Now that’s a hat trick…Wayne Gretzky, Gretzky’s Fantasy Camp and Bigelow’s Gretzky Green Teas all together in Las Vegas. That’s right, over 70 hockey enthusiasts got together with Wayne Gretzky, Wayne’s father Walter and other hockey greats to live a dream out on the ice for five action packed days. And front and center throughout the camp were Bigelow’s Gretzky Green Teas that everyone enjoyed and took home with the remarkable memories of the camp.

Spread the word…Gretzky’s Fantasy Camp is “the place to be!”

Bob

(From L to R): Mary Ann Gurevich (Mansfield, MA) Terry Francona, Joanne Hack (Barrington, NH) Angelo Mazza (West Springfield, MA) Renee Gelinas (Dayville, CT) Kimberly Converse (Hampden, MA)

Despite cold weather across the United States it felt like Opening Day at Fenway Park a couple of weeks ago. That’s right, Bigelow Tea hosted five lucky winners and their guests from a Stop & Shop/Bigelow Tea contest to drink Bigelow tea and talk baseball with Boston Red Sox Manager, Terry Francona, at Fenway Park. And what an exciting event it was! Our friends from the Boston Red Sox were wonderful hosts, setting up a terrific gathering at the historic Absolute Club at Fenway Park. Winners came from as far as Springfield, MA and New Hampshire for the event.

As expected everyone was delighted and captivated when Terry arrived! The first thing we all did was brew up our favorite cup of Bigelow Tea and then settled into a great Round Table discussion and questions & answers on a variety of baseball topics with Terry.

After the round table discussion, Terry was gracious as always and took pictures and signed autographs for everyone! Our winners and their guests left Fenway Park feeling like they were in the dugout with Terry for the first pitch on Opening Day.

-Bob Kelly

It’s announcement time!

As we mentioned last week, it’s not often that we add another voice to our chorus of spokespeople at Bigelow Tea; this news is worth celebrating.  All week long, we posted daily clues on Twitter to help you guess this person’s identity.

Many of you took part in the contest, and the grand prize winner, twitter.com/dkcholo (our winner preferred to use their twitter name only), won a Classic Tea Chest stocked with our favorite flavors.  Congratulations!

And now, on to the grand unveiling: just who IS drinking Bigelow Tea these days?

None other than The Great One himself… Wayne Gretzky!(If you’re wondering how Wayne earned the name “The Great One,” it has a lot to do with winning 4 National Hockey League championships, 9 Hart Trophies (hockey’s MVP award), 3 NHL All-Star Game MVPs and holding 60 different NHL records — including a record for holding the most records!)

A note from Cindi Bigelow about a recent visit from Wayne Gretzky:

What a day, Wayne Gretzky was here at Bigelow visiting all of us with his agent Darren Blake.  We are launching a line of Gretzky Green Teas in Canada and he called to see if he could come by for a visit.  “NO PROBLEM” we said.

All I can say, now that our visit is complete, Wayne Gretzky is the nicest person and so was Darren.  He is so humble, gentle, kind and thoughtful.  He could not have been more gracious to the employees.  I was worried about inundating him with requests for photos and autographs and had told the employees to hold back.  Well, their enthusiasm got the better of them (one of our guys was actually shaking when he came up to Wayne) and of course I had to say yes (how can you turn down a request for a photo when you see it means the world to them).  Well once I said yes to one, I had to allow all our employees to do the same.  Wayne could not have been nicer about the whole affair, like when the camera didn’t work and we had to retake the photo several times for just one employee.

I did my best to walk him around to almost everyone so they could say hi.  We did a lovely tour of our facility and then a lunch.  He made us feel like he had all the time in the world.  What a wonderful human being, a true champ.  No wonder they call him the Great One.

Cindi Bigelow, President, Wayne Gretzky, and Eunice and David C. Bigelow, Co-Chairs Bigelow Tea

And our VP of Sales & Marketing, Bob Kelly, has been saying all week:

Isn’t this a great time for sports enthusiasts? The New York Yankees are World Champions for the 27th time, college and pro football are in full swing, college and pro hoops are underway and ice hockey is skating full-speed ahead. And now, to top it all off, The Great One…Wayne Gretzky is an avid drinker of Bigelow Green Tea!

So much so, in fact, that Wayne is now a spokesman for the Bigelow brand — along with Joe Torre, Terry Francona and Phil Simms. I spent a delightful day with Wayne in Westlake Village, CA, as our advertising team produced a brand new print ad and radio commercial that we’ll be premiering shortly. It’s been a remarkable journey with Joe, Phil, Terry, and now Wayne, as we’ve attracted sports enthusiasts across the continent and around the world to become loyal drinkers of Bigelow Green Tea. And the REALLY cold weather isn’t even here yet!!

So thanks again to twitter.com/dkcholo and everyone else who took a guess in our contest. We’re excited, and now we hope you are too. And just think that when the worst of winter arrives, now you can stay cozy knowing that you’re drinking the same tea that’s keeping The Great One warm and toasty all year long.

What an awesome first half of the season for baseball fans everywhere!  The races really seem to have shaped up and I’m sure it will be a sprint to the World Series for many teams.

I’ve got to tell you I wasn’t surprised to see that Joe Torre and Terry Francona are enjoying the best two records in baseball so far. I won’t say it’s because of all the Bigelow Green Tea that they drink but I’m sure it isn’t hurting.  It was really exciting to see Joe and the Dodgers playing the Mets here in New York before the All Star game.  And of course Terry and the Red Sox will be playing the Yankees several times before the season is over then it’s on to the playoffs.

