"Fun is Good"

Mike Veeck is a good story teller and nobody has more material with which to work. Veeck got his start in baseball when his father, Bill Veeck, owned the Chicago White Sox. Young Mike distinguished himself by coming up with a promotion that featured the destruction of a dumpster full of disco records by dynamite...a dandy idea, until the debris, smoke, and complaints of opposing manager Sparky Anderson convinced the umpires to forfeit the game to the Tigers.

As the owner of a succession of minor league teams, Veeck has thought up a series of equally silly (if less destructive) gameday stunts: Voodoo night, Vasectomy Night, Labor Night (an opportunity for pregnant women to attend a game for free on the evening of Labor Day), and so on.

Whether these achievements qualify Mike Veeck to advise individuals and owners of businesses looking to inject more fun into their lives and work places is something each reader of "Fun Is Good" will have to decide. When I asked him about the relationship between his work in the entertainment industry and what goes on in the mill, the mine, and the brokerage firm, Mike replied that "casual day" shouldn't be limited to Friday.