MLB Fan Cave

East 4th Street & Broadway

New York, NY

Getting There: Take The 6 Train To Astor Place (Alt. F Train To Broadway Lafayette )

In this day and age it is becoming increasingly harder to have a job and or career that you truly love. Two very lucky die hard baseball fans have disproved this theory in a major way. Both of these guys will go to work everyday at the greatest office ever constructed. Starting on Opening Day, Major League Baseball introduced the MLB Fan Cave, the ultimate fan experience and it takes place right here in New York City. MLB Dream Job winner Mike O’Hara, who was chosen out of a pool of nearly 10,000 applicants will be situated at the Fan Cave every day for the entire 2011 MLB season. O’Hara’s partner in crime for the season will be Ryan Wagner, a lifelong Baltimore Orioles fan. In the Cave they will watch all 2,430 regular season games, plus every postseason game. They will chronicle their experiences using video feeds, and the latest in social media like Facebook, and @MLBFanCave on Twitter.

The MLB Fan Cave is a 15,000 square foot space which was created by ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition designer, Paul DiMeo. This impressive space, which was once the home to Tower Records, features wall to wall baseball memorabilia, savvy product immersion from high profile brands like Pepsi, and social media tools. These tools will give the two Cave dwellers the chance to interact with fans in real time. The stand out centerpiece of the cave is the collection of 15 Sony BRAVIA LCD HDTV televisions (three 60” screens surrounded by a dozen 32” TVs)  many of which are located directly next to each other, on an extremely innovative state-of-the-art media wall, called the “Cave Monster.”  These HDTV’s will broadcast every MLB game this season.

The Fan Cave may be the home to one of the most advanced media centers in the world, but the creators and MLB workforce did not stop there. If this was to be the mecca for all things baseball, they would need to bring in the big guns, and they most certainly did. Some of the other exciting features are:

• A manual scoreboard atop the entrance on Broadway that will be updated daily to reflect how many MLB games O’Hara has watched along with how many he still has to go.

• A performance window on Broadway that will be host to a variety of live acts for fans.

• Screens facing the street that will display real-time highlights and photos from the day’s games as well as a digital ticker broadcasting real-time tweets from O’Hara, Wagner, and others.

• An 18-foot statue depicting Willie Mays’ famous catch in an artistic silhouetted form.

• The windows will feature clings that contain QR codes that fans will be able to scan using their smart phones taking them to various areas of MLBFanCave.com.

• A Music Section  that will include a DJ booth, graffiti wall, and window displays that will include music playlists of current Major Leaguers.

• A Steiner Sports Collectibles area that will house obscure relics from baseball history including a can of bug spray used on Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain during the infamous “Midge Game” in Cleveland during the 2007 Postseason.

The LocalBozo crew would like to thank Major Leage Baseball, and the entire staff of the MLB Fan Cave for having us over to explore this exciting pop up style venture. Do yourself a favor baseball fanatics, and head down to the Fan Cave for public functions throughout the 2011 season. The Cave will play host to interactive fan activities, regular visits from MLB players, baseball personalities and celebrities, parties, musical performances, and other events throughout the baseball season. There, you will see what we think is the classiest mixture of baseball, brand immersion, and social media integration simultaneously at work.

- Alan Smithee