Stay tuned!

Bob

What a great way to start the holidays! We had the distinct pleasure of coming together and working with Joe Torre, Phil Simms and Terry Francona in New York on a new ad for Bigelow Tea. It was hard work for to put together all of the details and arrangements two days before Christmas but everything went off without a hitch.

Phil Simms (former quarterback for the NY Giants and TV sportscaster for CBS), Cindi Bigelow (President Bigelow Tea), Terry Francona (manager Boston Red Sox), Bob Kelly (SVP Bigelow Tea) and Joe Torre (manager LA Dodgers)

Once again I think we captured something magical for the Bigelow brand and it was so great to see the collegiality and respect that Joe, Phil and Terry had for each other. More importantly they were true professionals toward everyone involved in the project. We even had Cindi Bigelow talking tea and other topics with Joe, Phil and Terry which was captured on video and will appear on bigelowtea.com in the near future.

It was a great way to end one year and begin the next!

Bob

Last weekend, Mr. and Mrs. Bigelow and a group of us from Bigelow attended The Sixth Annual Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation® Gala in New York. It was an honor to attend such an important event and support such a powerful cause. The Safe At Home Foundation® provides an array of services combating domestic violence with a goal of providing a safe home environment for children.

The event was hosted by Joe and Ali Torre and honored the 1998 World Champion New York Yankees. Many of the Yankees from 1998 were there along with many stars and celebrities. However, while the stars were everywhere, it was clear the important mission of the Safe At Home Foundation® stole the show: “Together we can make a safe home.”

Bob

Joe Torre experienced domestic violence firsthand. His father was both a physically abusive husband and emotionally abusive father. Torre talks openly about this in his book, Chasing the Dream: My Lifelong Journey to the World Series. Joe Torre and his wife Ali founded the Safe At Home Foundation® in 2002. By 2005, the Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation® opened its first school-based programming initiative, Margaret’s Place, a tribute to Torre’s mother.

Margaret’s Place provides students with a safe room in school where they can meet with a professional counselor trained in domestic-violence intervention and prevention. The Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation® now has ten fully funded and operational Margaret’s Places in New York City and Westchester County.

How good is the end to the baseball season! The Bigelow Team just got back from a trade show in Boston and the buzz right now is like something of unbelievable proportions. It doesn’t matter who you are rooting for, this is baseball in it’s purist form… very exciting, very competitive and it’s coming down to the wire. On top of everything, our seven Sales Managers were able to attend last Thursday’s game at Fenway and they were speechless the next day from the excitement.

Now I have to give Joe Torre and Terry Francona a plug and I’ll try not to make it sound too commercial as they are Bigelow spokesmen and avid drinkers of Bigelow Green Tea. Regardless, of that fact they are two terrific gentlemen and I thought the Dodger fans paid Joe an incredible tribute with a standing ovation after the last game. And Terry and the Red Sox are still in it and are playing great ball right now! I will sure be watching the Red Sox and Rays tonight!

Bob
October 19, 2008

Well the weather is getting cooler and what a great time to enjoy many cups of Bigelow Green Tea while you’re watching the Baseball Playoffs and World Series. It’s been a great run for many teams but we’re down to the final eight. I can’t believe that Joe Torre and Terry Francona (two of our Bigelow spokespeople and regular Bigelow Green Tea drinkers) are in the playoffs and could meet in the World Series. What’s even more interesting is that Terry and Joe have been friends for many years. I don’t know how many people know the story but Joe played with Terry’s father Tito Francona when Terry was a boy and they’ve been friends ever since. Today their bond also includes their regular enjoyment of Bigelow Green Tea.

I wish them both good luck in their quest for a World Championship!

Bob

Courtesy of New York Times: Joe Torre, left, and Terry Francona during a rare on-field meeting in Fenway Park in 2004.

Well we’re coming into the home stretch of the baseball season after the All Star Game (and what a great event it was) and it looks like it’s going to be another great run to the Fall Classic! Many teams are playing great baseball and the pennant races are starting to formulate into classic battles.

The Bigelow team was just up at Fenway Park filming our newest video with Cindi Bigelow and Wally the Green Monster. Cindi was teaching Wally (he’s a huge Bigelow tea drinker) how to make the perfect cup of tea and the highlight was when Wally thought he was supposed to eat the tea bag after brewing up a cup of tea. It was fun theater so be sure to check it out here.

We also met the Red Sox Manager, Terry Francona (our newest Bigelow Tea spokesperson) who is also a huge Bigelow Tea drinker. Terry and Joe Torre are great friends with a long association as Joe played with Terry’s father, Tito.

You can be sure that we’ll be getting these two great friends together again soon to capture that special moment: reminiscing about two of their shared passions; Baseball and Bigelow tea.

Bob

What a great time of year it is! There’s so much going on in the sports world! The NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball championships, Opening Day for many baseball teams and everyone is getting ready for the Master’s (I’m sure all the talk about the greens and tee’s at Augusta has everyone brewing up their favorite Bigelow Green Tea). I’m just a little out of sorts when I listened to the news about the 115,000 people attending the Dodger and Red Sox exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers relocating (I’m sure there are some New Yorkers who have another word for relocating) to Los Angeles and Joe Torre is the skipper of the Dodgers and not the Yankees. I had the pleasure of seeing Joe at a radio commercial recording before he left for California and as usual he was looking forward to the new challenges on the West Coast and the new baseball season. All of Joe’s friends at Bigelow wish him well and are glad he is part of the Bigelow Tea-m.

Bob