Phillies renamed Harry the Ks to Ghost Energy Deck and fans are furious but I have a solution

After 22 seasons, Citizens Bank Park will no longer have a concession stand named after Harry Kalas. The Phillies announced Thursday that Harry the K’s, the beloved spot below the scoreboard in left field, has been renamed the Ghost Energy Deck.

Ghost is a lifestyle brand best known for its energy drinks and protein powders. The Phillies called the newly sponsored area a vibrant, high-energy destination at one of the ballpark’s most exciting viewpoints.

Sure. Completely erase Harry The Ks for a corporate Ghost Energy Deck.

I’m sure that’ll go over well with Phillies fans, especially the ones on social media, who tend to be the most rational thinking of the bunch.

Who cares about Harry Kalas, right?

He was just a guy hired by the Phillies in 1971 and spent nearly four decades as the voice of this franchise. You know, the Harry Kalas who won the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 and unfortunately, passed away in April 2009 while getting ready to call a game in Washington.

Harry Kalas is the guy that has his own statue near the original location. The TV booth still bears his name and the Phillies will still play his rendition of High Hopes on PhanaVision after every home win.

Fuck it, right?

Wrong. Phillies fans were so pissed about this and the entire social media contingent went in full meltdown mode yesterday. Most of it was performance outrage but I do get the frustration by making such a drastic switch from Harry The K’s to Ghost Energy Deck. Pretty wild.

At the end of the day, this is how it works. Naming rights get sold. The scoreboard has a sponsor. The stadium itself has a sponsor. Nobody is pretending Citizens Bank Park is a museum. Money talks and energy drink companies have a lot of it right now.

Here’s the thing. This did not have to be either or. The Phillies could have kept Harry Kalas in the name and still cashed the Ghost check.

The solution is so obvious I thought of it while writing this sentence.

The Ghost of Harry the Ks

See? Now everyone is happy. That has to be the new name.

The Ghost of Harry the Ks honors a legend, it keeps the sponsor happy, it is funny, it is a little spooky, and it would get more press coverage than any other concession stand in baseball history. Citizens Bank Park, I am available for consulting. Together we stop the outrage and everybody wins.

Somewhere in the Ghost Energy corporate office right now there is a marketing team watching Phillies Twitter absolutely melt down and asking each other what they have done.

This was supposed to be a cool activation. A sponsorship deal. Good brand placement at one of the most iconic ballparks in baseball. Instead they woke up Thursday morning to a city in mourning over a concession stand and their name all over social media for entirely the wrong reasons.

That is not the vibe Ghost was going for and everyone knows it. Until then, pour one out for Harry the Ks. Twenty-two years. Gone for an energy drink.

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