Sunday, June 03, 2007

What makes minor league baseball interesting?


Rivercats #1 Fan
Originally uploaded by drtaxsacto
The photo is from a greeter who meets every fan coming into the right field gate of Raley Field. He simply refers to himself as the Number One Fan. He is consistently optimistic and high fives everyone coming through that entrance.

You then get to the discount supplies guy. He has a temporary stand which sells water and red ropes and sunflower seeds at a discounted price to the price in the stadium. (Yes, he wears a Raley Field badge and no he is not competing against the stadium.)

Then there is the hot dog cannon. Sometime during the game a truck comes out an shoots wrapped hotdogs to the fans. That is coupled with a whole host of other gimmicks (the Knock-Knock teeshirt, Roofman, Pop Fly payoff, etc.). Some of them are dumb - one called Who's in the can - has a fan guess who is in a portapotty. I am not sure who thought that one up. But a lot of them are just plain fun. There are the lawn seats - which our grandson seems to like a lot - mostly because he can roll down the hill. But what each of these parks tries to do is create an ambience. In one minor league park in New Orleans - there were pitchers of beer (plastic so you could take it to your seat) and cajun food. In another there were handouts of local candy. So there are a lot of things to entertain in addition to the baseball.

A key principle here is the players - who are not infused with the attitude that infects many major leaguers. There is a good mix of players who want to go to the "show" combined with those who have had their nights in the lights and a finishing out a career. So while the average age is young, there is a certain maturity in the game.

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