Good Vibrations

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Baseball, Beach Boys and Southern California Girls.

What more could you ask?

That is what life was like covering the Padres when The Beach Boys would perform at a sold-out Jack Murphy Stadium, often on Mother’s Day.

Did I mention the absolutely perfect weather?

The Good Vibrations were everywhere. I got to thinking about all this on Wednesday when word arrived that musical genius Brian Wilson, who co-founded The Beach Boys and wrote their greatest hits, had passed away at the age of 82.

The Beach Boys concert in San Diego was always a day circled on the calendar. The story behind the concert and the man who came up with the then-crazy idea: “Hey, why don’t we have a concert after the ballgame’’ has really never been told until now … here at BallNine.

That man is Andy Strasberg, who was the Padres longtime Director of Promotions. Andy grew up in the Bronx and it figures that a New Yorker would make it all happen in Southern California, combining baseball and The Beach Boys.

“The Beach Boys were the soundtrack of my high school summers,’’ Strasberg told me on Wednesday from his San Diego home. “This is a sad day with the passing of Brian Wilson.’’

Yes, it is and down the Jersey Shore, The Beach Boys were the soundtrack of my summer, too.

Wilson left a legacy that will last forever.

Wasn’t life grand in 1982? A ballgame and a Beach Boys concert for $3.00.

“Gotta keep those lovin’ good vibrations a-happening.’’

Brian Wilson wrote that song along with Mike Love. Just how did The Beach Boys wind up playing in a ballpark after a baseball game, something that was unheard of back when it all started in 1982?

Let’s go to the source.

“I might have come up with the idea, but the person who gets the credit is Ballard Smith,’’ Strasberg said of the then Padres’ president, who green-lighted the innovative project.

“I came up with the thought that if we had a concert after a ballgame, that we would be able to draw additional people who do not ordinarily come to the game,’’ Andy explained. “Ballard said write up a proforma and I did. I took my best guess what it would cost for The Beach Boys, which, by the way, I had budgeted $75,000. I then figured out how many additional tickets we would sell, and would it cover it, and I sent that to Ballard and Ballard said, ‘Yes.’’’

With that yes, a new form of baseball entertainment was about to happen. Concerts after a ballgame were just not a thing back then.

And get this, there was no up-charge for that first concert in 1982. Strasberg showed me the ticket prices from that day. General admission: $3.00. Field: $6.50. Plaza $5.50. Loge: $5.00.

Wasn’t life grand in 1982? A ballgame and a Beach Boys concert for $3.00.

 “And the West Coast has the sunshine. And the girls all get so tanned.’’

Brian Wilson and Mike Love wrote California Girls.

The numbers worked for Ballard Smith and the Padres but there was the question: Will The Beach Boys agree to play after a baseball game? The Padres would be shutout 3-0 that day by Mike Krukow and the Phillies, but a baseball concert was born.

“I called The Beach Boys manager, and my conversation was somewhat short, but to the point,’’ Strasberg told me. “I said, ‘I’d like to know if The Beach Boys would be interested in playing after one of our ballgames?’

‘He said, ‘you mean you are playing a baseball game and then The Beach Boys come on?’

“I said, ‘yes’ and he said, ‘you don’t have enough money for that.’

“I said, ‘how much would it cost?’

“He said, ‘$50,000’ and I said, ‘I’m interested.’’’

The Good Vibrations were about to happen at Jack Murphy Stadium.

“We had a lot of people cooperate with us,’’ Strasberg said. “The city, the grounds crew, a lot of people, this wasn’t a one-person idea, it was grown from a lot of different people, and it worked,’’ Strasberg said. “It worked beyond my wildest dreams. We had The Beach Boys I think 10 times on an annual basis and a lot of times it would come on Mother’s Day on a Sunday. And KFMB played a huge role in it and the fans responded.

“I always felt that the fans, regardless of their age, would enjoy The Beach Boys here in Southern California. I happened to guess right,’’ Strasberg said, “because when we had the concerts, I would always walk around in the stands and Kevin, without exaggerating, fans from 8 to 80, that’s who was there. It was wonderful. And I had a lot of wonderful experiences with Mike Love and Bruce Johnston and also had some other interesting experiences. We put together a sponsorship with Budweiser and The Beach Boys went out and got a sponsor without telling us. And their sponsor was orange juice, Florida Orange Juice.’’

A tradition was born. There is wonderful news footage from some of those concerts with Brian Wilson. Playing up to their Southern California roots, The Beach Boys arrived at their first concert at Jack Murphy Stadium on the field in a woodie wagon with surfboards on top and vintage convertibles. The stage was set up in 20 minutes behind second base and high energy high school girls dancing were stationed in front of the stage because The Beach Boys did not want, as Strasberg noted, 300 feet of emptiness in front of them. They wanted to feel the music and the crowd. In later concerts that infield became even more California Girls oriented.

That concert in 1982, “was the first time The Beach Boys performed after a baseball game,’’ Strasberg said, “and as you probably are aware they would go on to do it all over the United States with Major League clubs and Minor League clubs.’’

Strasberg opened a whole new avenue for The Beach Boys.

“And for us, too,’’ he said. “We got the Doobie Brothers, the Monkees, a number of different groups.’’

Strasberg, these days, still has lunch with Ballard Smith on occasion and recently asked him: “Why did you let me do whatever I wanted to do? He said, ‘We trusted you and we knew that you had the fans and the ballclub’s best interests at heart.’’’

Strasberg left the Padres in 1996 and created his own marketing firm. The man knows how to market.

The fans loved The Beach Boys concerts and so did the players. “Absolutely,’’ Strasberg said, “Steve Garvey, Tim Flannery, Kurt Bevacqua. I never heard anything negative from any of the players on the concerts because they realized we were getting bigger crowds. On the business end, we started to raise the cost of that day’s game, but we didn’t do it to our season ticket customers, so they appreciated getting their regular seats at the regular price.’’

The goal was to bring in as many fans as possible even non-traditional fans.

“If I could get the people who are not interested in Padres baseball to come out and party in the parking lot and then the last two innings come into the ballpark for the concert, I was convinced that there would be a residual benefit, that they would come back to a game in August – and that worked and I take a huge amount of pride in that.’’

That was cutting edge marketing in 1982.

When I mentioned that the Jack Murphy parking lot was one of the best parking lots in baseball – and also in football with the Chargers at the time – Strasberg answered with pride: “13,000 spaces.’’

The Beach Boys enjoyed the Padres experience as well.

“Very much so,’’ Strasberg said. “It was their crowd, Southern California, because the Angels and the Dodgers were not doing that.’’

And the weather was perfect every time.

It may not have been a great day of Padres baseball, but the concert was always great, and I remember listening and watching from the open-air press box after I arrived in San Diego in 1988.

In 1985 the Padres made the concert experience even better. “That’s the year we had a video scoreboard and that helped, too. (Scoreboard supervisor) Mark Guglielmo and his group was able to shoot the concert.’’

Good times.

I then asked Andy Strasberg what was his favorite Beach Boys song?

He did not hesitate: “Good Vibrations.’’

It was Strasberg who brought the Good Vibrations to Jack Murphy Stadium helping The Beach Boys, who cut their first record deal with Capitol Records in 1962, to a new generation of fans in 1982 and for the decade they performed there after a ballgame.

Of that Padres front office, Strasberg noted, “We were very much in tune with what was going on here in Southern California and played to it and took advantage of it and provided exactly what the fans wanted, and they responded.’’

They sure did. As Brian Wilson wrote in 1966: “Good, good, good, good vibrations.’’