business, KBK Sports. He’s active with Merrimack College, his alma mater, he’s raising three kids, and in 2007 he collaborated with Red Sox closer and Spinners alum Jonathan Papelbon to write the children’s book “Pitching with the Papelbons”. Goode’s follow-up, “Basketball with Big Baby”, was just released.
The various projects “feed off each other,” Goode says. Chatting with a member of the Boston band Dropkick Murphys at a fundraiser led to the first concert ever at LeLacheur Park, home of the Spinners. The lamentations of a Little Leaguer, shared during a school visit, led Goode to launch the Spinners’ Yankee Elimination Program, which encouraged Little Leagues to retire their Yankee uniforms in exchange for Spinners gear.
That promotion generated the type of media buzz that is rare for most minor league clubs. For the Spinners, however, it is almost routine, thanks largely to Goode’s obsessive drive.
Such success probably was not expected when Goode was hired in May of 2000. In fact, he was told the media relations job might not last beyond the summer.
But then again, as an infant diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Goode’s family was told he’d never walk. So exceeding expectations is nothing new.
Photos by Adrien Bisson.
MVM: Are you always in Spinners mode?
JG: Yeah, I actually get made fun of for it. I’ll come into work and say, “Hey, I was in the shower and had this great idea!” And people are like, do you ever stop? But that’s just the way I am. Very entrepreneurial, very passionate. I love the challenge of coming up with an idea and making it happen.
MVM: A lot of your outside work seems to interconnect with what you do for the Spinners. Is that synergy by design?
JG: There’s a big picture. A lot of the projects overlap, and that makes everything stronger. For example, Gerry Cheevers, a Bruins legend, has a granddaughter with cystic fibrosis. He came to a Spinners game and didn’t charge us anything because I’d gotten to know him through the work that I did with the foundation.
MVM: Is that how the book with Boston Celtic Glen Davis came about?
JG: Yeah, we had him out at a Spinners game. And as a marketing guy, I kind of knew I wanted to do the book with him. The “Big Baby” nickname works well. So I showed him the Papelbon book and told him the money goes to the foundation. And I said I was thinking about another book, but I didn’t know who to do. I said I was thinking about Wes Welker or Dustin Pedroia…
MVM: You played hard to get with Big Baby?
JG: I did. And he was literally raising his hand, jumping up and down like a kid, saying, “Pick me!” So that’s how that started. And he’s been a lot of fun to work with.
MVM: You have three kids. So you’d done some research on children’s books.
JG: I was actually reading “Goodnight Moon” to my son, Brayden, and I thought, “What’s so hard about this?” No offense to the “Goodnight Moon” author, but that was the inspiration for starting these books.
MVM: Does a child’s perspective help with your work for the Spinners? The club has a reputation of being family friendly with in-game entertainment and promotions.
JG: Definitely. When I first took the job, I was 24 and I didn’t have a family. The excitement was, wow, I’m working for a Red Sox affiliate. Ten years later, the excitement is that my kids love where I work. I get to do kid’s stuff and I get to come up with ideas they’ll love.
MVM: How do you come up with those ideas? Last year there was a promotion to set the record for people simultaneously popping Bubble Wrap. Where does that come from?
JG: Tim Bawmann, our general manager, puts a lot of trust in me. I think he thinks I’m warped. For that, he said, “Jon, it’s the 50th anniversary of Bubble Wrap. Why don’t you come up with some ideas?” So I sat and thought about how much I used to love popping Bubble Wrap. Everyone did, right? And I thought, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to set the record for people popping Bubble Wrap.
MVM: Was there a pre-existing record?
JG: No. But we also came up with a huge Bubble Wrap dance floor for the field. And then we invited everyone who was 50, for the 50th anniversary, to come out and dance to 50 Cent. So you had all these 50-year-old people dancing to gangsta rap, and you could hear the Bubble Wrap popping everywhere in the stadium. I’ll never forget that.
MVM: Is there pressure to one-up yourself each season?
JG: Coming up with new stuff is where I put the most pressure on myself. That Yankee elimination had us everywhere — ESPN, CNN, a column in Sports Illustrated. It earned us over $2 million in publicity, which is huge. So my biggest stress comes from always wanting to top that.
MVM: The Kerouac bobblehead giveaway was a big deal, too.
JG: That got tons of media. And the bobblehead now sits in the [National] Baseball Hall of Fame, which was really cool. I was never good enough baseball-wise, so it’s pretty cool that my idea made it to the Hall of Fame. That’s something I’m really proud of.
MVM: With the success you’ve had, any chance of getting called up to the big leagues?
JG: I have no desire to go anywhere. The Spinners gave me a chance when I was 24 with no experience, and that’s important to me. When I was born, the doctors said I would never walk. And even though I don’t remember it, that’s where a lot of this stuff comes from. I’m so grateful, and I don’t take anything for granted. I’ve run a marathon, I can play with my kids. I can go to a great job that I love. I know how lucky I am every day.
Coffee Talk – Always On
Before sitting down at the New River Road Café in Tewksbury, Jon Goode slips a Lowell Spinners jersey over his dress shirt. It’s tempting to ask him not to, as our photographer is striving for candid, natural shots. But for Goode, this is natural. In fact, it would be unnatural not to don the jersey.
