Some good will come out of the Ken Pagan- Blue Jay baseball affair after all.
Skater's Edge owner Paul McLean, after some social media backlash, and under pressure from Source for Sports head office, has changed the direction of the campaign and donated all of the revenue from the 150 #FREEPAGZ shirts sold to date to the North Bay Baseball Association (NBBA).
Originally, five dollars from each $10 shirt was earmarked for the youth baseball organization, but only if Ken Pagan was found guilty.
Pagan, a former sports editor at The Nugget who was named the 2013 Friend of Sport in North Bay, was charged with mischief, and released with conditions, following a beer-can-throwing incident at the Toronto Blue Jays wild card game win last Tuesday against Baltimore.
McLean, a friend and fellow sports competitor with Pagan, came up with the #FREEPAGZ idea as a way to show support. After a social media manhunt made Pagan a trending topic on Twitter last week, McLean felt that the fundamental right of innocence until proven guilty was being infringed. McLean said that Pagan, guilty or not, was being tried by social media.
Sales were brisk in the first two days of the campaign, but the about-face on where the dollars would be directed came as a result of the objection from head office and McLean's sense that Pagan would want the money to go to kids baseball rather than a legal fund.
The attention that the movement brought from both traditional media and social media led Source for Sports to direct McLean to distance their brand name from #FREEPAGZ.
"I don't think it was fair of me to include the 170 other owners of Source for Sports franchises without their permission or consultation," admitted McLean.
"We've had a tremendous amount of success from this, let's take the amount that we've sold, 150 shirts at $10 each and donate $1,500 to minor baseball. I know that's what Ken would prefer," said McLean.
McLean wouldn't say if Pagan had contacted him regarding the campaign.
"I'm happy and excited to, out of what was a negative story, spin something positive from it, and write a cheque to North Bay Minor Baseball," declared McLean. "We haven't profited from this at all."
Don Maille, President of NBBA, was appreciative of McLean's efforts, despite the unique circumstances. "We will use the funds to replenish our equipment. Our batting helmets, some are three or four years old, and we can always spruce up our bats. Fifteen hundred dollars should go a long way to replenishing our stock," said Maille.
"I've never met Ken," said Maille, "but I'm hoping he's free to go. We can't turn away the money because the kids really need it. It's a nice gesture for Paul to do this for us."
