They show good Citizenship
at Phillies games

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Margie Gray is a lifelong Philadelphia resident and Phillies fan, but she somehow never managed to make it to old Veterans Stadium for a game.
The longtime sales and service representative for Citizens Bank’s Frankford Avenue and Robbins Street office is making up for lost time in her favorite team’s modern new home, however.
Gray, of Mayfair, is one of 55 Citizens Bank employees, including about a dozen from the Northeast, who represent their employer as so-called Ballpark Bankers at all Phillies home games during the six-month Major League Baseball regular season.
They work in five-person teams inside Citizens Bank Park before and during games, performing what the bank defines as "random acts of kindness," such as directing fans to specific points of interest, taking Polaroid photos of fans and their families, transporting fans by golf cart to and from the stadium, and collecting donated baseball gloves for later distribution to inner-city youths.
For the bank, which has been the naming sponsor of Citizens Bank Park since its inception, the Ballpark Bankers program is a promotional and public-relations coup. Meanwhile, for the employees, who, like Gray, also happen to be Phillies fans, you can’t beat the fringe benefits.
"When we came into the naming-rights agreement, we knew we were going to be there for twenty-five years," explained Christine Jereb, spokeswoman for Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. "So we said, ‘Let’s not just put our name up. Let’s do it right.’"
The right way, bank officials concluded, was to connect directly with the millions of fans who would be flocking to the nostalgic, yet modern, facility each season. While Ballpark Bankers are recognizable in their affiliation to the bank, they are not roaming salespeople.
"We don’t have account-opening capabilities at the ballpark," Jereb said. "We made a conscious decision not to do that. We’re right there to enhance the experience of people at the ballpark."
Folks like Gray are perfect for the job. By day, she helps customers open accounts and assists them with other bank services. But by night, she’s a fan like everyone else. She’s been with the Ballpark Bankers program since the Phils opened the new park in 2004.
"When the opportunity became available to do it, I thought it was going to be a great experience," said Gray. "The attraction was meeting all of the people."
Throughout her youth and into adulthood, Gray had watched countless Phillies games, but always from afar, and never with tens of thousands of fellow fans in her midst.
"Growing up, I used to sit down and watch the games with my grandfather," she said.
She would visit him first at his Northeast home, then in Cape May after he retired there. Later, he moved back to the city. Gray recalls traveling to Florida one spring for her favorite team’s training camp, but she never went to the old Vet, a municipal facility that the Phils opened in 1971 and where they clinched their only World Series title in 1980.
"I never had a chance to go to the Vet because I was always working; that includes a lot of volunteer work I do," said Gray, who is a Girl Scout leader.
The work she does at Citizens Bank Park has a lot in common with the Girl Scouts, in that the main objective is showing families all kinds of fun things to do. Unlike the Vet and other "cookie-cutter" multi-use stadiums of the late 1960s and 1970s, the new ballpark was designed with both the game and all of the side attractions in mind.
"Never being in a ballpark before, it was amazing," Gray said of her first visit to the park in 2004.
She sees the same type of reactions every time she gets to be a Ballpark Banker, particularly from the kids. Each banker covers about 10 games a season. For the employees, it counts as paid time.
"When we go to take their pictures, they’re surprised, and they get to see it develop because we use Polaroid," Gray said. "The kids are delighted with some of the prizes we hand them, like glow sticks at night."
It’s also one the rare circumstances when children are allowed to take candy from strangers. "They look at us and say, ‘Are they free?’ And they mean the lollipops," Gray said.
Bank employees arrive at the park two to three hours before the gates open. That leaves another couple of hours until game time. Generally, two bankers will operate golf carts, transporting fans from the parking lots to the ticket gates. Two more will walk the stadium — largely focusing on popular Ashburn Alley before the first pitch — to hand out gifts and offer to take fan photos.
The Alley is a good place to be during batting practice because the nearby outfield stands are fertile ground for balls hit over the fence.
A fifth Ballpark Banker will staff a kiosk where folks can redeem prize coupons earned at interactive games like Pitch ’em and Tip ’em, Run the Bases or pinball.
During the Phils game, they deliver prize packs to lucky sections of fans as part of the Citizens Seven promotion, designed to remind folks that the bank’s branches are open seven days a week.
Activities like those are good publicity for both the bank and the team. Citizens has 180 branches in the Philadelphia region and 61 within the city.
"I had one man who came in from the Midwest, and he loved the ballpark and loved how we could tell him where everything was," Gray said. "Then we turned around and gave him something."
According to Jereb, Citizens is working on more tie-ins with the Phillies as the season progresses. One thing the bank did last year was print Ryan Howard posters and distribute them at local branches in honor of Howard’s MVP award.
Recently, Citizens teamed up with the Phillies and the Philadelphia Fire Department to buy and distribute smoke alarms around the city.
For most of this season, fans can bring their ticket stubs to any local branch to redeem for a stainless-steel travel mug. Also, one lucky entrant will win tickets to the Sept. 30 home game, along with a chance to hit a ball out of the park for a $10,000 prize.
No matter what happens, Citizens Bank ends up a winner.
"Our (public) awareness of being in the marketplace has doubled since we announced the naming rights," said Jereb.
"Working with the Phillies is a dream for us. They’re active in the community and are a wonderful organization," she added. "The Ballpark Bankers have helped us bring the partnership to another level. It’s the only program of its kind in the United States. We can say that with confidence." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com