The Spinners’ 35-year-old vice president of corporate communications is always on the job. This is by choice, and “the job” goes beyond Spinners endeavours.
Goode runs the C2 Mission, supporting children and families affected by cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis, and he operates his own sports marketing business, KBK Sports. He’s active with Merrimack College, his alma mater, he’s raising three kids, and in 2007 he collaborated with Red Sox closer and Spinners alum Jonathan Papelbon to write the children’s book “Pitching with the Papelbons”. Goode’s follow-up, “Basketball with Big Baby”, was just released.
The various projects “feed off each other,” Goode says. Chatting with a member of the Boston band Dropkick Murphys at a fundraiser led to the first concert ever at LeLacheur Park, home of the Spinners. The lamentations of a Little Leaguer, shared during a school visit, led Goode to launch the Spinners’ Yankee Elimination Program, which encouraged Little Leagues to retire their Yankee uniforms in exchange for Spinners gear.
That promotion generated the type of media buzz that is rare for most minor league clubs. For the Spinners, however, it is almost routine, thanks largely to Goode’s obsessive drive.
Such success probably was not expected when Goode was hired in May of 2000. In fact, he was told the media relations job might not last beyond the summer.
But then again, as an infant diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Goode’s family was told he’d never walk. So exceeding expectations is nothing new.
Photos by Adrien Bisson.
MVM: Are you always in Spinners mode?
JG: Yeah, I actually get made fun of for it. I’ll come into work and say, “Hey, I was in the shower and had this great idea!” And people are like, do you ever stop? But that’s just the way I am. Very entrepreneurial, very passionate. I love the challenge of coming up with an idea and making it happen.
MVM: A lot of your outside work seems to interconnect with what you do for the Spinners. Is that synergy by design?
JG: There’s a big picture. A lot of the projects overlap, and that makes everything stronger. For example, Gerry Cheevers, a Bruins legend, has a granddaughter with cystic fibrosis. He came to a Spinners game and didn’t charge us anything because I’d gotten to know him through the work that I did with the foundation.
MVM: Is that how the book with Boston Celtic Glen Davis came about?
JG: Yeah, we had him out at a Spinners game. And as a marketing guy, I kind of knew I wanted to do the book with him. The “Big Baby” nickname works well. So I showed him the Papelbon book and told him the money goes to the foundation. And I said I was thinking about another book, but I didn’t know who to do. I said I was thinking about Wes Welker or Dustin Pedroia…
MVM: You played hard to get with Big Baby?
JG: I did. And he was literally raising his hand, jumping up and down like a kid, saying, “Pick me!” So that’s how that started. And he’s been a lot of fun to work with.
MVM: You have three kids. So you’d done some research on children’s books.
JG: I was actually reading “Goodnight Moon” to my son, Brayden, and I thought, “What’s so hard about this?” No offense to the “Goodnight Moon” author, but that was the inspiration for starting these books.
MVM: Does a child’s perspective help with your work for the Spinners? The club has a reputation of being family friendly with in-game entertainment and promotions.
JG: Definitely. When I first took the job, I was 24 and I didn’t have a family. The excitement was, wow, I’m working for a Red Sox affiliate. Ten years later, the excitement is that my kids love where I work. I get to do kid’s stuff and I get to come up with ideas they’ll love.
JG: Tim Bawmann, our general manager, puts a lot of trust in me. I think he thinks I’m warped. For that, he said, “Jon, it’s the 50th anniversary of Bubble Wrap. Why don’t you come up with some ideas?” So I sat and thought about how much I used to love popping Bubble Wrap. Everyone did, right? And I thought, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to set the record for people popping Bubble Wrap.
MVM: Was there a pre-existing record?
JG: No. But we also came up with a huge Bubble Wrap dance floor for the field. And then we invited everyone who was 50, for the 50th anniversary, to come out and dance to 50 Cent. So you had all these 50-year-old people dancing to gangsta rap, and you could hear the Bubble Wrap popping everywhere in the stadium. I’ll never forget that.
MVM: Is there pressure to one-up yourself each season?
JG: Coming up with new stuff is where I put the most pressure on myself. That Yankee elimination had us everywhere — ESPN, CNN, a column in Sports Illustrated. It earned us over $2 million in publicity, which is huge. So my biggest stress comes from always wanting to top that.
MVM: The Kerouac bobblehead giveaway was a big deal, too.
JG: That got tons of media. And the bobblehead now sits in the [National] Baseball Hall of Fame, which was really cool. I was never good enough baseball-wise, so it’s pretty cool that my idea made it to the Hall of Fame. That’s something I’m really proud of.
MVM: With the success you’ve had, any chance of getting called up to the big leagues?
JG: I have no desire to go anywhere. The Spinners gave me a chance when I was 24 with no experience, and that’s important to me. When I was born, the doctors said I would never walk. And even though I don’t remember it, that’s where a lot of this stuff comes from. I’m so grateful, and I don’t take anything for granted. I’ve run a marathon, I can play with my kids. I can go to a great job that I love. I know how lucky I am every day.